Published with license by Koninklijke Brill bv | doi:10.1163/29502292-00202006 © Dobrosława Wiktor-Mach et al., 2024 | ISSN: 2950-2306(print) 2950-2292 (online) This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the cc by 4.0 license. Kurdish Studies Journal 2 (2024) 151–181 brill.com/ksj Decolonising Environmental Justice Grassroots Perspectives from Iranian Kurdistan/Rojhelat on Water Rights and Ecological Activism Dobrosława Wiktor-Mach | orcid: 0000-0002-1158-2574 Krakow University of Economics, Krakow, Poland wiktord@uek.krakow.pl Azad Rahim Hajiagha | orcid: 0000-0002-6822-4532 Institute of Oriental Studies, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland Ah.haji@gmail.com Wendelmoet Hamelink | orcid: 0000-0002-3347-5059 Centre for Gender Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway wendelmoet.hamelink@stk.uio.no Received 29 September 2023 | Accepted 2 September 2024 | Published online 2 December 2024 Abstract This article explores the practices and discourses of environmental justice in Iranian Kurdistan/Rojhelat. In the face of unprecedented destruction of the natural environ- ment, Kurdish people, including a significant number of women, organise themselves to defend ecosystems, lakes, rivers, and forests, making them part of the global environ- mental justice movement. Local communities face growing challenges such as water scarcity, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, exploitation of natural resources, and pol- lution, which directly affect their lives and health. Drawing on decolonial and critical perspectives of environmental justice studies, we ask how Kurdish activists understand the concepts of “justice” and “environment” in the context of discriminatory practices of the capitalist, patriarchal, and authoritarian Iranian state. Based on interviews and fieldwork in the region, this article argues that the global environmental justice move- ment should pay closer attention to the contextual realities of the subaltern, their aims and ideas related to nature, justice, and women empowerment.