1. Muslim Hikers 

As people from ethnic minority backgrounds felt excluded from the British countryside, this community group was set up to include everyone – Muslim or otherwise – to participate in walks and hiking events across Britain. 

2. The Wanderlust Women

Emerging from the absence of Muslim women seen hiking and exploring mountains in the U.K., women-only retreats and international expeditions are regularly organized and are designed to broaden horizons and challenge boundaries. 

3. Green Deen Tribe

Inspired by Ibrahim Abdul-Matin’s book “Green Deen: What Islam Teaches about Protecting the Planet”, GDT seeks to enhance our spiritual relationship with Allah through connecting with nature. With regular hiking retreats, walks and workshops in the U.K., GDT practices deep reflection on the Earth and its blessings.

4.  UK Muslim Scout Fellowship 

Serving groups from ages 4 to 25 across the U.K. is one of the largest Muslim youth organizations. It provides the opportunity for children and adults to develop skills such as planning, commitment and teamwork. 

5. Brown People Camping

This group started largely as a social media initiative which campaigns for greater access and diversity to the outdoors for communities from marginalized backgrounds in and around the U.S. 

6. Green Muslims 

A volunteer-led organization based in Washington, D.C., aimed at connecting Muslims to climate and environmental activism through regularly hosting events, imparting environmental education and inspiring local action. 

7. Outdoor Muslims 

A community of Muslims around Washington, D.C. who seek to promote environmental stewardship and create a safe space for meaningful outdoor experiences. 

8. Muslim Family Adventures

Empowering families to bond together through having enriching experiences surrounded by nature, establishing core memories and discovering new skills. Taking place in National Parks around the U.K., MFA provides opportunities to discover the power of nature. 

9. Muslim Outdoor Adventures

Aiming to break down barriers, their outreach and guided programs offer the space to involve more Canadian Muslims in participating in outdoor spaces and practicing responsibly using the land. 

The post The Muslim Groups Making Outdoors Accessible appeared first on Muslim Climate Watch.

Housing Apartheid in Delhi, the NCR

Delhi’s landscape is increasingly marred by a housing apartheid, fueled by a surge in Islamophobia. An example of the housing apartheid is evident in the town of Jamia Nagar, where, south of Delhi, the Muslim population survives without basic amenities and public services, deeming it a ‘Muslim ghetto’. Traditionally, ghettos are inhabited by disenfranchised communities undergoing oppression by the state. 

Through various business practices by brokers and agents, the housing divide is maintained and upheld in the NCR. Landlords and brokers will often refuse to accommodate Muslim families when seeking housing in largely Hindu areas. Brokers will often direct these tenants overtly toward areas with a high-Muslim majority by telling them no other houses are available. Brokers also decide where to place tenants based on their names, revealing their religious identity and enabling discriminatory practices. Locals report that Hindu families tend to relocate when Muslim families move into their neighbourhoods, expressing a preference to live in a “safe place where there are no Muslims”. 

As a result of this ongoing housing apartheid and growing fears of religious discrimination and attacks, Muslims are evacuating Hindu-majority posh areas to move to Muslim-majority ghettos, like Jamia Nagar, an area in South Delhi with limited access to basics such as running water and electricity, for fear of persecution. With recent extreme weather experienced in India, access to drinking water is vital for preventing heat strokes, yet 95.1% of people in these ghettos struggle to obtain the necessary water to stay cool during the summer. The absence of adequate housing and basic resources leaves Muslim minorities in India disproportionately affected by climate change.

Islamophobia Exacerbating Climate Vulnerability

Since PM Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014, hate crimes against religious minorities have soared, with new discriminatory laws and policies constantly being implemented. Under this Hindu nationalist (or Hindutva) government, the use of bulldozers to demolish Muslim properties has become disturbingly common, echoing tactics used in the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Hindutva forces believe that Muslims have no rightful place in India, a sentiment propagated by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). These demolitions, including mosques and Muslim-owned shops, are carried out under false pretenses of removing “illegal and unauthorized buildings”, forcing many Muslims into ghettos lacking essential services to protect against rising climate impacts.

