Climate Displacement in the Global South: Justice as Resilience

This Study examines climate displacement in the Global South as a question of justice, governance, and unequal protection. It argues that displacement is not simply a natural consequence of climate change, but emerges where environmental stress interacts with weak institutions, poverty, and political inequality. The study introduces the concept of environmental instrumentalism to explain how climate risks are selectively managed, often protecting capital assets, urban centers, and politically valuable regions while leaving marginal communities exposed. It then develops a climate-infused veil of ignorance, building on Rawlsian theory to ask what kind of climate protection system would be chosen if decisionmakers did not know their own position within the climate-risk order. The article proposes equity indicators to assess fair climate governance and uses illustrative examples from Pakistan, Kenya, and the Philippines. The article, therefore, argues that fair climate governance must protect the most vulnerable communities before displacement becomes inevitable and irreversible.