Stereo. H C J D A 38. Judgment Sheet IN THE LAHORE HIGH COURT LAHORE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT Case No: W.P. No. 25501/2015 Asghar Leghari Versus Federation of Pakistan, etc. JUDGMENT Dates of hearing: 31.08.2015, 04.09.2015, 14.09.2015, 05.10.2015, 26.10.2015, 18.11.2015, 07.12.2015, 18.01.2016, 29.02.2016, 29.03.2016, 16.05.2016, 24.05.2016, 05.09.2016, 22.09.2016, 16.11.2016, 14.12.2016, 16.01.2017, 23.01.2017, 28.02.2017, 12.05.2017, 24.05.2017, 12.07.2017, 17.07.2017, 06.09.2017, 26.10.2017, 04.12.2017, 07.12.2017 and 25.01.2018. Petitioner by: M/s Mansoor Usman Awan, Shehzeen Abdullah and Hussain Ibraheem Muhammad, Advocates. Respondents by: Mr. Nasar Ahmad, Deputy Attorney General for Pakistan. Ms. Hina Hafeezullah Ishaq, Assistant Attorney General for Pakistan. Mr. Anwaar Hussain, Additional Advocate General, Punjab. Dr. Parvez Hassan, Chairman, Climate Change Commission. Ms. Saima A. Khawaja, Advocate/Member, Climate Change Commission. Dr. Muhammad Javed, Director Irrigation Department, Government of the Punjab. Dr. Qazi Tallat M. Siddiqui, Deputy Energy Advisor (Civil)/DS(W), Ministry of Water Resources, Islamabad. Mr. M. Irfan Tariq, D.G. Ministry of Climate Change, Islamabad. Nisar Ahmad, Director (PDM-II), Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination, Cabinet Block, Islamabad. W.P. No. 25501/2015 2 Climate change is one of the greatest threats to human rights of our generation, posing a serious risk to the fundamental rights to life, health, food and an adequate standard of living of individuals and communities across the world. Achim Steiner1 UNEP Executive Director Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, CJ:- The petitioner, who is an agriculturist, has approached this Court as a citizen for the enforcement of his fundamental rights. He submits that overwhelming majority of scientists, experts, and professional scientific organizations related to earth sciences agree that there is sufficient evidence that climate change is for real. He submits that no one can deny the devastating impact of increase in frequency and intensity of climate extremes. Further, most of the experts agree that the major cause is human activities, which include a complex interaction with the natural environment coupled with social and economic changes that are increasing the greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere, which are increasing global temperature and in turn causing climate change. 2. The climate system is a highly complex system consisting of the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the land surface and the biosphere, and the interactions between them. He submits that for Pakistan, climate change is no longer a distant threat. We are already feeling and experiencing its impacts across the country and the region. The country experienced devastating floods during the last three years. These changes come with far reaching consequences and real economic costs. 3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that in order to address the threat of climate change, the National Climate Change Policy, 2012 (“Policy”) and the Framework for Implementation 1 Human Rights and Climate Change – UNEP- 2015 W.P. No. 25501/2015 3 of Climate Change Policy (2014-2030) (“Framework”) has been announced by the Ministry of Climate Change, Government of Pakistan, however, no implementation on the ground has taken place. He fears that in the absence of any strategy by the Government to conserve water or move to heat resilient crops, he will not be able to sustain his livelihood. He submits that inaction on the part of Ministry of Climate Change and other Ministries and Departments in not implementing the Framework, offends his fundamental rights, in particular, Articles 9 and 14 of the Constitution besides the constitutional principles of social and economic justice. He submits that international environmental principles like the doctrine of public trust, sustainable development, precautionary principle and intergenerational equity form part of the abovementioned fundamental rights also stand offended. Reliance is placed on Ms. Imrana Tiwana and others v. Province of Punjab and others (PLD 2015 Lahore 522) and Ms. Shehla Zia and others v. WAPDA (PLD 1994 SC 693). 4. The Court treated this environmental public interest petition as a rolling review or a continuing mandamus and considering it to be a writ of kalikasan2, as they call it in Philippines, the Court proceeded in an inquisitorial manner by summoning the following parties for assistance: Federal Government. i. Cabinet Division, Government of Pakistan. ii. Ministry of Finance, Revenue and Planning and Development. iii. Ministry of Foreign Affairs iv. Ministry of Inter-Provisional Coordination. v. Ministry of Law and Justice vi. Ministry of Climate Change. 