Environmental justice in the UK: uncertainty, ambiguity and the law

Abstract

This paper examines the concept of environmental justice with particular reference to its development in the UK. The paper analyses the empirical evidence behind environmental justice and argues that, while the body of evidence is compelling, it simultaneously highlights a number of limitations. Moreover, the paper offers an analysis of the multiple responses taken at official and non-governmental organisation levels to environmental justice. The paper argues that often these responses are vague and diverse, and run the risk of rendering environmental justice, as a concept, ineffective. Finally, the paper discusses what role the law may be able to play in shaping environmental justice debates in the UK.