Environmental racism refers to government and/or corporate rules, regulations, policies, or institutional decisions that intentionally target specific communities for locally undesirable land uses and lax enforcement of zoning and environmental laws, resulting in disproportionate exposure of communities to toxic and hazardous waste because of their race. Environmental racism is caused by several factors, including deliberate neglect, the alleged need for a container for pollutants in urban areas, and a lack of institutional power and low land values of people of color. It is a well-documented fact that communities of color and low-income communities are disproportionately affected by polluting industries (and especially hazardous waste facilities) and lax regulations in these industries. Environmental justice communities face disproportionate levels of chemical pollution, reduced air quality, contaminated water sources, and overall lower health. [64] Lack of recognition and policy changes in exposures affecting the overall health of these communities result in decreased environmental and human health. [65] Environmental justice communities can be identified through a variety of methods, such as:[65] • The ability of less powerful sections of society to shape the contours of struggles for environmental justice. Environmental injustices are therefore “work in progress”; Because the resistance continues. In Europe, Roma are ethnic minorities and are distinguished from the rest of the European population by their culture, language and history. Environmental discrimination ranges from the unequal distribution of environmental damage to the unequal distribution of education, health services and employment.
In many countries, Roma are forced to live in slums because many laws allowing them to obtain residence permits discriminate against them. This forces Roma to live in ghetto-style urban shelters or slums. In the Czech Republic and Romania, Roma are forced to live in places where running water and sanitation have less access, and in Ostrava, Czech Republic, Roma live in apartments above an abandoned methane-emitting mine. In Bulgaria too, public infrastructure extends from the city of Sofia to the Roma village, where there is virtually no access to water or sewerage. [77] In France, many Alternatiba events or alternative villages offer hundreds of alternatives to climate change and lack of environmental justice to raise awareness and stimulate behavior change. They have been or are organized in more than sixty different French and European cities such as Bilbao, Brussels, Geneva, Lyon or Paris. In Australia, the environmental justice movement is not as defined as in the United States. Australia experiences some discrimination, mainly in the siting of hazardous waste management facilities in areas where people do not receive adequate information about the company. The injustice that occurs in Australia is defined as an environmental policy, who gets the unwanted landfill or who has control over where the factory opens. The movement towards egalitarian environmental politics focuses more on who can fight to start businesses and takes place in parliament; in the United States, environmental justice aims to make nature safer for all.
[91] Global environmental inequality refers to “the expression of an environmental burden that would be borne mainly by disadvantaged people and/or minorities or by areas suffering from a certain degree of poverty and the exclusion of these inhabitants.” [7] Global environmental inequality is a problem that affects both developing and developed countries around the world. Environmental injustice can result from a variety of factors, but usually stems from special interest groups that alienate other groups within the community. Some of the specific causes of environmental injustice are: Environmental justice is protected and protected by the 2010 Constitution, with legal proceedings against harmful practices and funding by the national government and external donors to ensure a clean, healthy and ecologically balanced environment. However, Nairobi continues to suffer from poor environmental protection, with the Nairobi River constantly obstructed and emptied, a problem the government attributes to the city`s high informal sector and business development.