2 a legal remedy designed for the protection of one's constitutional right to a healthy environment. W.P. No. 25501/2015 4 vii. Ministry of National Food Security and Research. viii. Ministry of Water and Power ix. Irrigation Department. x. National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). Provincial Government. i. Agricultural Department. ii. Environment Protection Department/EPA. iii. Food Department. iv. Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries Department. v. Health Department. vi. Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Department. vii. Planning and Development Department. viii. Irrigation Department. ix. Law and Parliamentary Affairs Department. x. Disaster Management Department (DMD). 5. The above Ministries and Departments alongwith their focal persons rendered full assistance and filed their respective replies. The National Climate Change Policy, 2010 provides as under:- 1. Goal To ensure that climate change is mainstreamed in the economically and socially vulnerable sectors of the economy and to steer Pakistan towards climate resilient development. 2. Policy Objectives The main objectives of Pakistan‟s Climate Change Policy include: 1. To pursue sustained economic growth by appropriately addressing the challenges of climate change; 2. To integrate climate change policy with other inter-related national policies; 3. To focus on pro-poor gender sensitive adaptation while also promoting mitigation to the extent possible in a cost-effective W.P. No. 25501/2015 5 manner; 4. To ensure water security, food security and energy security of the country in the face of the challenges posed by climate change; 5. To minimize the risks arising from the expected increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and tropical storms; 6. To strengthen inter-ministerial decision making and coordination mechanisms on climate change; 7. To facilitate effective use of the opportunities, particularly financial, available both nationally and internationally; 8. To foster the development of appropriate economic incentives to encourage public and private sector investment in adaptation measures; 9. To enhance the awareness, skill and institutional capacity of relevant stakeholders; 10. To promote conservation of natural resources and long term sustainability. 3. Pakistan’s Vulnerability to Climate Change Threats The important climate change threats to Pakistan are: 1. Considerable increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, coupled with erratic monsoon rains causing frequent and intense floods and droughts; 2. Projected recession of the Hindu Kush-Karakoram-Himalayan (HKH) glaciers due to global warming and carbon soot deposits from trans-boundary pollution sources, threatening water inflows into the Indus River System (IRS); 3. Increased siltation of major dams caused by more frequent and intense floods; 4. Rising temperatures resulting in enhanced heat and water- stressed conditions, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions, leading to reduced agricultural productivity; 5. Further decrease in the already scanty forest cover, from too rapid change in climatic conditions to allow natural migration of adversely affected plant species; 6. Increased intrusion of saline water in the Indus delta, adversely affecting coastal agriculture, mangroves and the breeding grounds of fish; 7. Threat to coastal areas due to projected sea level rise and increased cyclonic activity due to higher sea surface W.P. No. 25501/2015 6 temperatures; 8. Increased stress between upper riparian and lower riparian regions in relation to sharing of water resources; 9. Increased health risks and climate change induced migration. The above threats lead to major survival concerns for Pakistan, particularly in relation to the country‟s water security, food security and energy security. 4. Climate Change Adaptation Pakistan makes a tiny contribution to total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (among the lowest in the world) but it is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, and it has very low technical and financial capacity to adapt to its adverse impacts. For Pakistan to continue on a development path to achieve the goals articulated in the Planning Commission‟s Vision 2030 document, it is imperative to prepare the ground to enable it to face this new challenge. While Pakistan is working on a strategy that seeks to conserve energy, improve energy efficiency and optimize fuel mix to support global efforts for reduction in GHG emissions, the more immediate and pressing task is to prepare itself for adaptation to climate change. Only by devising and implementing appropriate adaptation measures will it be possible to ensure water, food and energy security for the country as well as to minimize the impact of natural disasters on