Date: 1 January 2018
Court: Lahore High Court, Pakistan
Citation: W.P. No. 25501/2015
Short summary
The plaintiff sued the Federal Government of Pakistan and Regional Government of Punjab for failure to address climate change, arguing that the government’s failure to implement national climate change policy threatened citizens’ rights to life, a healthy and clean environment, and human dignity. The High Court agreed and mandated certain administrative changes to ensure citizens’ fundamental rights to water, food, and energy.
Summary by: Saw Aung Aung
Link to Original Judgement
Click here to open the case in PDF format
Weight of decision
This decision holds great weight in Pakistan, as the judgment from the High Court binds the national government to further ensure implementation of national climate change policy and to enforce the fundamental rights of its citizens in the context of climate change..
Key facts
Pakistan is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, as seen recently from massive damage, death, and displacement caused by flooding. According to articles 9 (right to life) and 14 (right to a healthy and clean environment and to human dignity) of the Pakistani Constitution, citizens can turn to the courts to recognize state obligations to ensure these fundamental rights.
Under the National Climate Change Policy of 2012 (“Policy”) and the 2014-2030 Framework for Implementation of Climate Change Policy (“Framework”), the courts also have the authority to install and remove members of the Climate Change Commission (“CCC”), including relevant experts from the Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Climate Change, and Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination, and to require reports from the CCC on whether citizens’ rights are properly safeguarded in the context of environmental and climate change.
Petitioner Leghari filed this case against the Federal Government of Pakistan and the Regional Government of Punjab, alleging that the impacts of climate change, and a lack of action from the government, violated his rights as a citizen. In particular, Leghari alleged that failure to implement the national Policy and Framework on climate change threatened his livelihood as an agriculturist, given his economic dependency on access to clean water, energy, and food.
Previous instances
Previous cases in Pakistan (Tiwana v. Punjab [PLD 2015 Lahore 522] and Zia v. WAPDA [PLD 1994 SC 693]) established that national and provincial environmental laws should be enforced consistent with international principles of environmental law, including respect for fundamental rights and proper execution of environmental impact assessments.
Summary of holding
The Court first recognized that climate change in Pakistan has led to heavy flooding and droughts, threatening citizens’ fundamental rights to water and food security, especially the most vulnerable in the country. It then held that the government had not taken sufficient action to implement its climate change Policy or Framework, despite notable progress by the CCC. Nonetheless, the Court dissolved the CCC, and future authority to coordinate implementation of the national Policy and Framework was vested in a Standing Committee on Climate Change, to “act as a link between the Court and the Executive . . . to ensure that the Policy and the Framework continue to be implemented.”
The Court agreed with Leghari that their authority to intervene was connected with the rights to life and human dignity “under articles 9 and 14 of the Constitution,” especially with respect to his right as a citizen to access clean water: “Climate Justice and Water Justice go hand in hand.” Moreover, the Court’s decision referenced “international environmental principles of sustainable development, [the] precautionary principle, environmental impact assessment[s], inter[-] and intra-generational equity[,] and [the] public trust doctrine” among the mechanisms used to justify its ruling.
Potential takeaways for future climate migration litigation
- Leghari is a relatively successful example of a citizen directly asserting their rights in court against a national government in the context of climate change. The High Court’s willingness to hear such a rights-based claim and respond with a substantive policy change order should be of interest to future litigators bringing national cases related to climate mitigation or adaptation.
- While the policy changes mandated by the Court may or may not bring Pakistan into compliance with its own climate change Policy or Framework, advocates should note that, in a country already frequently devastated by the impacts of climate change, the High Court asserted a muscular role for itself in coordinating executive and legislative actions, including via the creation of a new Standing Committee to enforce fundamental rights in the context of climate change. In doing so, the Court seemed especially moved by rural citizens’ dependence on clean and consistent water sources, a perennial environmental issue in Pakistan. In mobility-related cases, then, it may be wise to assert claims with reference to environmental hazards already well-recognized in a given jurisdiction.
