Fighting climate change through courtrooms

Climate change is a problem with Pakistan’s “hot” button. Literally and figuratively. The tragic floods of the summer of 2022 have soaked almost a third of the country in water, affecting 33 million people and driving away 8 million people.

The 2024 heat wave is now in full swing, with Pakistan’s Weather Bureau reporting that nationwide temperatures are normally above 5-6 degrees Celsius. This has resulted in a surge in heatwave-related casualties, with more than 568 deaths and more than 5,000 hospitalised.

Separately, the glacier is melting rapidly, and bushfires are increasing due to harsh weather. In the context of this rapid crisis in the fifth and most climatic disruptors, judicial intervention is essential.

The strong interest taken by superiors and district justice in recognizing the importance of the climate crisis is highly commendable. First, let’s take a look at the recent Climate Change Conference organized by the Supreme Court’s Law and Judicial Committee. This was attended and chaired by Prime Minister Kazi Fes Isa, Justices Mansoor Ali Shah and Justices Ainsha Malik.

The Supreme Court judge is called climate change and is called “the diseases and diseases of the Earth, as fever is for the human body.” He emphasized the importance of protecting and preserving natural living and the environment, and urged participants to help spread climate awareness.

Judge Mansoor Ali Shah said climate protection cases are not yet mainstream and urged all judges to deal with them like serious human rights issues. He said it was time to start protecting nature beyond anthropocentric approaches.

Additionally, he encouraged alternative dispute resolution and the use of commercial courts to resolve climate issues. He gave the idea of ​​a “global court” as a forum as a Pakistan forum as a forum as a forum as a forum as a forum in Pakistan, as a result of the 2022 floods caused by fossil fuel emissions from developed countries.

Judge Ayesha Malik gave an insightful presentation on environmental law and its enforcement. She mentioned the Asgal Regali case, where the court established a committee to deal with environmental cases. She revealed that the incident ultimately brings current climate change policies at the national level and even involves forming the Ministry of Climate Change.

Judge Ayesha informed the audience about the tools the courts use to deal with environmental cases such as the Zoning Act. She urged the courts to promote climate law enforcement.

Justice also mentioned how women and vulnerable groups were affected by climate change. She also spoke about how the courts used public-private partnerships. This played a pivotal role in helping governments fight climate change in public spaces that lack the necessary funds.

Finally, she said that courts play a major role in the fight against climate change, with their way of seeking reporting and information on climate change related cases. This leads to the creation of reports, data and documents.

Second, last week’s lecture at the Federal Academy of Justice was titled “Climate Causation: From Causation to Attribution,” and Petra Minnopo, founding director of Durham University’s Center for Sustainable Development Law and Policy (CSDLP), is also of great importance.

The lectures hosted by Justices Mansoor Ali Shah (Supreme Court), Judges Jawad Hassan (Lahore High Court) and Judges Fahar Zaman (Federal Academy of Justice) were attended by judges, magistrates and legal officers from all over Pakistan.

Minnerop discussed the importance of “climate causality,” which refers to the causal chain that links climate change to losses. It plays a role in minimizing the losses and damages caused by climate change, a duty recognized by the court and carries out in Chapter 8 (1) of the Paris Agreement.

She explained how causality and attribution are intertwined with legal concepts in global climate law. The main obstacle facing courts is establishing causality.

The professor continued to cite case law examples from around the world, from the United States to France and the Philippines. Lawsuits have been filed against both the government and the corporation, claiming complacent or direct involvement in the deterioration of climate change.

For example, she explained how in the case of Australian Gloucester Resources Ltd vs Planning Minister, she explained how the proposal to build an open cut coal mine was rejected by the court on environmental reasons, including the predicted carbon emissions generated from its operations. Such cases were highlighted to encourage the judiciary to take a proactive approach when it relates to climate change where necessary standards are met.

She cited the convergence of observational and climate models to reveal that evidence is important to prove the claims in climate lawsuits. The intensity of climate events identified by the climate model creates or breaks the case.

The lecture followed a question and answer session, and the civil judge questioned why Pakistan bears the brunt of climate change while Pakistan is one of the lowest contributors to carbon emissions around the world.

Minnerop replied that Pakistan is a signatories of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in more than 100 countries to pledge to curb methane emissions and deforestation at COP26.

She added that Pakistan is responsible for taking a serious approach towards its nationally determined contributions and sustainable climate projects to collect the climate finances pledged by the developed countries of COP28.

She further suggested that Pakistan needs to examine available datasets on climate change development, and that appropriate laws and research should be carried out to utilize climate litigation as a useful tool to combat climate change.

Minnerner made the lecture possible by thanking judges and legal officers for their interest and willingness to play a role in controlling climate change through their respective spheres. This recent growing awareness of climate change, taken up by the nation’s judiciary, is admirable and gives citizens hope for a clean, green and sustainable Pakistan.