Climate Opinion and Political Participation in India’s Urban Slums

• In Event: The Politics of Climate Change in South Asia

Abstract

Climate change has highly unequal consequences, where the most vulnerable residents in the Global South are impacted the most yet contribute the least to harmful emissions. However, we know very little about what these residents, especially the poorest residents of urban slums, have experienced or think about climate change. How do they want their government to respond, and when do they participate politically around climate issues? We conducted an original household survey with 900 low-income households from 30 Indian slums in Jaipur, India. Urban slum residents have widespread experience and concern with extreme weather: slum residents of Jaipur are most concerned about harm from hot days, with some concern about severe storms, which reflect the primary climate risks of that city. The majority of our sample (67%) have never heard of climate change, compared with 35% of India’s general population (Leiserowitz et al. 2022). Slum residents generally perceive that nothing can be done to reduce the impacts of severe weather (49%), though some see the government (32%) or individuals (19%) as responsible.
Individual and collective political engagement varies significantly depending on whether policies are explicitly related to climate change or the environment (floods, fires, pollution) vs. public services (water, drainage, sewage) that are also key climate adaptation measures. In a group that is otherwise very politically mobilized, few individuals raise environmental issues with politicians or community leaders, though they are very active on water and drainage service provision. Similarly, neighborhood associations are less involved in community environmental issues, but they are very engaged with demanding community public services. However, urban slum residents have clear opinions and are very supportive when given details about policy interventions to support climate-related policies (community adaptation infrastructure or subsidies for alternative energy sources). Our results imply that, with information about climate change and applicable local policies, urban residents are likely to mobilize politically around these issues as well. This study has implications for local urban political participation, citizen engagement, and climate policy across the Global South.

Authors

• Alicia Dailey Cooperman, George Washington University

• Emily Rains, Tulane University