Dr Bridget Pratt1
1Australian Catholic University
Social injustice and ecological injustice are deeply interconnected. Yet conceptions of social justice, environmental justice, and ecological justice remain distinct. Their separation is extremely problematic if we are to address global crises ethically and equitably in relation to both humans and nature. When they are considered independently, efforts to address one may perversely negatively affect the other: climate change mitigation and adaptation may breed social injustice and efforts to reduce health inequity may further degrade the environment. This paper proposes an initial conception of socio-ecological justice (SEJ): it articulates an overarching SEJ principle, identifies five core SEJ dimensions, and defines areas of moral urgency to address as a matter of SEJ.
The paper then applies the SEJ conception to the health system context. Health systems are social structures that generate a big carbon footprint while trying to equitably deliver high-quality healthcare. We thus urgently need to consider social and ecological justice together when designing health systems. Existing conceptions of just health systems, however, neither do that nor describe how health systems should promote certain dimensions of social justice. The proposed SEJ conception supports reimagining just health systems as promoting social justice not only in terms of inclusion and wellbeing but also in terms of power, recognition, and harmony, while minimising their contribution to ecological injustice across the same five dimensions.
Biography:
Bridget Pratt is the Mater Lecturer in Healthcare Ethics at the Queensland Bioethics Centre at Australian Catholic University. Her research interests include the ethics of global health research and health systems research, with a focus on social justice, ecological justice, and global justice.