Environmental harm, corporations and transitional settings: what options for restorative justice?

Abstract

Connections between environmental degradation and conflict or repression are complex and varied. Armed conflicts destroy not only human lives but also wildlife and natural areas, while environmental destruction can also cause social unrest in which natural resources often contribute to the outbreak of strife. This article consists of a conceptual exercise seeking to explore how transitional justice might benefit from an environmental restorative justice approach and what are the opportunities of including corporations as one of the main actors involved in environmental harm within transitional justice. This article argues that in the absence of effective judicial mechanisms, restorative justice could serve to better engage with corporate environmental harm in transitional settings.