Shadow of Climate Apartheid - Inequality in the Twenty-first Century

Shadow of Climate Apartheid - Inequality in the Twenty-first Century

The term "climate apartheid" is a concept that refers to a situation in which the impacts of climate change are distributed inequitably across social and economic disparities. In 2007, Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council, warned that while the wealthy are able to escape disasters and heat waves through heating and cooling systems, insurance, and means of migration, the poor suffer the most and have no way to avoid it. He shocked the international community by using the strong term "apartheid" to describe this inequality.

Climate change continues to threaten people's livelihoods in the form of droughts, floods, and rising sea levels. But the effects are not uniform. While the wealthy are able to choose where to take shelter and enjoy the benefits of urban infrastructure, low-income people and residents of developing countries are left in the middle of the disaster. In cities hit by heat waves, people enjoy air-conditioned lifestyles, while others endure extreme heat and are exposed to health hazards. Farmers who lose their livelihoods due to floods and droughts and are forced to move as climate refugees. This picture shows that climate change is not just a natural phenomenon, but a force that amplifies socially structured inequalities.

Moreover, from a historical perspective, although it is the developed countries that have emitted the largest amount of greenhouse gases, it is the developing countries with the lowest emissions that have suffered the most severe damage. Despite their small responsibility, the people of small island states in the Pacific and Bangladesh are facing an existential crisis as they lose their land and homes to rising sea levels. Here lies the problem of climate justice, and it poses an unavoidable question in international politics.

Of course, there is criticism that the term "apartheid" is radical. Whether a metaphor that evokes institutional racial segregation is appropriate is debatable. At the same time, however, it is true that the strength of the term has provided an opportunity to reframe climate change as an issue of human rights and social equality, rather than simply an environmental problem. The expression "climate apartheid" makes visible the structures that make the vulnerable even more vulnerable and forces us to confront the need for action.

The world of the 21st century faces this "climate shadow gap" and must answer the question of how to reconcile a sustainable future with an equitable society.