Climate Litigation as an Arena for Epistemic Negotiations: The Emerging ‘Knowledge Citizenship’ of Affected People
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1285/i20356609v19n3p769-787Keywords:
climate litigation, Indigenous, traditional, and local Knowledge, citizenshipAbstract
Indigenous, traditional, and local knowledges are recognized as important for understanding climate change and its local impacts, as they offer nuanced, place-based descriptions of change and incorporate impacts from socio-economic, cultural, and intersectional lenses. Yet, the recognition of their value seldom leads to action, as they are systematically overlooked in climate interventions. This, however, might be changing in the context of climate litigation where recent developments highlight a growing use of personal narratives that convey local knowledge and lived experiences of climate change as evidence. Building on the work of Jasanoff, we frame litigation practices as modes of achieving ‘pragmatic closures’ around epistemic claims and controversies. Taking as case study the recent Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ landmark Advisory Opinion on the Climate Emergency and Human Rights, we search for a distinct dimension of citizenship – a knowledge citizenship – that is arguably forming within climate litigation space as an arena for epistemic negotiations. This form of citizenship would entail a quest for being recognized as knowledge-holders by national and supranational institutions, including judicial ones.
References
Battiste M. (2008), “Research Ethics for Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage: Institutional and Researcher Responsibilities”, in N. Denzin, Y. Lincoln, and L. Smith (eds.), Handbook of Critical and In-digenous Methodologies, Los Angeles: Sage Publications, pp. 497–510.
Berti Suman A. (2021), “Citizen Sensing from a Legal Standpoint: Legitimizing the Practice under the Aar-hus Framework”, The Journal for European Environmental and Planning Law, 18, 8–38.
Berti Suman A. and A. Burnette (2024), “A Place for People’s Knowledge in Climate Evidence: Exploring Civic Evidence in Climate Litigation”, Review of European, Comparative and International Environmen-tal Law, 33(3): 383–396.
Boas I., R. Dahm, and D. Wrathall (2021), “Grounding Big Data on Climate-Induced Human Mobility”, in K. McSweeney and A. WinklerPrins (eds.), Geographical Fieldwork in the 21st Century, London: Routledge, pp. 195-209.
Burger M., J. Wentz, and R. Horton (2020), “The Law and Science of Climate Change Attribution”, Colum-bia Journal of Environmental Law, 45(1): 57-240.
Comunidades pertenecientes al Pueblo Lenca, Comunidades pertenecientes al Pueblo Tolupán, Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras (COPINH), Movimiento Amplio por la Dignidad y la Justicia (MADJ) and Women’s Link Worldwide (WLW) (2023), Observaciones a la solicitud de Opinión Consultiva presentada por la República de Colombia y la República de Chile - Emergencia Climática y Derechos Humanos, Written Observation, IACtHR, Retrieved April 26, 2026 (https://corteidh.or.cr/sitios/observaciones/OC-32/6_lenca_WLW.pdf).
Cunin E. (2026), “The Kichwa of Sarayaku Case at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights: Legal Plu-ralism, Identity and Citizenship in a Context of Extractivism”, Journal of Agrarian Change, e70109. https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.70109
De Castro F. (2012), “Multi-Scale Environmental Citizenship: Traditional Populations and Protected Areas in Brazil”, in A. Latta and H. Wittman (eds.), Environment and Citizenship in Latin America: Natures, Subjects and Struggles, New York: Berghahn Books, pp. 39-58.
Etchart L. (2017), “The Role of Indigenous Peoples in Combating Climate Change”, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 3: 17085. https://doi.org/10.1057/palcomms.2017.85
Fitz-Henry E. (2020), “Conjuring the past: Slow violence and the temporalities of environmental rights tri-bunals”, Geoforum, 108: 259-266.
Fricker M. (2007), Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gabrielson T. (2008), “Green Citizenship: A Review and Critique”, Citizenship Studies, 12(4): 429-446.
Goldman M., M. Turner, and M. Daly (2018), “A Critical Political Ecology of Human Dimensions of Cli-mate Change: Epistemology, Ontology, and Ethics”, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews. Climate Change, 9(4): e526. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.526
Golnaraghi M. et al (2021), Climate Change Litigation - Insights into the evolving global landscape, The Geneva Association. Retrieved April 22, 2026 (https://www.genevaassociation.org/sites/default/files/climate_litigation_04-07-2021.pdf).
