‘Global South’ and Climate Change

Abstract: ‘Global South’ has no widely agreed definition, nevertheless, this term has become apopular abstraction to refer to everything else that is not ‘the developed world’. In climatechange discursive framework ‘global South’ alludes to the climate vulnerable developingcountries. Historically these countries and societies marked by the colonial legaciescontributed to the current climate crisis least but are exposed to its worst impacts. Based onindividual interviews with leading climate change experts from climate vulnerabledeveloping countries, this study explores their perceptions about this term. Postcolonialconceptual framework helps to analyze the collected data, taking an inductive reasoningapproach. Concepts are not neutral and textual analysis tracks down how the term ‘globalSouth’ is employed in international climate change language. The study reveals that theterm ‘global South’ is well established in academia and climate relevant developmentcooperation areas, however, it is strategically excluded from the official language of climatediplomacy. Moreover, findings from the individual ‘global South’ accounts disclose thatclimate change discourses are not free from postcolonial issues such as white-supremacy,binaries of difference, and othering. Other common themes that emerged from theinterviews are a shared identity, agency, and voice. Finally, I formulate recommendationsfor a better, more inclusive, more sensitive, and more self-reflexive way to speak about the‘global South’ countries and their call for climate justice.