Justice and Natural Resources: An Egalitarian Theory

Chris Armstrong, Professor of Political Theory, University of SouthamptonChris Armstrong is Professor of Political Theory at the University of Southampton. He is the author of Global Distributive Justice (Cambridge University Press, 2012), and many papers in journals such as the Journal of Political Philosophy, Political Theory,
But to date we have no comprehensive account of the demands of justice when it comes to natural resources. The volume criticises the status quo in world politics, according to which resources themselves, and decisions about how to use them, are the preserve of individual states. Justice and Natural Resources provides a systematic account of how to think about natural resources, the conflicting claims people have over them, and the implications of this account. In each case, access to valuable resources is at stake. We require a normative account of how access to the benefits and burdens natural resources provide ought to be shared. Our world is increasingly marked by climate change, environmental degradation, and conflict over precious resources such as oil, water, and land. Along the way it addresses important real-world questions such as the following: how should access to the resources of the oceans be shared? How good are national claims to the enormous resource wealth found in Sovereign Wealth Funds? Should we stop buying natural resources from dictators? And who should pay for conservation of valuable resources such as the world's rainforests?. Instead it demonstrates that justice requires a more equal sharing of the benefits and burdens that flow from the world's resources, and shared management of many of the world's resour

This extremely rich book not only provides the most comprehensive egalitarian account of justice and natural resources to date, but also pushes political philosophers to engage with real world policy questions. * Justice and Natural Resources is an extremely engaging and well-written account of resource justice. It might well become the one reference text which defines the cosmopolitan view on the place of natural resources within debates on global justice. * Margaret Moore, Queen's University * . It offers illuminating insights into a number of important questions connected to resour