39 © Te Author(s) 2021
M. Parsons et al., Decolonising Blue Spaces in the Anthropocene, Palgrave Studies in
Natural Resource Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61071-5_2
2
Environmental Justice and Indigenous
Environmental Justice
In this chapter, we outline the four essential ideas or proposals that pro-
vide the theoretical framework of this book. Firstly, the dominant fram-
ings and articulations of environmental justice (EJ) do not account for
the complexities of Indigenous intergenerational environmental justice.
Secondly, scholars and decision-makers need to consider what EJ is and
how it can be taken into account in the context of environmental gover-
nance and management that goes beyond a narrow framing of justice as
distributive equity, procedural inclusion, or recognition of Indigenous
rights and consider the intersecting and interacting processes that under-
pin environmental (in)justices faced by Indigenous peoples. Tirdly, the
theoretical discussion of EJ needs to recognise Indigenous sovereignties,
cultures, and identities through Indigenous ontologies and epistemolo-
gies rather than through Western liberal thought and governance
approaches. And lastly, the theoretical underpinnings of the study of
Indigenous environmental justice (IEJ) need to incorporate intergenera-
tional considerations.
Tese four ideas or arguments allow us to consider and explore the
theoretical and empirical gaps within the literature on EJ. Besides, it pro-
vides us space to explore how a diversity of diferent scholars (Indigenous