Gudynas E. (2009), “Cidadania Ambiental e Metacidadanias Ecológicas: Revisão e Alternativas na América Latina,” Desenvolvimento e Meio Ambiente, 19. https://doi.org/10.5380/dma.v19i0.13954
Inter-American Court of Human Rights - IACtHR (2025), Advisory opinion OC-32/25: Climate emergency and human rights, San José: Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
IACtHR (2024a), Request for an Advisory Opinion OC-32. Call to a Public Hearing. Order of the President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of February 22, 2024, San José: Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
IACtHR (2024b), “Solicitud de Opinión Consultiva sobre la "Emergencia Climática y Derechos Humanos”. Día 3. Parte 2”, Youtube, Revised May 28, 2024, Retrieved April 3, 2026 (https://www.youtube.com/live/aE7tpbAQZuU?si=PlBRs8kPvwSffHSw).
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - IPCC (2023), Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report, Re-trieved April 20, 2026 (https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/).
Jasanoff S. (2011), “The Practices of Objectivity in Regulatory Science”, in C. Camic, N. Gross, and M. La-mont (eds.), Social Knowledge in the Making, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 307-338.
Kabeer N. (2005). Inclusive citizenship: meanings and expressions, London: Zed Books
Keller H. and C. Heri (2022), “The Future is Now: Climate Cases Before the ECtHR”, Nordic Journal of Human Rights, 40(1): 153-174.
Kuokkanen R. (2026), “Society as Reality and Construction: Decolonial Citizenship-Making”, Journal of Applied Philosophy, 43(3): 643-653. https://doi.org/10.1002/japp.70092
Kymlicka W. (2026), “Membership-Making in Diverse Societies: Revisiting the Idea of Society as a Com-mon Possession”, Journal of Applied Philosophy, 43(3): 609-635. https://doi.org/10.1002/japp.70091
Latour B. (2010), The Making of Law: An Ethnography of the Conseil d’État, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Latta P. (2007), “Locating Democratic Politics in Ecological Citizenship”, Environmental Politics, 16(3): 377–393.
Lazar S. (2023), “Citizenship”, in F. Stein (ed.), The Open Encyclopedia of Anthropology, Online: http://doi.org/10.29164/16citizenship.
Lazar S. and M. Nuijten (2013), “Citizenship, the Self, and Political Agency”, Critique of Anthropology, 33(1): 3-7. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308275X12466684
Lima V. (2020), Participatory Citizenship and Crisis in Contemporary Brazil, Cham: Springer.
Lloyd E.A. and T.G. Shepherd (2021), “Climate change attribution and legal contexts: evidence and the role of storylines”, Climatic Change, 167(3-4): 1-13.
McLeman R. and F. Gemenne (2018), “Platform on Disaster Displacement” in R. McLeman and F. Gemenne (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Environmental Displacement, London: Routledge.
Mignolo W. (2011), The Darker Side of Western Modernity: Global Futures, Decolonial Options, Durham: Duke University Press.
Mohanty R. and R. Tandon (2006), Participatory Citizenship. Identity, Exclusion, Inclusion, New Delhi: Sage.
Mujeres en Zona de Sacrificio en Resistencia - MUZOSARE (2023), Ref.: Opinión Consultiva sobre Emergencia Climática y Derechos Humanos Solicitud de O.C. presentada por los estados de Colombia y Chile, Written Observation, IACtHR, Retrieved April 26, 2026 (https://corteidh.or.cr/sitios/observaciones/OC-32/2_MUZOSARE.pdf).
Ogbe S., J. Zhou, L. Wong, and J. Gao (2026), “From Ambition to Action: Barriers and Enablers for the In-clusion of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in the Kunming–Montreal Biodiversity Framework and the Role of Non-State Bridge Organizations”, Advanced Science, 13(45): e23991. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202523991
Onodera H., M. Kaskinen, and E. Ranta (2025), Citizenship Utopias in the Global South: Emerging Forms of Activism in an Era of Disillusionment, London: Routledge.
Quijano A. (2000), “Coloniality of Power, Eurocentrism, and Latin America”, International Sociology, 15(2): 215–232.
Peel J. and J. Lin (2019), “Transnational Climate Litigation: The Contribution of the Global South”, Ameri-can Journal of International Law, 113(4): 679-726.
Reyes-García V. et al. (2024), “Local Studies Provide a Global Perspective of the Impacts of Climate Change on Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities”, Sustainable Earth Reviews, 7: 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42055-023-00063-6
Saab A. (2023), “Discourses of Fear on Climate Change in International Human Rights Law”, European Journal of International Law, 34(1): 113-135.
