Climate capabilitiesA conceptual framework for a climate change ethic

david.kronlid@did.uu.se

Klimaträttvisa - VVV -

Cemus, 16 Februari 2009

History and context

Cabinet Maker

Social worker

Musician (www.kvartettraktor.se)

Researcher in ethics

Institute for Research in Education and Sustainable Development (www.did.uu.se/iresd)

Centre for Environment- and Development Studies(www.cemus.uu.se)

Agenda

1. The project climate capabilities

3. Olika etiska hållningar

4. Distributiv klimaträttvisa

5. The capabilities approach

6. Some preliminary results

7. Discussion

2. Some background info

20082008 20092009 20102010

Capability text analysis of Summary for Policymakers FAR, SAR, TAR & AR4

Comparative (crossdisciplinary)climate capability analysis

Capability case studies

3/11 Minor Field Studies funding application (SIDA).

The Timothy Method (TTM)?

Minor Field Studies!4 SIDA MFS stipendier Lå 09/10

Other methods?

CLIMATE CAPABILITIESSwedish Research Council Formas

Zanzibar, Ahmedabad,Grahamstown

Feb 4 MFS funded by SIDA.

• Fair distribution of climate change burdens, benefits, and access to negotiations is central in the discourse of climate change ethics (Shue 1999, Gardiner 2004, Grasso 2004).

• The questions of who is to be held accountable, who is to be held responsible for dealing with the present and future mess and suffering caused by GHG emissions, and how to distribute this responsibility have been given main attention (Page, 2007) (Kronlid, manuscript).

Background

• Global climate change raises questions of justice associated with climate change impacts, mitigation and adaptation (Metz 2000; McCarthy et al. 2001, Pichs et al. 2000).

• Accordingly, “the language of equity has permeated the UN negotiations on climate change” (Ashton & Wang 2002) (Kronlid, Project Description, 2007).

Cont.

• Climate change challenges current ethics and makes it inadequate and/or inappropriate (Jamieson 1992, Van De Veer & Pierce 1998).

• Existing theories of distributive justice may still be adequate for addressing climate change justice (Page, 2007).

Challenging ethics

• Intragenerational climate change justice.

• Intergenerational climate change justice (Page, 2007).

• Distributive climate change justice

• Procedural climate change justice

• The capabilities approach

Various ethics approaches Hängersammani praxis

Skiljs åt i teori

1. Scope

2. Shape

3. Currency

Intergenerationaldistributive justice

1. The scope of justice concerns the “entities that we identify as the legitimate recipients of benefits and burdens in society”.

• Humans here, there, now and later

• Other entities such as nonhuman animals, ecosystems, places, etc.

Scope of IG-justice

Vems eller vilkas välfärd, frihet, resurser,

eller fördelar är det som bör räknas?

Vems eller vilkas välfärd, frihet, resurser,

eller fördelar är det som bör räknas?

2. The “pattern of benefits that a theory of distribution recommends” (Page, 2007, pp. 78-98).

• Efficiency (effektiv, verksam fördelning)

• Equality (jämlik fördelning)

• Priority (fördelning enligt en prioritetsordning)

• Sufficiency (fördelning upp till en tillräcklig nivå)

Shape of IG-justice

Enligt vilket mönster eller vilka

principer bör fördelningen ske?

Enligt vilket mönster eller vilka

principer bör fördelningen ske?

3. “[T]he aspect of well-being, or unit of benefits or advantage, on which our distributive concerns should focus” (Page, 2007, pp. 50-77).

• Welfare (fair distribution of welfare - health, happiness, etc.)

• Resources (fair distribution of resources - material and immaterial goods)

• Basic capabilities (fair distribution of individual positive freedoms)

• Midfare (fair distribution of access to given advantages in life and capabilities)

Currencies of IG-justice

Vad är det som bör fördelas?Vad är det som bör fördelas?

Kommande mänskliga generationers

Kommande mänskliga generationers

D I S

T R

I B U

E R

A S

D I S

T R

I B U

E R

A S

Jämlikt? Jämlikt?

Prioriterat?Prioriterat?

Upp till nivå?Upp till nivå?

Effektivt?Effektivt?Resources?Resources?

Welfare? Welfare?

Basic capabilities? Basic capabilities?

Midfare?Midfare?

Mitiation?Mitiation?Responsibility?Responsibility?

Vulnerability?Vulnerability? Resilience?Resilience?

Adaptation

METHODOLOGICAL ETHICAL PLURALISM“Stone, who compares ethical theories with the theories of for instance geometry, chemistry, art, defines ethical pluralism as the idea that the field of environmental ethics is like a collection of different ‘...intellectual frameworks that support the analysis and solution of particular moral problems’ (Stone, 1987, p. 133)” (Kronlid 2003).

