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Oct 6, 2022
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Our participation in the 2022 International OA Week

Oct 6, 2022
This year’s topic seeks to encourage connection and collaboration among the climate movement and the international open community. But what does climate justice mean and how open can be a  facilitator for climate justice? 

Climate is changing in unprecedented ways. Extreme weather conditions become more frequent and intense. Climate change is already affecting people and ecosystems all around the world. We’ve all seen its impacts, however, the effects of climate change are not felt equally between rich and poor, women and men and older and younger generations. 

Climate justice looks at the climate crisis through a human rights lens and frames global warming as an ethical and political issue, rather than one that is purely environmental or physical in nature.  

This unequal distribution of impact on a variety of groups, including Indigenous people, people of colour, women and people with disabilities affirms that climate change is first and foremost an equal rights issue. A former UN high commissioner for human rights, Mary Robinson,  has described climate change as “probably the greatest human rights challenge of the 21st century”. 

The good news is that references to climate justice have seen an increase in global media during the last years and the field has “grown exponentially”, with experts from different disciplines e.g. geographers, economists, anthropologists and sociologists getting involved in the discussion.  

Tackling the climate crisis requires, amongst others, the rapid and open exchange of knowledge across geographic, economic, and disciplinary boundaries. Open Science and open research can help in practice by ensuring access to relevant research at an early stage and provides evidence-based outputs on climate change.  

Global challenges require collaborative and multi-disciplinary solutions. The COVID-19 outbreak emphasized why open research matters and how Open Science can have a real-world impact. The same of course applies to Climate Justice.  

We are more than happy that our organization is, following the annual tradition,  taking an active part in the celebration of the 2022 International Open Access Week organized by SPARC in partnership with the Open Access Week Advisory Committee.

Watch the short video below and find out what the OpenAIRE team prepared for this year on our dedicated OA webpage.  

Looking forward to seeing you at our events!  

Best wishes, 

Inge Van Nieuwerburgh Chair of our Executive Board