Climate justice and participatory research: Building climate‐resilient commons By Patricia E.Perkins (Ed.), Calgary: University of Calgary Press. 2023. 320 pages. $39.99 (paperback). ISBN: 9781773854076

Climate justice and participatory research is an edited collection broadly framed by three concepts: climate justice, participatory research, and the commons. The book aims to address the what, where, and how of climate justice through the voices of scholar-activists from South America, Africa, and Canada. Each of the lead chapter authors was a participant in an international project focused on climate justice, commons governance, and ecological economics that helped fund much of the research outlined within the collection. The stated objective of the collection is to illustrate how participatory research, knowledge, and livelihood commons can help to build community-based climate resilience. The collection contains an introduction and 17 other chapters divided into four sections: Knowledge Commons; Food, Land, and Agriculture Commons; Water and Fisheries Commons; and Collective Resilience for Climate Justice. Climate justice is understood as a multivalent construct that finds form as a movement, academic field, organizing principle, and political demand. Many of the chapters present case studies of research undertaken in collaboration with local communities and civil society networks on topics such as: smallholder farmers' sensitivities and adaptive strategies to climate change; palm oil agriculture; access and governance of common-pool natural resources; social values of soil; water insecurity and catchment management; community monitoring and citizen science; and climate actions/activism. The outstanding strength of this collection is that it captures in one volume the diverse voices and experiences of numerous racialized people and communities from the majority world, disproportionately impacted by climate change and/or natural resource management issues. The case studies offer glimpses of the ingenuity and adaptability of these individuals and communities, and provide insights into how modern global processes of extraction, commodification, and colonial logics further disadvantage these people. Through detailed overviews of regions in South America and Africa, the chapters also outline the biogeography and local economies associated with specific bioregions. Thus, several of the chapters in the collection could serve as useful case studies for undergraduate courses in environmental studies, human geography, and global studies. Two chapters I might consider for the environmental studies courses I teach include: Chapter 8, “Mining and Water Insecurity in Brazil” and Chapter 16, “Action Research for Climate Justice.” The case study in Brazil focuses on water-related injustices associated with mine-tailing dam ruptures that have killed nearly 300 people; contaminated entire watersheds, many of which are on Indigenous lands and in densely forested areas; and affected the water supply for several million downstream urban residents. The authors trace how these tragic events were predictable, and will continue, as they are rooted in regulatory and enforcement failures perpetrated by both governments and mining companies that are effectively sidestepping their responsibilities through organized disinformation campaigns. Nevertheless, geo-participatory mapping combining community knowledge and satellite images is being used to identify potential risks of water contamination and flooding due to dam rupture for education purposes and to encourage collective action and community empowerment. The Action Research study focuses on a comparative analysis of two very different climate “solutions” applied in communities in Mozambique. The first is a “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation” (REDD) project that was overseen by the now defunct for-profit British company Envirotrade, which collected carbon offset payments to plant trees. When it folded, Envirotrade left behind unpaid debts to many farmers for their labour and ongoing care of the trees, and because the company promoted the substitution of agroforestry for food crops, the project jeopardized food availability and access, as well as community sovereignty and independence. In contrast, the second project involves a community environmental organization that collaborated closely with local farmers to implement small-scale sustainable agriculture and livestock rearing practices that support community forest conservation. The project combines education, land-use registrations, creation of producer associations, and income-generating activities (e.g., forest products) that are continuously re-evaluated and readapted to serve the needs of the farmers and community. In both these chapters, the detailed case study descriptions are accompanied by insightful theoretically informed analysis that highlight the chains of global-local injustices that exacerbate vulnerabilities already faced by communities disadvantaged and burdened by neoliberal practices and logics, and climate change impacts. Across the volume the authors emphasize the importance of partnership alliances and collective action in effectively addressing socioecological challenges and advancing resilience. Partnerships between academics and community members are included in this consideration. However, while a guiding concept, participatory research is not adequately defined and discussed in the introduction, and there are variable understandings of this method applied across the research. Similarly, the collection highlights the importance of grassroots perspectives in protecting the commons and adapting to the impacts of climate change, but the collection would have benefitted from a more substantive discussion in the introduction of the commons, particularly with respect to climate justice, as well as consistent engagement with these concepts across all of the chapters. Nonetheless, the book makes a useful contribution to our understanding of global climate justice struggles.

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