Gendering International Legal Responses to Environmental Chronic Emergencies

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License. It is free to read, download and share on Elgaronline. This incisive book presents a gendered perspective on chronic environmental emergencies including climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and environmental degradation. Derived from the innovative concept of slow violence, the phenomenon of chronic environmental emergencies considers situational vulnerabilities and the disproportionate impact of these events on women. Providing an ecofeminist assessment of chronic emergencies, as well as their effects on actors, legal obligations, and possible remedies, the book examines the interplay between feminism, the environment, and international law. Chapters conceptualize environmental chronic emergencies, analysing their impact across time and in various contexts spanning slow-onset events, responsibility and liability, and due diligence obligations. The global contributor team uses gendered and post-colonial approaches to advance the legal debate beyond disasters to more subtle forms of oppression, particularly towards indigenous women and female health. Ultimately, the book looks ahead at new interdisciplinary avenues of research which address the gradual deterioration of ecosystems and its effect on insidious forms of oppression through deep-rooted structural inequalities. Shedding light on the social and legal elements of climate degradation, this book is a fundamental resource for scholars and students of environmental law, humanitarian law, and public international law. International lawyers and advocates for human rights will also benefit from the book's theoretical and methodological insights.