Schild R. (2016), “Environmental Citizenship: What can Political Theory Contribute to Environmental Edu-cation Practice?”, The Journal of Environmental Education, 47(1): 19-34. https://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.2015.1092417
Sensing for Justice (2025) Retrieved January 22, 2025 (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/891513, https://sensingforjustice.webnode.it/).
Sindico F., M.M. Mbengue, and K. McKenzie (2021), “Climate Change Litigation and the Individual: An Overview”, in F. Sindico and M.M. Mbengue (eds.), Comparative Climate Change Litigation: Beyond the Usual Suspects, Cham: Springer, pp. 1-33.
Smederevac-Lalic M., D. Finger, I. Kovách, M. Lenhardt, J. Petrovic, V. Djikanovic, D. Conti, and J. Boeve-de Pauw (2020), “Knowledge and Environmental Citizenship”, in A. Hadjichambis, P. Reis, D. Paraskeva-Hadjichambi, J. Činčera, J. Boeve-de Pauw, N. Gericke, and M. Knippels (eds.), Conceptualizing Envi-ronmental Citizenship for 21st Century Education, Cham: Springer Nature, pp. 69-82.
Tengö M., E. Brondizio, T. Elmqvist, P. Malmer, and M. Spierenburg (2014), “Connecting Diverse Knowledge Systems for Enhanced Ecosystem Governance: The Multiple Evidence Base Approach”, AMBIO, 43(5): 579–591. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-014-0501-3
Townsend D. and L. Townsend (2021), “Epistemic Injustice and Indigenous Peoples in the Inter-American Human Rights System”, Social Epistemology, 35(2): 147-159. https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2020.1839809
Trial International (2025), Retrieved January 20, 2025 (https://trialinternational.org/topics-post/strategic-litigation/).
Tsioumani E. and L. Parks (2023), “Transforming Biodiversity Governance? Indigenous Peoples' Contribu-tions to the Convention on Biological Diversity”, Biological Conservation, 280: 109933. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2023.109933
Tsosie R. (2012), “Indigenous Peoples and Epistemic Injustice: Science, Ethics, and Human Rights”, Wash-ington Law Review, 87(4): 1133-1201.
Tuck E. and K. Yang (2012), “Decolonization Is Not a Metaphor”, Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education and Society, 1(1): 1-40.
Vanhala L. (2022), “Environmental Legal Mobilization”, Annual Review Law and Social Science, 18: 101-117.
Voigt C. (2020), “Climate Change as a Challenge for Global Governance, Courts and Human Rights”, in W. Kahl and M-P. Weller (eds.), Climate Change Litigation-Liability and Damages from a Comparative Per-spective, New York: Hart, pp. 2-20.
Vermeylen S. (2019), “Special Issue: Environmental Justice and Epistemic Violence”, Local Environment, 24(2): 89-93. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2018.1561658
Wewerinke M.J. (2019), State Responsibility, Climate Change and Human Rights under International Law, Oxford: Hart Publishing.
Wewerinke M.J. and Antoniadis M. (2022), “Vessel for Drowning Persons? The standard-setting potential of international human rights litigation in addressing climate displacement”, Yearbook of International Dis-aster Law, 3: 238-273.
Whyte K. (2016), “Indigenous Environmental Movements and the Function of Governance Institutions”, in T. Gabrielson, C. Hall, J. Meyer, and D. Schlosberg (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Environmental Political Theory, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 563-580.
Whyte K. (2018), “What Do Indigenous Knowledges Do for Indigenous Peoples?”, in K. Nelson and D. Shil-ling (eds.), Keepers of the Green World: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Sustainability, Cam-bridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 57-82.
Öllerer K., P. Malmer, M. Biró, N. Noor, P. Shulbaeva, M. Ferrari, S. Subramanian, A. Báldi, and Z. Molnár (2026), “Global Overview of Progress in Respecting the Contributions of Traditional Knowledge in Bio-diversity Governance”, Conservation Biology, 40(3): e70205. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.70205
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 PARTECIPAZIONE E CONFLITTO
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with PACO agree to the Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial-Share alike 4.0 Italian License
Copyrights of each article are hold by the University of Salento.
PACO allows author(s) to retain publishing rights under permission of the Editorial Staff. But Authors are requested to always indicate that the first version of the article has been published in "Partecipazione e conflitto".