Muslim ghettos across India are plagued by inadequate infrastructure. A significant portion of these communities live without access to clean water and reliable electricity. Schools and parks are also scarce, with most areas lacking sewage or waste management systems. Delhi is experiencing rising temperatures and extreme weather events, exacerbated by urban factors like construction, traffic, and a lack of green spaces. Temperatures have been recorded at a high of 52.3°C (126.1°F). For Muslims living in inadequate housing, these extreme conditions pose severe physical health risks. Proper housing plays a crucial role in protecting individuals from the adverse effects of heat and climate change. Yet, many Muslim ghettos lack this fundamental protection – affecting their mental health as well. 

The discrimination and segregation Muslim communities endure limit their access to resources and support, making them more vulnerable to extreme weather events and rising temperatures. Studies estimate that 17.8% of all annual deaths in India are due to air pollution. Mass displacement is another by-product of the climate crisis, whereby annual floods, heatwaves, and air pollution cause unbridled disruption to communities, affecting millions. 

Climate Justice in India

In his recent book, Climate Justice in India, author Prakash Kashwan found that the “urban poor, Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims, and other marginalized people with little political voice”, are worst hit by air pollution and the climate crisis across India. With a lack of coverage in the national media, the effects of the climate crisis unfairly borne by these groups are largely denied and ignored.

The deadly intersection of housing apartheid amidst rising Islamophobia in Delhi, the NCR and across India is pushing Muslim communities into ghettos, where they face disproportionate impacts of climate change. Addressing these intertwined issues requires integrated efforts focusing on improving living conditions, combating discrimination, and enhancing climate resilience. Without acknowledging and acting on these intersectional challenges, particularly rising Islamophobia and its implications on the climate-vulnerable communities, India cannot deliver a more just and equitable society for all.

The post Islamophobia, Housing Apartheid, and Climate Vulnerability in India appeared first on Muslim Climate Watch.

Malcolm X is traditionally painted as the antihero of Martin Luther King’s heroic image, whose likeness is still taught and celebrated in schools across the Western world today. However, what often goes amiss is Malcolm X’s determination to achieve a form of recompense toward the African American communities by their white counterparts.

Malcolm X campaigned for African American communities to not only be treated as equals but for these communities to have full autonomy over their own lives, destinies and overall well-being. Instead of focusing on integration into American society as King campaigned for, Malcolm X’s advocacy for the independence of an African American community was unheard of during those years. It echoed other national independence movements against their colonizers seen across the Global South in the mid-19th Century. Believing capitalism was on its way out,  he said of these nations:

“…As the nations of the world free themselves, capitalism has less victims, less to suck, and it becomes weaker and weaker. It’s only a matter of time in my opinion before it will collapse completely….”. 

Read More: What is Climate Colonialism?

Environmental Justice: Continuing Malcolm X’s Fight

Malcolm X’s campaigning for justice continues in his absence and has taken the form of ‘environmental justice’, where studies show that even within the Global North, communities of colour continue to suffer. Today, African American communities are disproportionately discriminated against with regard to the effects of climate change, continuing the United States’ legacy of racism and its enduring effects.

Over half of Black Americans live in the South and are thus almost twice as likely than those in the same areas to be hit by hurricanes, resulting in displacement and property damage. This is not by coincidence. The practice of ‘red-lining’— racial discrimination of housing—has taken place over the course of centuries. Redlining communities like Baltimore and New Orleans caused Black populations to be made more vulnerable to natural disasters by design, which then exacerbated the devastation caused by climate disasters. 

Throughout Malcolm X’s fight for civil justice, he critically analyzed U.S.’s foreign policy, making accurate predictions on the evidential fall of the U.S.’s imperialist stronghold in developing nations and its violent history catching up to it, infamously saying, “the chickens are coming home to roost“. Malcolm X also exposed the U.S.’s domestic policies and its systems designed to keep the Black communities from gaining their independence, dignity and complete freedom from oppression. Systematic racism on a national level existed but was interwoven through various covert policies and practices – i.e. redlining. 

Climate Change and Racial Discrimination

The definition for institutional racism reads as ‘people of colour receiving an inferior level of service or care.’ This institutionalization guarantees that Black communities are housed in areas more prone to floods, excessive heat and near potentially hazardous industrial plants. 

The idea that climate change is inherently racist has raised concerns for discriminatory targeting of the countries in the Global South, as well as Black and Hispanic communities within the U.S., and indigenous populations across the world. Malcolm X summarised these acts in his quote:

“Western interests: imperialism, colonialism, exploitation, racism, and other negative -isms”.  

