Operationalising climate justice: a case study of experiences of flooding and flood governance in Rochdale Borough

Climate justice is becoming increasingly established as a theory capable of navigating the complex challenges and arising inequalities of climate change. However, there are few empirical investigations, particularly global north adaptation-related, which employ justice as their analytical framing. More specifically, research into flooding lacks a normative framework which can be applied across broad aspects of flooding. The aim of this thesis is to devise and operationalise a climate justice framework for investigating climate adaptation approaches, specifically responses to flooding in England. The climate justice framework intended for investigating flooding in England is based on four tenets of justice: epistemic justice, justice as recognition, procedural justice, and distributive justice. The objectives were threefold. First, to understand the flooding experiences and related concerns of residents and flood governance actors affected by flooding. Second, and based on these accounts, to understand the extent to which the climate justice framework is compatible with the concerns of residents affected by flooding. Finally, to apply the framework to flood governance policy documents to analyse them for themes of climate justice. The research found that residents affected by flooding actively managed their own flood risk and hold valuable experiential knowledge about flood risk in their areas. The majority felt that the impacts of flooding outlasted the physical water and residents expressed a desire to feel more heard in flood governance processes. Flood governance actors expressed concern for residents and systemic challenges which led to fragmentation in governance procedures. These experiences and concerns reflect themes captured by the climate justice framework, although there are implications for how the framework is used and by whom. The analysis of two flood governance policy documents demonstrated that there is a shortfall of climate justice considerations in English flood policy. Through a reflexive application of the climate justice framework, I show that it can offer new perspectives for considering flooding by centring the voices of people affected. Empirically, this thesis provides an original contribution through the empirical accounts of flooding in Rochdale Borough, thus highlighting the disjuncture from a justice perspective between everyday experiences and flood governance intentions. It reinforces how the impacts of flooding reach far beyond the physical floodwater and have significant ongoing consequences. Theoretically, through reflexive operationalisation of the climate justice framework, I demonstrate that it can offer new perspectives for considering flooding by centering the voices of people affected. This contributes an empirical application of climate justice to a growing field which will be vital to ethically navigating the impacts of climate change.