The Right to a Healthy Environment in Pakistan: Legal Recognition, Enforcement Challenges, and the Way Forward

Abstract

With the right to a healthy environment increasingly recognized as a fundamental human right, people have the right to clean air, water, and a healthy environment. In Pakistan, environmental degradation, pollution, and climate change pose severe threats to this right, despite the existence of environmental laws and judicial interventions. It has a legal framework to environmental protection and these are named as Pakistan Environmental Protection Act (PEPA) 1997, National Climate Change Policy 2012, and Pakistan Climate Change Act 2017. Despite this, however, weak enforcement mechanisms, lack of institutional capacity, political interference and the absence of public awareness have prevented effective implementation. Judicial activism, through landmark cases such as Shehla Zia v. Wapda, Lahore High court smog Case. This has been crucial in considering environmental protection in the right to life Article 9, 9A and Article 14. Despite all these judicial engagements Pakistan still has a long way to go before facing real enforcement challenges, namely weak regulatory oversight, industrial noncompliance and inconsistent policy implementation. In order to address these issues, a comprehensive legal and policy reform and explicit constitutional recognition of the right to a healthy environment, strengthening of environmental institutions, establishment of specialized environmental courts, and public participation are necessary. Furthermore, government's sustainable development policies, green energy initiatives as well as international cooperation can assist Pakistan in dealing with environmental degradation and the negative impact of climate change. The aim of this article is to prove that Pakistan has to balance between economic development and environmental sustainability in its future. A cleaner, healthier and a more sustainable future can be realized by adopting stronger legal protections, strengthening the governance structure, and promoting civic engagement in Pakistan. The protection of environmental rights needs to exit out of judicial reliance and enforce the environmental rights by comprehensive institutional and legislative action at the industrial and national level to ensure environmental protection for the two or more generations present today and in future.