Item UOW/11/CFSD/8 - Reconciling Environmental and Social Concerns: Findings from the JRF research programme

Reconciling Environmental and Social Concerns: Findings from the JRF research programme, Malcolm Eames (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, July 2006).

Environmental justice describes the link between environmental problems, social exclusion and regeneration. It is often defined as ensuring that no one community or group suffers disproportionately negative impacts from environmental policies, omissions, and acts. This six-month study for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation aims to provide wider dissemination on the links between environmental and social inequality and the lessons that can be learnt for sustainable area regeneration. The research is intended to do two things. First, provide a review of research done to date on social inclusion and environmental concerns and their links to environmental justice. Second, examine how environmental justice could improve the inclusion of disadvantaged groups in the delivery of local regeneration or neighbourhood renewal programmes. The research will offer a critical evaluation of the ways in which environmental justice plays a role in establishing area regeneration that provides: access to participation and decision making, access to relevant information, and ensures that no one group suffers from disproportional negative impact of its policies or initiatives.