Climate Justice at the Crossroads: Legal Responses to a Warming World

Abstract

Climate justice is a growing concept within the climate discourse that attempts to acknowledge the disproportionate impact that marginalized communities have on climate change. Although climate change is a global phenomenon, its impacts are indeed local, with the greatest burden borne by populations with limited ability to adapt. It analyzes the legal tools which make possible global climate justice in the country of Pakistan. It considers how effectively international legal systems, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement, have been able to create equitable environmental obligations. It also critically analyses the domestic legal responses in Pakistan in the form of the Pakistan Climate Change Act (2017) and the revised National Climate Change Policy (2021). The significance of judicial activism, particularly precedent-setting judgments like Legahri v. Federation of Pakistan, is examined to illustrate how the extent of legal interpretation has upheld climate justice. Major obstacles—including lack of enforcement, public participation, and institutionalization—are emphasized. It calls for an integrated approach that will include legal reforms, capacity-building and bottom-up participation. Suggestions range from strengthening the legal landscape, harmonizing domestic laws with global norms, to integrating climate into national consciousness. This paper adds to the larger conversation on climate justice by revealing that despite the salient legal and policy measures Pakistan has adopted, there is a long way to go before just climate resilience is achieved. In the process it provides a bird’s eye view of the legal means through which climate justice could be pursued in a developing country.