Vantage point: It is important to introduce many conceptual frameworks of climate change ethics or justice to the climate change discourse

Climate Capabilities

the capabilities approach

- A broad normative framework for the evaluation and assessment of individual well-being and social arrangements, the design of policies, and proposals about social change in society.

- Used in a wide range of fields, most prominently in development studies, welfare economics, social policy and political philosophy.

- Used to evaluate several aspects of people’s well-being, such as inequality, poverty, the well-being of an individual or the average well-being of the members of a group.

Robeyns 2005:94

the capabilities approach

The core characteristic of the capabilities approach is its focus on what people are effectively able to do and to be; that is, on their capabilities. This contrasts with philosophical approaches that concentrate on people’s happiness or desire-fulfilment, or on income, expenditures, or consumption

Robeyns 2005:94

the capabilities approach

According to the capabilities approach, the ends of well-being, justice and development should be conceptualized in terms of people’s capabilities to function; that is, their effective opportunities to undertake the actions and activities that they want to engage in, and be whom they want to be.

Robeyns 2005:95

Vad är det i våra liv som har egenvärde?Vad är det i våra liv som har egenvärde?

the capabilities approach

These beings and doings, which Sen calls functionings, together constitute what makes a life valuable. Functionings include working, resting, being literate, being healthy, being part of a community, being respected, and so forth.

Robeyns 2005:95

Basic capabilities

An open approach vs. a set list approach

Sen argues that the benefit of an open approach is that it can be used in many different ways, depending on the context and the information that is available. ‘It is this combination of foundational analysis and pragmatic use that gives the capabilities approach its extensive reach’.

Sen 1999, here from Qizilbash 2005:159

Basic capabilities

An open approach vs. a set list approach cont.

A set list of capabilities is a list of what people are free to do and be according to their own choice (Robeyns 2003:61-62) and such lists are implied to express “a bare minimum of what respect for human dignity requires” (Nussbaum, 2005:5).

One argument for a set list approach is that an open approach lacks “critical bite when it comes to assessing norms” (Qizilbash, 2005:159) and that it is at the risk of being incomplete (Nussbaum, 2005a:13-14) and vague (Nussbaum 2003:46-47).

Based on an emphasis on the pragmatic dimension of TCA, several capability researchers argue for a specific set list of capabilities (Nussbaum 2003, 2005a, 2005b, Qizilbash 2005:157).

A methodological procedure suggested by Robeyns (2003)

A combination of an open approach with the idea of capability set lists.

[t]he capability approach is not a full-fledged theory [hence] its specifications can be very diverse and … for each of these specifications, e.g. climate change [we] will need a relevant list of capabilities (Robeyns 2003:10).

Following this, Robeyns suggests that we use five criteria when creating a pragmatic set list of climate capabilities.

Methodological framework

Different levels of generality

A set list of capabilities in two stages: (a) an ideal list that is “unconstrained by limitations” of contextual circumstances and (b) a pragmatic list which takes context into account (Robeyns 2003:70-72).

Five methodological criteria

Explicit formulation

States that “the list[s] should be made explicit, discussed, and defended.”

“…determining the dimensions of human well-being requires people to recognize, on the basis of their own experience, the truthfulness or otherwise of the particular claims” (Alkire & Black 1997:269).

Sensitivity to context

Acknowledges the importance of speaking the language of the discourse in which we want to get involved and states that “the list should be pitched at the level of abstraction and within the theoretical framework that is most appropriate for the aim for which we use the capabilities approach” (Robeyns 2003:11).

Methodological justification

Concerns the importance of clarifying and scrutinizing the method that has generated the lists. This includes justification of the method as appropriate for the matter at hand.

Exhaustion and non-reduction

“states that the capabilities on the lists should include all elements” that are relevant.

-intrinsic to well-being

-Climate capabilities

11

44

33

22

55

Social vulnerability

“… the notion of social vulnerability defined as the ability of individuals or groups to respond, recover or adapt to any external climate stress (Adger 1999; Adger and Kelly 1999; Kelly and Adger 2000; Brooks 2003; Adger et al. 2006; Brooks et al. 2005; Paavola and Adger 2006)…” (Grasso 2004:234, n. 26).

Vulnerability and resilience

Vulnerability capabilities:

Which positive freedoms are threatened by climate change?

Resilience capabilities:

Which positive freedoms are intrinsic to adaptation?

Preliminary results:Vulnerability capabilities

1. LifeBeing able to live to the end of a human life of normal length; not dying prematurely, or before one’s life is so reduced as to be not worth living.

