Yes, the Constitution guaranteed it, but without implementation, monitoring, and climate adaptation, people are still dying.
INTRODUCTION
Pakistan finds itself on the front of climate disasters these days. Today hundreds of people are suffering from massive floods in northern Pakistan but the condition in the country is also not exquisite. Punjab deals with toxic smog every winter while Sindh and Balochistan bake under extreme heat waves year after year. These environmental crises aren’t just weather events; they directly threaten lives and basic human dignity across the country. Article 9A in Pakistan’s constitution promises citizens the right to a clean, healthy environment with the right to life. On paper it sounds strong but implementation tells a different story of what’s happening. Courts have occasionally referenced this article in climate-related lawsuits yet little changes for exposed populations day to day. People keep facing displacement, health risks, and economic collapse without meaningful legal shields. The gap between constitutional promises and actual protections grows wider as climate impacts intensify. Some argue Article 9A has become more symbolic than practical, a well-meaning idea trapped in bureaucratic inertia. Others see potential for turning it into an enforceable tool through strategic litigation and policy reforms.
Pakistan’s Flood Tragedy: Natural Disaster or Human Failure?
Pakistan’s recent monsoon floods had caused massive devastation, with Buner in KPK hitting the worst, along with Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan-administeered Kashmir, swat valley and Karachi. In just days over 50 lives were lost while since June the toll has risen to 759 deaths (including 189 children), nearly 1000 injured and 4000 homes destroyed, underscoring the scale of climate driven disaster.
The causes of Pakistan’s recurring floods are not single but interconnected, ranging from climatic change ( intensifies monsoon rains, glacial melting, and riding temperature) to poor urban planning and clogged drainage systems in cities like Karachi, soil erosion and deforestation in hilly areas, rapid unplanned urbanization, and weak river management and the main point is lack of early warning systems. Studies show that the currently used models failed to predict the exact climate change and these inaccuracies lead towards the huge disasters in different regions. What is the article 9A in climatic litigation
On Sunday, October 20th, the Senate passed the 26th Constitutional Amendment, introducing Article 9A, which has sparked significant attention and concern among the media, intellectuals, and the public due to its contentious provisions, particularly its explicit acknowledgment of the right to a healthy environment. There is increasing pressure from the public and institutions to revise environmental penalties so that fines and prison sentences appropriately match the seriousness of the offenses. Article 9A could serve as a potent instrument for climate litigation, enabling individuals and organizations to contest actions or inactions detrimental to the environment. This right is crucial in climate litigation as it empowers citizens, civil society, and the judiciary to hold the government accountable for failing to act on climate issues. Access to environmental data, project assessments, and government policies allows litigants to advocate for climate justice by demanding adherence to environmental responsibilities and sustainable development goals. The procedural nature of Article 9A strengthens substantive rights like the right to life and dignity by providing necessary information for accountability.
Article 9A serves two main roles in climate litigation. Firstly, it permits litigants to demand transparency in environmental governance, including access to environmental impact assessments, project approvals, and emission data. Secondly, it empowers courts to mandate that state institutions disclose climate-related information and act in the public’s informed interest.
While Article 9A does not constitute an immediate environmental right, it facilitates the pursuit of environmental justice by ensuring the public has access to the data and reasoning behind governmental decisions impacting the environment.
The struggle to enforce article 9A in climate litigation
Despite progressive rulings, climate litigation under Article 9A faces serious challenges due to weak institutional support, limited enforcement by bodies like Pak-EPA, and the absence of strong constitutional climate laws. The Climate Change Act 2017 lacks operational strength, and a persistent culture of secrecy hinders access to vital environmental data. Without meaningful structural reforms and enforceable legal safeguards, the influence of Article 9A risks being merely symbolic rather than transformative. Climate change litigation holds promise in Pakistan, as courts remain open to rights-based petitions. However, meaningful impact requires more than judicial willingness. The executive and judiciary must empower tribunals with adequate resources and expertise. Overreach by courts into executive roles risks institutional imbalance, and judges must acknowledge scientific limitations by involving climate experts.
Crucially, asfuture litigation increasingly targets powerful corporations, relying solely on constitutional PILsagainst state actors will leave private polluters unchecked unless tribunals are strengthened and environmental laws enforced effectively.
Is it a Symbolic Hope or Legal Revolution?
Pakistan’s climate litigation scene is at a turning point. On the one hand, the progressive initiative of the judiciary to invoke Article 9A for the advancement of environmental responsibility reflects a serious constitutional shift. Such a development is an important symbolic statement: environmental justice has become a part of Pakistan’s constitutional discourse, and the courts are ready to step in for the sake of ecological integrity and future generations. The widespread divergence between legal acknowledgment and functional implementation indicates that the revolutionary potential of Article 9A is undercut by more profound structural constraints, including institutional vulnerability, weak enforcement mechanisms, and absence of climate-specific legislation. One can say even if not presently enforced, these initial cases are
planting seeds for an eventual legal revolution, where climate justice may establish stronger
ground. Although the brutal truth is that it is just a symbolic hope because if it could have any
power then it might be visible on reality grounds. People are still suffering, they are still being
displaced, they are still suffocated in such an un breathable air but what are the institutions
doing? Is it just enough to make legislation which does not have practical implications?
“Weak governance, lack of institutional capacity, corruption, and poor enforcement of
environmental regulations mean that constitutional promises remain largely symbolic.”
