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214 GYULA NAGY Top-down Enforcement of Bottom up B interest Global 2) 2 — ® : oO . Oo Enforcement of D 7 1) Regional 6 Regional 3 interest D An [de] { Local 1) men OO a community Powerful O community Local conflict in interest Figure 4. Environmental injustices generated by decision-making. Source: author The evaluation of good and bad in the decision-making mechanism is the outcome of a social process, the imprint of the given social, power, and economic conditions — not generally valid truths. Justice as defined by the provisions of law may deviate from what is socially regarded as just (Blacksell et al. 1986; Blomley 1994; Butler 2009). It follows that the general rules laid down by environmental and social policies may often be interpreted differently on the environmental periphery (Kovacs 2004). A specific sense of what is right, in accordance with the local environment, may have evolved there , as a local (re)interpretation of the “universally” accepted system of concepts. Studies have demonstrated (Blomley 1994; Blacksell et al. 1986) a correlation between legal setting and geographical inequalities. Moreover, the legal regime also takes part in the process of producing space. In other words, the legal provisions, the processes of legislation and jurisprudence actively shape our environment, places and public spaces (Lefebvre 1991; McAuslan 1980). It is therefore important to clarify what qualifies as necessarily or (also) expectedly just, the way it can be attained and how it can be used (Heffron — McCauley 2018). However, what justice actually is has been studied but not resolved since Antiquity. Interpreting the concept of justice from a variety of perspectives may help environmental justice studies to explore a given theme critically, from various angles. The concept of justice is normative and context-specific in all possible approaches. The concepts of justice can be grouped around three themes when considering environmental justice. One approach, mostly used in geographical science, studies the spatiality of factors which cause injustice, i.e., their frequency and distribution. It is presumed that the processes or factors that produce the unjust situation can be plotted along a spatial pattern, a noticeable design. Under this idea, distribution is truly just if the allocation of goods is fair for everyone and is the outcome of a rational social contract based on a common decision (Rawls 1971). Equity or fairness can be measured in terms of equality (equal welfare, resources and chances), importance (necessary rights ensured for all) and adequacy (rights ensured sufficiently for all) (Weston 2008). Most researchers of environmental justice put equity and fairness before the principle of equality (fig. 5). The minimum principle of justice also declares this: all activities have to be carried out in a fair manner that does not worsen the position of the most deprived groups (Sachs 2008). Equitable justice is the foundation of communal life in which people collectively accept the norms of cooperation, as stated by Rawls (1971).
