Courts and the right to a healthy environment in Pakistan ^{CEFR B1}

Pakistan’s courts have increasingly recognised a constitutional right to a healthy environment. Landmark decisions such as Shehla Zia, which interpreted Article 9, and Asghar Leghari helped build a climate law tradition over two decades. In May 2025 the Abbottabad Bench of the Peshawar High Court issued a stern judgment blaming the government and the Environmental Protection Agency for failures to protect fragile mountain ecosystems. Parliament then added Article 9A through the 26th Constitutional Amendment to reinforce environmental protection in law.

However, many barriers limit the courts' ability to deliver climate justice. A United Nations Environment Programme report published in October 2025 finds that climate litigation worldwide faces structural, procedural and financial obstacles and depends on strong civil society, a public interest litigation culture and specialised legal expertise. In Pakistan those supports remain weak.

Individual cases illustrate the limits. Muhammad (a pseudonym) has pursued a petition against illegal deforestation for nearly a decade and has again had to appear in court; he relied on a local NGO to cover high litigation costs and worries that limited funding cannot match powerful interests. Advocate Abira Ashfaq says shrinking NGO funding and a lack of sustained support for public interest litigation mean very few environmental claims reach the Environmental Tribunals. Legal experts also warn that environmental law teaching and expertise are concentrated in a few places, and judges often lack sustained exposure to climate science and evolving principles.