Climate Change Litigation in Pakistan: An Emerging Trend in Environmental Jurisprudence

Abstract

The issue of climate change has become one of the hottest in the modern law system that forces the courts to address the problems that fall outside the frames of the environmental protection and constitutional laws. The climate change litigation has become a growing and a developing attribute of environmental jurisprudence in Pakistan, as the courts acknowledge climate change as a legal, constitutional, and human rights issue. This paper focuses on the formation of the climate change litigation in Pakistan and the role of the courts to understand the nature of environmental requirements, basic rights, and the liability of the states in the areas of climate vulnerability. It contends that Pakistani courts have been active in developing climate jurisprudence through broadening the environmental rights and applying climate factors in constitutional adjudication.

The paper examines the way in which climate change litigation in Pakistan has evolved beyond the traditional environmental conflict to consider more fundamental questions of intergenerational justice, sustainable development and governmental responsibility. The reasoning of the judiciary is moving toward defining climate change as a life, dignity, livelihood threat and hence environmental protection is in the context of the fundamental rights. This change in jurisprudence indicates the increasing inclination of the judiciary to intervene in cases in which the executive fails to take any action or enforce a policy that would reduce the risks of climate. The article concludes that climate change litigation in Pakistan is a relatively new development that could change the face of environmental governance, as well as pose significant questions regarding judicial activism, separation of powers and boundaries of adjudicative intervention in dealing with complex environmental problems.