Building Climate Justice through Transitional Justice: A New Path for Malawi’s Resilience

Climate change must be understood not only as an environmental or humanitarian challenge, but also as a justice issue that raises fundamental questions about whose lives are protected, whose losses are recognised, and who participates in shaping recovery and resilience, writes Julius Ng’oma.

Climate change is no longer a distant threat to rural communities, but rather a lived reality for many Malawian communities. In Phalombe District, under Traditional Authority Nkhulambe, the scars left by Tropical Cyclone Freddy in 2023 remain visible: washed-away bridges, displaced families, buried farmlands, and broken livelihoods. Less visible but equally profound are the emotional and psychological wounds that persist long after the floodwaters recede.

These experiences expose a critical gap in how climate-related disasters are understood and addressed. While disasters are often framed as “natural” or technical problems requiring emergency response, communities continue to suffer long-term social, cultural and psychological harm that is neither acknowledged nor repaired. Recurrent climate shocks deepen poverty, reinforce inequality and strip affected communities of dignity, identity and security.

This reality calls for a shift in perspective. Climate change must be understood not only as an environmental or humanitarian challenge, but also as a justice issue – one that raises fundamental questions about whose lives are protected, whose losses are recognised, and who participates in shaping recovery and resilience. Without this justice lens, disaster response risks remaining reactive, incomplete and disconnected from the lived experiences of those most affected.

Beyond Relief: Moving Towards Recognition and Repair

For decades, disaster response in Malawi has focused primarily on short-term relief such as delivering food, shelter and medicine to affected households. Yet, we have found that this reactive approach leaves behind deeper social and psychological harms. Communities speak of grief that resurfaces every rainy season, of children who fear water, of graveyards washed away, and of cultural identity lost.

These are not just environmental damages, they are also violations of human dignity and community heritage. Transitional justice, which is designed to heal societies after conflict or human rights violations, offers powerful lessons for addressing such complex, intergenerational climate harms. Principles like truth-telling, reparations, participation and guarantees of non-recurrence can guide how Malawi rebuilds after climate disasters.

Communities Practicing Basic Transitional Justice

Despite limited resources and minimal institutional support, communities in T/A Nkhulambe are already engaging in grassroots forms of restorative and reparative justice in response to climate-related harms. These practices are not framed in legal terms, yet they reflect core principles of justice: acknowledgement of harm, collective responsibility, restoration of social relations, and protection of the most vulnerable.

At the community level, prayer sessions, memorial gatherings, and cultural rituals are used to honour lives lost during disasters and to acknowledge collective trauma. These acts serve as forms of truth-telling and recognition, allowing communities to openly confront loss and preserve memory.

The annulment of child marriages that emerged during displacement reflects a deliberate effort to repair social harm and restore moral order, particularly where disasters heightened risks to girls and young women. Local by-laws developed by traditional leaders aim to protect women, children and people with disabilities, while collective rebuilding of homes, bridges and farmland demonstrates reparative action rooted in solidarity. Tree planting along riverbanks and graveyards is not only an environmental measure, but also a symbolic act of restoration – honouring ancestors, preventing future harm, and reaffirming community identity.

Together, these practices illustrate how communities are actively pursuing justice by repairing harm, restoring dignity, and preventing recurrence, even in the absence of formal recognition or support. They show that justice is already being practiced at the local level. What is missing is institutional alignment and reinforcement.

Climate Justice Frameworks in Malawi

Integrating transitional justice into Malawi’s climate governance could transform how we respond to disasters. It means moving from a model that merely “assists victims” to one that acknowledges survivors, compensates their losses, and empowers them to shape recovery. Transitional justice frameworks can complement the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) and the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Policy (2023) by embedding justice, equity and participation at every stage, from damage assessment to policy design.

This approach aligns with global calls for climate reparations, which is a recognition that those least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions, like the people of Phalombe, are paying the highest price. Justice demands that recovery efforts not only rebuild infrastructure but also restore hope, dignity and agency.

A Call to Policy and Donor Action

We call for four major shifts in Malawi’s climate response:

• Recognise climate-induced harm as a justice issue.
  Loss of life, livelihoods and cultural heritage should be acknowledged as violations of basic human rights deserving of redress, not merely as “natural disasters.”
• Institutionalise survivor-centred recovery.
  Policies must include psychosocial support, memorialisation and community truth-telling forums that enable healing and intergenerational learning.
• Ensure inclusive participation.
  Women, youth and people with disabilities must have a voice in planning and decision making, as well as being consulted in DRM policy development. These are principles central to both climate justice and transitional justice.
• Promote reparative and transformative resilience.
  Recovery efforts should combine material reparations (restoration of farms, bridges and health centres) with symbolic ones (commemorations and recognition of losses) to foster genuine reconciliation with both nature and history.

A Moral Imperative for a Fairer Future to Communities

The stories from Nkhulambe are not isolated cases. They reflect the struggles of millions across Malawi and the global South. As the impacts of climate change intensify, our collective response must evolve. Climate finance and adaptation support from international partners should go beyond infrastructure to include social healing, cultural restoration, and justice for those most affected.

Transitional justice gives us the moral vocabulary and practical tools to bridge this gap. It reminds us that recovery is not only about rebuilding what was lost, but also about restoring what was taken: dignity, identity and the right to a secure future.

We call on government, donors and development partners to embrace this new frontier of climate justice. Integrating transitional justice into climate policy is not only innovative, it is necessary. It is how Malawi can lead by example in ensuring that no community’s suffering is forgotten, and no life lost goes unacknowledged.