Climate Justice Awareness and Local Climate and Disaster Governance: A Generalized Linear Modelling

Abstract

Climate justice and climate justice awareness have gained increasing attention through research, advocacy, and education, reinforced by global commitments such as Sustainable Development Goal 13. However, the Municipality of Obando, Bulacan, lacks published policy briefs, empirical studies, documentation, or baseline data examining climate justice awareness and its linkage to local climate and disaster governance. No formal municipal assessments have been conducted to evaluate these understudied yet critical variables. Addressing this gap, the present study, anchored in Environmental Justice Theory, examined how recognitional, procedural, distributive, and intergenerational justice influence local climate and disaster governance in Obando, Bulacan. The study adopted a quantitative descriptive–correlational research design utilizing descriptive statistics and Generalized Linear Modeling (GLM), comparing Gaussian and Gamma log-link specifications. This was used to compare distributional assumptions for climate justice and governance perception data. Findings revealed that residents exhibited moderate climate justice awareness and a moderate level of agreement with existing climate and disaster governance mechanisms. Results from the Gaussian model indicated that recognitional, procedural, and distributive justice were significant predictors, while intergenerational justice was not. In contrast, the Gamma log-link model showed that all four climate justice dimensions significantly influenced local climate and disaster governance. Moreover, the Gamma model demonstrated strong goodness-of-fit, confirming the theoretical and empirical alignment of Environmental Justice Theory with the local context and its suitability in capturing the non-normal and socially differentiated nature of justice perceptions. The study recommends institutionalizing justice-centered climate and disaster governance, with emphasis on equitable resource distribution, inclusive participation, and intergenerational planning.