ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court of Pakistan Thursday gave the last chance to Secretary Ministry of Climate Change to constitute Climate Change Authority and place its notification by 15th August, with a warning to initiate contempt proceeding against him in case of non-compliance. A three-member bench headed by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and comprising Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan conducted hearing of the petition of Public Interest Law Association of Pakistan. On the last hearing on 01-07-24 the bench had directed the Secretary to place the notification of a duly constituted Authority within a fortnight. During the hearing, the court noted that one month has passed yet there is no progress in the matter.
It said that the Act was promulgated seven years ago, but the Authority has not yet been established under Section 5 of the Act. Justice Mansoor said that the urgency expressed in the matter by the Court is because of the upcoming monsoon rains. The Authority needs to be in place to deal with all climate-related challenges but the Ministry does not appear to understand or appreciate the urgency.
The court said; “As a last opportunity, we direct the concerned Ministry to ensure that the Authority stands constituted and the notification thereof is placed on the record not later than 15.08.2024. In case this is not done the Secretary, Ministry of Climate Change will appear in person to answer why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him.”
The Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) gave a detailed presentation clearly showing the disaster management and disaster prevention preparation especially regarding the floods. The court asked Secretary Climate Change to place on the record the Climate Change Policy of the federal government, as well as, the steps taken thereunder. He referred to the Climate Change Policy 2012 (updated in 2022), as well as, the Project of “Living Indus”, but could not point out the substantial challenges faced by the country regarding climate change and the concrete steps taken on the ground to address those issues. As the secretary failed to satisfy, the Court therefore summoned the Attorney General to assist the Court regarding the matter. The Punjab Chief Secretary submitted that there is no notified Climate Change Policy in Punjab; however, the same is under preparation. He points out that the Provincial Government has engaged Dr Kausar Abdullah, as well as, advocate Asghar Leghari to assist them in the preparation of the said Provincial Climate Change Policy, which will be presented before the Court within a month. Let the needful be done. The Sindh Chief Secretary while referring to his report filed through CMA No. 7375 of 2024 highlighted several areas where the Government of Sindh has made meaningful interventions regarding climate change.
He referred to the scheme of “Afforestation and Decarbonization” and pointed out that Sindh is the only Province which successfully availed carbon credits and traded them in the International Market, earning US $ 22 million; that the mangrove forest cover has been expanded against the 2022 baseline to 1,500,000 acres; the forests have been restored on vacated lands through regeneration and planting and tree cover is to be enhanced by at least 300,000 acres; EV buses and Bio CNG Buses have been introduced by the transport department in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank; efforts have been made to move to alternative energy resources and a capital investment of $ 4.225 billion has been made as renewable energy; construction of 1.137 million flood/climate resilient houses for flood affectees of 2022 have been undertaken; there has been a concrete lining of irrigation channels; spanning over 3675 miles; 180 small storage/recharge/retention dams have been constructed; sewerage treatment plant (TP-IV) and West Karachi Recycling Project has been introduced; development of climate friendly crop production techniques have been adopted which include alternate wetting and drying (AWD) method; aerobic rice cultivation technology; rice drilling in dry prepared land; biological control of harmful insects; bio pesticides; zero-tillage method; Sindh Climate Change Policy 2022 has also been attached with the said report. It appears that the Government of Sindh has been actively working to address the issues of climate change faced by the province.
The court directed the attorney general and the chief secretaries Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to submit their response on the next date.