Estimates of increases of people at risk of death from heat differ between countries, depending on place, ageing population, and adaptation measures in place. Overall, significant increases are estimated over this century” (AR4, WII, TS:47)

2. Bodily HealthBeing able to have good health, including reproductive health; to be adequately nourished; to have adequate shelter.

“Sea-level rise will extend areas of salinisation of groundwater and estuaries, resulting in a decrease in freshwater availability for humans and ecosystems in coastal areas” (AR4, WII, TS:35)

“By 2030 an increase in the burden of diarrhoeal diseases in low-income regions by approximately 2-5 % is expected” (AR4, WII, TS:47)

3. Bodily integrity Being able to move freely from place to place; to be secure against violent assault, including sexual assault and domestic violence; having opportunities for sexual satisfaction and for choice in matters of reproduction.

4. Senses, Imagination, and Thought

Being able to use the senses, to imagine, think, and reason - and to do these things in a “truly human” way, a way informed and cultivated by an adequate education, including, but by no means limited to, literacy and basic mathematical and scientific training. Being able to use imagination and thought in connection with experiencing and producing works and events of one’s own choice, religious, literary, musical, and so forth. Being able to use one’s mind in ways protected by guarantees of freedom of expression with respect to both political and artistic speech, and freedom of religious exercise. Being able to have pleasurable experiences and to avoid nonbeneficial pain.

5. Emotions Being able to have attachments to things and people outside ourselves; to love those who love and care for us, to grieve at their absence; in general, to love, to grieve, to experience longing, gratitude, and justified anger. Not having one ﾕ s emotional development blighted by fear and anxiety. (Supporting this capability means supporting forms of human association that can be shown to be crucial in their development.)

6. Practical reason “The loss of local knowledge associated with thresholds in ecological systems is a limit to the effectiveness of adaptation (Folke et al., 2005)” AR4, WGII, Ch 17:734

Set list on level (a). Nussbaum, M. (2003), “Capabilities as fundamental entitlements: Sen and social justice”, Feminist Economics 9(2-3), 2003, 33-59.

Kronlid, D. (2008), “Mobility as Capability”, Uteng Priya, T. & Cresswell, T., Gendered Mobilities, Ashgate, 2008, 15-31.

Preliminary results:Vulnerability capabilities

Set list on level (a). Nussbaum, M. (2003), “Capabilities as fundamental entitlements: Sen and social justice”, Feminist Economics 9(2-3), 2003, 33-59.

Kronlid, D. (2008), “Mobility as Capability”, Uteng Priya, T. & Cresswell, T., Gendered Mobilities, Ashgate, 2008, 15-31.

7. Affiliation A. Being able to live with and toward others, to recognize and show concern for other human beings, to engage in various forms of social interaction; to be able to imagine the situation of another. (Protecting this capability means protecting institutions that constitute and nourish such forms of affiliation, and also protecting the freedom of assembly and political speech.) B. Having the social bases of self-respect and nonhumiliation; being able to be treated as a dignified being whose worth is equal to that of others. This entails provisions of nondiscrimination on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, ethnicity, caste, religion, national origin.

8. Other speciesBeing able to live with concern for and in relation to animals, plants, and the world of nature.

“Exceedance of ecosystem resilience is very likely to to be characterised by threshold-type responses, many irreversible on time-scales relevant to human society, such as biodiversity loss through extinction, disruption of species’ ecological interactions, and major changes in ecosystem structure and disturbance regimes (especially wildfire and insects)” (AR4, WII, TS:37).

9. Play.

Being able to laugh, to play, to enjoy recreational activities

10. Control over one’s environment

A. Political. Being able to participate effectively in political choices that govern one ﾕ s life; having the right of political participation, protections of free speech and association. B. Material. Being able to hold property (both land and movable goods), and having property rights on an equal basis with others; having the right to seek employment on an equal basis with others; having the freedom from unwarranted search and seizure. In work, being able to work as a human being, exercising practical reason, and entering into meaningful relation- ships of mutual recognition with other workers.

Mobility (Added)

Potential movement in existential, social, and geographical space

“Relocating populations, economic activity ad infrastructure” due to “Very large sea-level rises that would result from widespread deglaciation of Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets” that “imply major changes in coastlines and ecosystems, and inundation of low-lying areas, with the greatest effects in river deltas” (AR4, WII, TS:64)

Life

Bodily Integrity

Senses, imagination, and thought

Emotions

Practical reason

Affiliation

Bodily Health

Control over one’s environment

Other species

Play

Mobility

Climate capabilities?

Thank you for listening!Thank you for listening!