Browsing by Author "Wilkinson Cross, Kate"

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    Comparing the transformative potentials of the FCCC and the CCD: An ecofeminist exploration
    (2018-12-06) Wilkinson Cross, Kate
    Ecofeminists have long exposed the gendered character of human progress and its destructive impact on social and environmental commons. They contend that mainstream strategies responding to environmental crises reaffirm the subordination of women and nonhuman nature, while also reinforcing the power structures that sustain a white, heteronormative and masculine hegemony. While there is significant ecofeminist scholarship in gender and environment studies, there is little research to date which deconstructs international environmental law in order to explore the extent to which it maintains, reinforces or transforms understandings about human/nonhuman connections and their gendered nature. This article contributes to broader ecofeminist scholarship by synthesising Karen Warren’s ecofeminist ethics into an analytical framework through which to analyse international environmental law. The article develops an original analysis of how transformational international legal regimes have been in shaping the international community’s view of the environment and human/non-human interconnections. Comparing the often-ignored UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) 1994, as well as the more (in)famous UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 1992, the author evaluates to what extent these regimes engage with and respond to the underlying institutional, structural, social, and conceptual frameworks that contribute to the continued degradation of the environment. The author concludes that while both regimes have transformative potential, they both continue to affirm an ideological perspective that disembeds humanity from the environment, while at the same time commodifying nature in order to protect it.
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    Ecofeminist Potentials in International Environmental Law
    (Lexington Books, 2018-01) Wilkinson Cross, Kate
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    Fonua Cultural Statelessness in the Pacific: Climate induced migration and displacement
    (Manchester University Press, 2021-09) Wilkinson Cross, Kate; Kingi, Pefi
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    Payment for ‘ecosystem services’ and the ‘green economy’: green-washing or something new?
    (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2014-09-01) Wilkinson Cross, Kate
    Using an ecofeminist critical analysis, this paper examines the extent to which two forest-related payments for ‘ecosystem services’ (PES) schemes maintain a mainstream anti-nature and exploitative conceptualisation of human/nature relationships. It does so by integrating various ecofeminist themes to analyse the two PES schemes and to assess the extent to which they can protect women and nature while marketising and commodifying the environment. The author examines the justifications for integrating PES into a green economy, including the proposed benefits resulting from the implementation of PES, and safeguards ensuring the inclusion and participation of local communities. The author concludes that an ecofeminist examination highlights the inherently exploitative nature of PES and its continuation of the currently exploitative free market paradigm.
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    Technological Innovations Tackling Biodiversity Loss: Solutions or Misdirection?
    (Law, Technology and Humans, 2019-09-02) Wilkinson Cross, Kate
    Using original data derived from the thematic analysis of three international agreements and the 2016 Conference of the Parties (COP) and Meeting of the Parties (MOP) Decisions, this article examines the incorporation of technology and technological innovation in the biological diversity regime. It finds that that the biodiversity regime incorporates discourses of ecological modernisation and prioritises technological innovation for biodiversity loss, particularly in the 2016 COP and MOP Decisions. The empirical analysis indicates that themes regarding progress, ‘improving’ the environment and the role of technology in mediating economic growth and development are embedded in references to technology and technological innovation. Drawing on an ecofeminist perspective, this article examines how these themes highlight the prioritisation of technological innovation to prevent biodiversity loss. The author concludes that this prioritisation inhibits opportunities to fully engage with developing alternative approaches towards resolving environmental problems as these approaches require a re-evaluation of the societal institutions and practices that exploit and destroy the non-human environment.
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    Towards an ecofeminist theory of inter-generational equity and its application in the climate change context
    (Edward Elgar, 2023) Wilkinson Cross, Kate
    Inter-generational equity (IGE) could be a powerful normative principle to achieve climate justice for present and future generations of human and nonhuman nature in the activities of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate change (FCCC). However, until the FCCC moves beyond the exploitative discourses of ecological modernisation and sustainable development, any policy seeking to address IGE will be unable to reconcile the tensions between present and future generations of humans and nonhuman nature. Using the FCCC’s Gender Action Plan as a focal point, this chapter examines how the climate change regime is seeking to achieve IGE for women and girls. Drawing on ecofeminist philosophy, this chapter argues that rather than recognising the interrelationships between humans and nature, and the necessity to include future generations of nonhuman nature in policy development, the FCCC approaches IGE as an anthropocentric distributive justice issue. This inhibits the normative power of the principle and results in short-sighted and limited policy making that undermines the potential to achieve gender equality for present and future generations.