Whilst the Global North has been a historic colonizer, its resource-plundering legacies are present in the formerly colonized countries across the Global South, evident in their climate mitigation structures or lack thereof. Histories of colonialism, slavery and capitalism by the Global North have paved the way for discriminatory effects of climate change covering the Global South. This lends itself further to the Western-centric power structures of climate policies and decision-making, as evidenced in the poorly executed ‘Loss & Damage Fund’ being rolled out by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  

Malcolm X might have viewed the Loss & Damage Fund as a pitiful and soulless attempt to make reparations on the part of the Global North, throwing money at the issue without any [attempt to achieve] meaningful, tangible change;

“You can cuss out colonialism, imperialism, and all other kinds of ism, but it’s hard for you to cuss that dollarism. When they drop those dollars on you, your soul goes.”

Read More: Why Muslims Should be At the Forefront of Climate Justice

Climate Apartheid and Green Capitalism

In terms of climate mitigation strategies and solutions, disparities are evident across the global North-South divide, with technological solutions needed for adapting to climate change, such as electric vehicles and hydrogen production, being financially inaccessible. Continuing a seemingly unending cycle, ‘climate apartheid’ describes how the various ways of protecting communities of colour from climate impacts are accessibility-segregated. The Global North continues its practice of utilizing and developing sustainable energy whilst upholding its capitalist systems through generating large sums from these environmental activities, a practice also known as  ‘green capitalism.’ With capitalism still a functioning cog in the wheel, Malcolm X described how its victims are always those already suffering:

“Capitalism used to be like an eagle, but now it’s more like a vulture. It used to be strong enough to go and suck anybody’s blood whether they were strong or not. But now it has become more cowardly, like the vulture, and it can only suck the blood of the helpless”. 

History tells us to expect a long-living legacy of the colonial actions of the Global North nations. The historically colonized nations of the Global South are not only vulnerable to the effects of climate change despite being the least to contribute to it but are also the least well-equipped to mitigate the impacts they continue to suffer. With ongoing practices of climate apartheid and green capitalism maintaining an ongoing colonial structure, the Global South countries and communities of colour pay the price for the debt that climate change has caused them. 

Malcolm X’s Legacy in Climate Justice

Some may argue that the current battle of the north-south divide within the climate context is reminiscent of Malcolm X’s campaigning for civil justice – pitting the poor against the rich, the weak against the powerful and the victim against the guilty, through the systems which are designed to maintain the financial and ecological disparities we see today. Unlike Malcolm X had hoped, Western imperialism and capitalism never left. Instead, they’re disguised through false promises made i.e. the Loss & Damage fund designed to make reparations for the decades-long destruction of their ecological infrastructures.

While civil justice may not be at the forefront of today’s campaigning, Malcolm X’s legacy lives on in the precedent he set with his fearless advocacy on behalf of the oppressed. Had he lived, who’s to say he would have been anything other than leading the global fight for climate justice? 

The post What We Can Learn from Malcolm X About Climate Justice appeared first on Muslim Climate Watch.

Countries in the Global South argue that it is at the hands of the Global North nations where climate change has been exacerbated through their imperialist, capitalist and consumerist societies for generations; ‘Climate change, colonialism and capitalism are structural – and not contingently – linked’. 

Reiterated in a report, Greenpeace UK affirms that ‘it is people of colour who, despite having contributed the least to the climate emergency, are now “disproportionately losing their lives and livelihoods by the millions because of it”. Thus, the term ‘climate colonialism’ being used to describe how climate change due to global warming came about through the colonial empires of European nations in the late 19th and 20th centuries. 

The Global North’s Legacy of Colonialism in the Global South 

As the colonial empires have long plundered the available natural resources from colonized nations of the Global South, without consequences, this has led to a long history consisting of centuries of the exploitation of people and natural resources. Until now, communities from the Global South continue to be colonized and oppressed, including in Palestine, Kashmir and Western Africa – all of whom are subjected to military occupation and continue to face environmental challenges. 

Palestine – which has been occupied by Israeli forces since 1948, continues to be exploited for its natural resources, including water and natural gas. Under the guise of the ongoing ‘war’ in Gaza, the besieged strip’s maritime offshore gas reserves are currently being looted by Israel. 

Similarly, Kashmir’s water resources are being exploited by India, causing waste that damages the water and soil. However, the recent discovery of lithium poses a new threat of further dispossession of indigenous Kashmiris from their ancestral lands, while jeopardizing the region’s fragile ecology, as India continues to exploit Kashmir’s rich natural resources for its ‘development’ interests. 

