These intersecting rights impacts underscore the need for constitutional and legal frameworks capable of addressing climate change as a systemic human rights challenge. In Pakistan, such constitutional recognition was introduced relatively late, with Article 9A incorporated as a fundamental right through the 26th Amendment in 2024. Prior to this amendment, the constitutional evolution of environmental rights occurred largely through judicial interpretation.

This judicial trajectory began with the landmark Shehla Zia case, in which the Supreme Court of Pakistan held that the constitutional right to life encompasses the right to a clean and healthy environment, deriving this protection from Articles 9 (Right to Life) and 14 (Right to Dignity) of the Constitution.¹ Over time, public interest litigation and climate advocacy further expanded this interpretation, bringing multiple environmental and socioeconomic rights within the scope of the right to life. Subsequent jurisprudence reinforced this approach. The Sindh High Court affirmed that the right to life includes a right to a clean and healthy environment, placing corresponding obligations on the legislature to enact protective laws and on the executive to ensure their implementation.² In 2017, the Supreme Court further clarified that the provision of clean drinking water is a constitutional duty of the state.³ This evolution culminated in the Asghar Leghari case, which explicitly linked environmental protection with climate justice.⁴ The Court recognized that climate change threatens fundamental rights, including the rights to life, dignity, property, and livelihood, as well as the state’s obligation to safeguard social and economic well-being under Article 38D of the Constitution.

Article 9A consolidates three decades of judicial jurisprudence by transforming an implied right into an explicit and fundamental right. Its inclusion creates a binding obligation on the legislature and executive to integrate environmental protection into law-making and administrative action, reducing reliance on courts to fill protection gaps. Furthermore, as an unqualified right, it must be treated as a primary consideration and cannot be overridden by competing priorities.⁵ 

Pakistan’s constitutional framework is supported by an extensive body of environmental legislation, including the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act (PEPA) 1997 and corresponding provincial environmental protection laws, regulations, and policies. At the federal level, this framework is further reinforced by the Climate Change Act, 2017, alongside multiple national and provincial climate policies. However, the effectiveness of this legal architecture ultimately depends on enforcement. In 2022, the Federal Government was sued for failing to implement key environmental laws, including the Climate Change Act, 2017, prompting the Supreme Court to direct the establishment of the Climate Change Authority and the Climate Change Fund as mandated by statute.⁶ Despite this judicial intervention, enforcement remains weak, constrained by corruption, limited accountability, political instability, inadequate institutional capacity, insufficient financing, and fragmented governance, all of which continue to undermine public trust.