SDG 10: Reduced inequalities – An environmental justice perspective on implications for forests and people

Sijapati Basnett, B.; Myers, R.; Elias, M. (2019). SDG 10: Reduced inequalities – An environmental justice perspective on implications for forests and people. In (Katila, P. et al (eds.)), Sustainable Development Goals: Their impacts on forests and people. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press. p. 315-348. ISBN: 978-1-108-48699-6

SDG 10 calls for reducing inequalities within and among countries. This chapter evaluates the potential effects of addressing SDG 10 from an environmental justice perspective, which comprises three interrelated dimensions: representative, recognition and distributive justice. We find considerable synergies and complementarities between the SDG 10 targets and goals of environmental justice. However, the disjuncture between SDG 10 and environmental goals within the SDGs may undermine efforts to promote environmental justice. Trade is not included in SDG 10; this is an important gap as markets for forest products can drive forest resource extraction, exacerbating inequalities among actors within global production networks. If SDG 10 addresses structural inequalities, it is also likely to support distributive, representational and recognition justice for forest-dependent populations. However, the myopic translation of its aspirational targets into easily measurable indicators may dampen the potential effects of addressing SDG10 in advancing environmental justice. Addressing ‘migration’ related targets and indicators is likely to elevate the importance of these issues in forestry policy and research, while also prompting a re-thinking of some of the underlying assumptions informing existing research in forestry.