Instances of many Global-North projects are a continuum of a colonial legacy existing to this day, and enforcing detrimental oppressive conditions for many communities in the path of the capitalist interests of corporations. Today, deforestation and land grabs are still common, and the use of violence, with many instances recorded as human rights abuses. 

This includes Indigenous populations and residents being forcibly removed from their homes and denied their right to return. This occurs most notably in the Amazon rainforest where deforestation is happening at an alarming rate, in conjunction with Indigenous tribes being dispossessed from their ancestral lands. 

More than half of the world’s population lives in Latin America, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, regions ‘most vulnerable to climate change’ and already experiencing cross-border migration due to extreme impacts of climate change. It is estimated that by 2050 there could be around 143 million internal climate migrants, leading to a huge displacement of people and resulting in a climate-driven migration crisis. 

In its annual impact report, Greenpeace UK states that Global North countries are responsible for over 92% of carbon emissions. Thus the current environmental crisis is said to be ‘the legacy of colonialism’. This is echoed by various experts, holding the view that legacies of colonialism are alive in the present.  

Insights from Indigenous Perspectives

Previous reports by the IPCC have been largely criticised for their lack of authors from diverse backgrounds, causing the issue of colonialism leading to climate change being ignored for a long time. However, the IPCC’s sixth report, partly published in 2022, was the first time the word ‘colonialism’ was used in the report’s summary. 

It has been largely proven that the bushfires of Australia in 2019-2020 were not solely a result of climate change, but ‘amplified by the colonial displacement of Indigenous people from their lands and the disruption of their land management practices that skilfully used controlled burning to help landscapes flourish’. Indigenous scholars have drawn connections between Western power practices and their plundering of natural resources without considering its effect; ‘Western colonial legacies operate within a paradigm that assumes they can extract its natural resources as much as they want, and the Earth will regenerate itself’. 

The Fight for Reparations 

As early as 2009, countries from the Global South have been fighting for reparations by the Global North as they bear the brunt of the greenhouse gas emissions that their richer counterparts continue to produce. 

At COP15, those belonging to the Global North made an annual pledge of USD 100 billion to help the Global South adapt to the changing climate. However, a report published by OECD found that these ‘richer nations’ failed to reach the promised amount, and only managed to pay about half of the reparations they initially promised between 2013-2016, despite a supposed ‘yearly increase of climate finance by richer to poorer nations’. 

More so, these funds took the form of loans, burdening already struggling nations with more debt. Arguably more surprisingly, these loans are large non-concessional loans which inevitably perpetuate poor people in an ongoing cycle of debt. 

Loss & Damage Fund 

COP27 in 2023 laid out the framework for a ‘Loss and Damage Fund’ which set out to provide funding for vulnerable countries suffering the consequences of climate change at an alarming level. With many hailing the agreement as a monumental decision, history shows that the richer nations often fail to make good on their promises, and due to a lack of internal regulation, can sometimes leave their poorer counterparts, worse off. 

The World Bank is operating the Loss and Damage fund. It is said that the Global South is at a disadvantage when it comes to benefiting from decisions made by the World Bank – as its colonial outlook continues to deepen inequality in the Global South and benefit the powerful countries of the Global North. 

Another flaw of this fund is its lack of enforcement as contributions are voluntary, allowing rich nations to continue evading responsibility despite their large historical and continuous emissions. For instance, the U.S. pledged a meagre sum of $17.5m – despite being the largest oil and gas producer and historically, the largest emitter of greenhouse gases. 

The fundamental flaws in the design and operation of the loss and damage fund maintain the long-standing inequality between the richer and the poorer nations. This demonstrates the Global North nations showing little concern and effort to restore, repair and mitigate the centuries-long damage it has done to the Global South countries, and no binding system in place to hold polluters accountable with mounting climate concerns.

The post What is Climate Colonialism? appeared first on Muslim Climate Watch.

Regions around the world, including; Latin America, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are said to be ‘the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change’ and as a result, are expected to generate ‘143 million internal climate migrants by 2050’, causing migration on a global scale (Prange, 2022). In Somalia, more than 65% of the population – roughly 3 million people – are internally displaced (World Food Programme, 2022).