The role of courts in Pakistan’s climatic landscape
The judiciary of Pakistan has been significantly activist in reading constitutional rights widely to
respond to environmental issues. This has involved reading environmental protection under the
right to life (Article 9) and now reading access to climate information under Article 9A.
Shehla Zia v. WAPDA
“The word ‘life’ in Article 9 is so wide that the danger to life posed by environmental pollution
and hazards must be covered”
This is the first major case linking the environment with the right to life in Pakistan. Shehla Zia
vs WAPDA (PLD 1994 SC 693) was decided before the formal insertion of Article 9A into the
Constitution, it remains critically relevant today as it set a foundational tone for transparency and
citizen participation in environmental matters. The Supreme Court, acting under Article 184(3),
acknowledged the public’s right to be informed and involved in decisions that impact their health
and environment, principles now formally enshrined in Article 9A, which guarantees access to
information in all matters of public importance. The case highlighted the need for informed
consent and scientific evaluation before state-led development projects, anticipating the modern
constitutional obligation of the state to disclose environmental data and allow scrutiny. Thus,
Shehla Zia vs WAPDA case law functions not only as a precedent for environmental protection
but also as an early judicial affirmation of the values later codified in Article 9A transparency,
accountability, and participatory governance.
Shah Zaman v. Government of KPK “The delay and lethargy of the State in implementing the Framework reflect a disregard for fundamental rights.” The Shah Zaman Khan case is a landmark decision that reinforces the constitutional and statutory framework protecting forests and environment in Pakistan. It exemplifies the judiciary’s evolving role in climate litigation, which is more than symbolic hope, it is a burgeoning legal revolution that integrates environmental protection into fundamental rights, balancing ecological sustainability with individual rights. Though the case had its basis in forest and land law, the Court headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa-underscored environmental protection as a public interest issue interrelated with constitutional rights. This ruling, even though not specifically invoking Article 9A of the Constitution, accords with its spirit by supporting access to environmental information, transparency in decision-making, and procedural rights for citizens.
Comparative and International Views
ICCPR does not explicitly address environmental rights, recent developments have strengthened the human rights climate change nexus. Key UN decisions, including the UN General Assembly’s recognition of the right to a clean environment (2022) and landmark rulings like Portillo Cáceres v Paraguay and Daniel Billy v Australia, have expanded the interpretation of existing human rights, especially the right to life, culture, and private life to include protection from climate-related harms. These decisions underscore that state inaction on climate change can constitute a human rights violation, even with transboundary implications, as seen in the CRC Committee’s acknowledgment of States’ extraterritorial responsibilities.
Internationally, access to information-based climate litigation is picking up pace. The Aarhus Convention in Europe offers a right framework for environmental information access, public participation, and access to justice. In India, the courts have read the right to information as inextricable from environmental protection. The Indian Supreme Court in Research Foundation for Science v. Union of India (2005) highlighted transparency as a condition precedent to environmental governance. Pakistan’s Article 9A here is an analogous, albeit unused, instrument. Its utility is that it could be brought into line with international norms and utilize developments in global environmental law. Strategic litigation invoking Article 9A in conjunction with international treaties and norms could be more effective and invite legislative reform.
Also Read : The issue of Canals in Sindh
Recommendations
In order to tap into the revolutionary power of Article 9A in climate litigation, a number of reforms must take place. The following are some recommendations that need to be worked on in order to make our country a better place to live in.
- To ensure the climate risk assessments before approving large-scale projects ( dams, industrial zones and highways etc).
- Develop penalty frameworks for corporations and government agencies failing to disclose emissions data or Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs).
- Improve the budget, staffing, and technical expertise of Pak-EPA and provisional environmental authorities.
- Create an independent oversight commission to work in compliance with climate and environmental standards.
- Implement early warning systems in local languages, particularly in flood and drought affected areas.
- Guarantee climate justice funds dedicated to rehabilitation and compensation for disaster affected populations for their survival.
- Align domestic enforcement of Article 9A with Pakistan’s obligations under the Paris Agreement, UNFCCC, and SDGs.
- Use Article 9A as a tool to hold the State accountable for fulfilling its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
- By developing modernized agricultural systems and ensuring the implementation of climatic resistance techniques, diverse water management technologies, and crops cultivation for flood resistance.
- Deforestation must be stopped and plantation of new plants and trees must be maximized.
Conclusion
Pakistan’s environmental mess shows how shaky those constitutional promises really are. Article 9A looks good in theory but hasn’t done much when it counts. Floods wiping out villages, smog choking cities you’ve seen it all play out while legal talk keeps missing the point. Between what’s written down and what people actually deal with daily is showing a gap and that gap just keeps growing. The right to a healthy environment needs teeth now, not someday maybe. Lives depend on making it something you can actually enforce, not just hope for. You know how it goes, disasters don’t wait for perfect plans. Right now Pakistan’s situation demands treating environmental protection like survival itself because honestly that’s what it is at this point.
Dignity and basic safety hang in the balance as things get more unpredictable by the year.
Author’s Bio:
Wania Tariq is a law student at Fatima Jinnah Women University with a strong interest in constitutional law, human rights, and climate justice. She has previously published on issues of privacy, surveillance, and data protection in Pakistan, and actively engages in research on the intersection of law, technology, and the environment. Beyond her academic work, she has participated in several competitions, workshops, and legal research projects, reflecting her commitment to bridging legal scholarship with pressing social challenges.
