Global South-led vision of climate justice: perspective from the Filipino climate grassroots movement
Preface
The Philippines is one of the countries most at risk from recurring natural disasters amplified by the climate crisis. Yet the country’s carbon emissions are minute compared to the top 100 carbon majors, namely fossil fuel industries, who are mainly responsible for the climate crisis. There is a burgeoning grassroots movement in the Philippines, calling for climate justice, and it is far from a monolithic makeup of people.
The climate crisis is a multi-layered, wicked problem that will only continue to exacerbate existing inequalities. Studies show that climate change disproportionately affects populations composed of the poor, the people of colour, indigenous peoples, women and the children of the Global South. Here comes the place-based, Filipino grassroots climate movement which seeks, to amplify voices often unheard and marginalised who carry the brunt of the climate crisis. In this piece, we hear experiences from marginalised groups including indigenous people, fisherfolks, same-sex couples, farmers, transgenders and women. This exposes the many layers of injustices to a person’s set of identities that are often unique to them in the face of the climate crisis. This work established a place-based definition of climate justice, expressions of climate justice and identified the challenges that impede the grassroots agenda. All of which is articulated through the lens of the Philippines’ most marginalised, vulnerable communities impacted by the climate crisis.
Personal note
This essay is a condensed version of my master’s thesis at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. I had the most revealing experience from interviewing frontliners in the grassroots-led climate movement in the Philippines calling for climate justice. The study was completed four years ago, but even to this day, its findings remain relevant, and the people’s voices are still and always worth amplifying.
The study was more than just a chosen topic to complete my master’s. It was always worth more than an academic requirement for the sake of completing my degree but I see it as important work that could bring about tangible change or understanding to the right audience. It is the hope, that this written work will help the Filipino grassroots movement, even if it is by a small margin. Evidently, the study was shared with the largest, climate civil society organisation in the island nation, Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ) which, resulted in informing the organisation’s strategic direction ahead of this year’s UN COP30 2025.
To the reader: if you would like further information on the study or wish to continue the conversation, I welcome it with an open mind and heart.
Defining climate justice
The concept of climate justice is relatively new and shares common ground with its sister term, environmental justice, but with a focus on the impacts of excess greenhouse gas emissions. There are versions of what climate justice means to scholars, state-based entities, and broadly speaking, the Global North. More critically, the study aimed to provide a place-based definition of climate justice from the voices of marginalised, Filipino communities, summarised below:
“Climate justice holds major carbon emitters, namely fossil fuel industries and industrialised nations, accountable for the violations in living a safe and dignified life as a result of the inequitable impacts of climate change. Moving forward, climate action must be led through the lens of the most vulnerable people and planet whilst simultaneously working towards the collective liberation of marginalised identities by addressing the unjust systems at large.”
Overall, climate justice has two dimensions: accountability and social justice. It has to be pro-people and pro-environment.
Who is climate justice for?
Unsurprisingly, the Filipino people is not monolithic and climate justice brings specific identities to the fore that are often the “ones being left behind” (Mariel) “rendered twice vulnerable, twice marginalised by the climate impacts and climate injustices” (Kyla).“Otherwise, it’s so easy to forget them” (Christine). The interviewees shared accounts of tangible examples exposing unique layers of struggle, according to different aspects of an individual’s identity below.
-
They uphold stewardship over the lands and have direct reliance on natural resources, yet they face displacement from ancestral lands, food and water insecurity due to development projects like mining and dams. Despite being most affected by climate events, they are among the lowest greenhouse gas emitters.
-
Feminine care, like sanitary napkins, feminine wash, are often forgotten in relief packs in disaster relief drives after typhoons and flooding. “Women are double oppressed, their oppressed by patriarchy and their oppressed by the climate crisis.” (Joshua). Moreover, women are 14x more likely to die in a climate disaster than men.
-
After a typhoon, fisherfolk were relocated far from the sea, hence their livelihoods. Government-issued boats were left to rot, forcing many to change careers or build makeshift homes near fishing sites. They would later return to their distant relocation sites to visit family often resulting in broken families.
A study found that fish catch dropped by more than 70% —or none— due to destructive reclamation projects damaging vital marine habitats like mangroves and seagrass, worsening their vulnerability.
-
They are the most important sector as main food producers, but often lack enough food themselves (Marinel). Despite being an agricultural country, there is still poor irrigation and climate impacts e.g. droughts, and landlessness due to development projects worsening their struggles (Jayson).
-
A same-sex couple with an adopted child “weren’t recognised as a family” (Marinel), hampering their rights to a permanent relocation house awarded by the government when houses were destroyed and people were displaced by the 2013 Typhoon Haiyan.
-
During recovery from Typhoon Haiyan, assessors relied on a transgender community leader to survey local e.g. number of males, females, children, breastfeeding mothers etc., but overlooked LGBTQ+ people. “Climate justice is also about gender inequality—that’s another layer of being left behind” (Mariel).
Last March, I joined Sydney’s Climate Action Week event on bringing indigenous knowledge systems into climate action. Even in the Australian context, Katie Kiss (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner) echoed that First Nations people contribute the least carbon emissions yet face the brunt of the climate crisis. Thus, these identities are exposed to shared struggles that transcend borders since they operate within the same backdrop of larger systemic issues, hence the need for social justice.
Expressions of climate justice
The figure below summarises non-exhaustive expressions of climate justice that are multi-scalar, multi-pronged, with entry points from local, national to international levels that remain relevant today. Actions to achieve climate justice should reflect their place-based needs and positioned as co-authors in climate solutions - as their knowledge is born from their unique and highly personal experiences, given their proximity to disproportionate impacts of climate change.
Concentric circles for the expressions of climate justice.
Challenges
Conversely, some challenges impede the grassroots movement in achieving climate justice. The table summarises key factors below.
-
Description text goes hereFront-line communities are not only endangered by more frequent, intensified weather conditions but also more susceptible to anthropogenic violence from state terrors e.g. red-tagging. In 2020, the Philippines had the third highest number of killings of land and environmental defenders (including indigenous peoples) after Colombia and Mexico.
-
Fisherfolks, farmers and indigenous peoples could not recognise that their livelihoods/living conditions are due to climate change. Education is still focused on individualistic actions like recycling and zero-waste lifestyles; not to disparage such efforts but there was insufficient recognition on root causes of climate change.
-
Funding opportunities from international entities were reversed if organisations were red-tagged, despite their innocence. Prominent organisations are often favoured at a global platform as the narrative of front-line Global South actors is not deemed palatable feeding into the imbalance power dynamics with societal structures at large.
Conclusion
All participants were clear that coalitions and alliances as a collective unit are crucial to the Philippine movement for climate justice; One that transcends national borders and is built on intersectional solidarity. This puts the Filipino grassroots in an opportune position to tap into the essence of the Filipino value system: kapwa. Kapwa is a core indigenous trait and concept in Filipino social psychology that upholds community, collective action and, sense of oneness. Kapwa evokes that you are not alone, it is sharing the burden of others, channelling empathy and compassion, especially for those who are marginalised, if we just listen to their call.
Transformative change for climate justice goes beyond the grassroots that needs a plethora of actors. Keeping in mind that the voices of the most marginalised should be central to effective and just climate policies and decision-making.