Read More: Climate Oppression, Eco-Apartheid & Palestinian Occupation

Climate Change Impacts in Somalia

Somalia has seen decades of violence, causing 2.6 million people to become internally displaced (Krampe, 2019) due to the ongoing conflict alone. With warfare worsening in neighbouring Northern Ethiopia, Somalia has seen an influx of asylum seekers and refugees, further exacerbating the already deepening humanitarian crisis it suffers. In addition to this, climate change is bringing about its own set of devastating consequences. 

Coastal cities are being affected by coastal erosion caused by storms, sea level rise and cyclones resulting in floods (Wehliye & Glaser, 2021). With the rest of the country dealing with locust infestations, ocean acidification and drought, these effects of climate change are causing food insecurity through crop reduction and decreased fish catches (Broek, 2022). With livelihoods affected and food scarcity increasing, populations are migrating towards urban centres – only to be living in impoverished conditions without access to basic services and under constant threat of eviction (Hujale, 2021). 

Famine

The drought-induced food insecurity in Somalia is causing an ongoing drought which is estimated to have killed over 40,000 people in 2022 (Aljazeera, 2023). Dating back to the colonial era, Somalia was heavily relied upon by British soldiers in the Middle East as their main source of food. Whilst the British spent decades looting the hundreds of thousands of Somali livestock from then-British Somaliland to feed its soldiers, it can be argued that this set in motion the environmental degradation that Somalia is witnessing now. All without compensation, this inevitably degraded the country’s ecology and environmental well-being. By depleting the land’s inherent resources and failing to restore any of the irreparable damage done, the unmerciful regime of colonialism left Somalia without its natural ecological barriers when decades later, it could have stood a chance when resisting the devastating effects of climate change. 

Deforestation

Cutting trees for charcoal production, to be used for domestic consumption and exports, has driven deforestation in the country. Since 1990, Somalia’s forest areas of the total land have decreased from 13% to 9.5% in 2020 (Haque, 2020). The demise of Somalia’s government in 1991 following the ousting of President Siad Barre’s toppling of its military regime led to a civil war lasting for decades (BBC, 2023). In the years ensuing, Somalia is said to be one of the most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change in the world – largely due to its weak capacity for adaptation. 

Read More: How Gender-Responsive Climate Finance Empowers Bangladesh’s Women

The entire continent of Africa is the least responsible for climate warming, and its greenhouse gas emissions are only 3.8%. In comparison, the U.S. and the European Union are responsible for 19% and 13% of global emissions, respectively. This demonstrates how countries in the Global South – those who are suffering the most significantly from climate change, are those who contributed to it, the least. 

Somalia Moving Forward

Somalia – a Muslim country – is arguably the worst affected when it comes to the effects of climate change. This, coupled with decades of ongoing conflict in the country and within the region, is causing the largest number of internal refugees of any country in the world. Thus, international refugee and asylum legislation must be amended to protect the largest group of migrants – climate refugees – which are emerging in Somalia and across the globe. Without necessary policy changes, more people are at risk of becoming climate refugees as the impacts of climate change are only exacerbated. More needs to be done to protect the rights of these victims of climate change within Somalia – and for their lands to be restored, which are rapidly becoming uninhabitable. 

References

• Broek, E. & and Hodder, C. (June, 2022). Towards an integrated approach to climate security and peacebuilding in Somalia. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Report. 
• Fedirka, A. (May 10, 2017). Why the US Cares About Somalia. Geopolitical Futures. Article. 
• Haque, L. (June 16, 2020). The Lasting Consequences of Colonialism in Somalia. Article. 
• Hujale, M. (August 17, 2021). Displaced Somalis and refugees struggle to recover as climate change brings new threats. UNHCR. Article. 
• Prange, M (December 19, 2022) Climate Change Is Fueling Migration. Do Climate Migrants Have Legal Protections? Council on Foreign Relations. Article
• Somalia Country Profile (2023) BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14094503 (Accessed: 18 August 2023). 
• Somalia drought may have killed 43,000 in 2022, half under 5: UN (2023) Humanitarian Crises News | Al Jazeera. Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/20/somalia-drought-may-have-killed-43000-in-2022-half-under-5-un (Accessed: 18 August 2023). 
• Wehliye, F., & Glaser, S. (2021). A Conversation About Climate Change In Somalia. Poplar & Ivy Winter 2021. DOI:10.54823/4oil01a1 (Journal Article)
• World Food Programme. (April 8, 2023). Somalia Annual Country Report 2022 – Country Strategic Plan 2022 – 2025. Report.

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