Pakistan is in a state of climate change emergency. Environmental deterioration and climate change are having a devastating effect on Pakistan’s economy, the means of subsistence for the poor, and sustainable development as well. The unplanned rapid urbanization, population explosion, and a definite reliance on natural resources are placing a tremendous amount of strain on the ecosystem causing climate change at a much high level than anticipated. In order to strengthen and enhance the overall forestry, wildlife, and environment, major interventions supported by a commitment to adequate financial flows are needed to preserve and protect Pakistan’s sparse forest and wildlife resources.
The National Climate Change Policy of Pakistan (NCCP) was approved in 2012 by the federal government and updated ten years after, i.e. in 2021 October. This policy aims at ensuring that climate change is taken seriously in both, social and economically vulnerable segments of society guiding Pakistan toward a climate-friendly and compatible development (Ministry, 2021). It provides an adaptation and mitigation framework for addressing the threats and issues that Pakistan faces or potentially can face in the future as a result of climate change.
Pakistan’s response to climate change has been characterized by a lack of political will, a reluctance to acknowledge that the complex effects of climate change demand efforts from various sectors of the government and society, and most importantly, insufficient institutional frameworks. Despite our federal policy actions, there has been a glaring lack of coordination and coherence between the federal and provincial governments on activities connected to climate.
Reviewing the national and provincial climate laws, governance, and institutions, as described above, reveals a number of federal measures, including policies and laws, but with little emphasis on coordination and interaction between the federation and the federating units. This demonstrates the loopholes prevalent in national policy.
A fatal flaw in the NCCP is that the Ministry of Environment, which is under-staffed, under-funded, and meager, has been assigned the task of carrying out the ambitious Climate policy as well as overseeing the implementation of roughly a dozen environmental conventions that Pakistan has ratified and for which it serves as the focal point. After the 18th amendment, which devolved power to provinces for ecology and environment, the situation only got worse.
The national and sub-national Climate Change Policy Implementation Committees are mentioned in the National Climate Change Policy (2012) document. However, neither the federal nor provincial levels have established any such committees. Pakistan’s 2017 Climate Change Act envisions a National Climate Change Authority with a membership of the provinces. The authority has not yet been informed, and neither its employees nor management have been appointed. Consequently, despite the few references to maintain cooperation and contact between the federation and its units on climate governance is still limited to the material it is printed on.
Despite the provinces’ varying capacity to implement measures related to climate change, no province has yet made use of its constitutional power to ask the parliament to create a federal law covering a particular component of climate change. Therefore, the Pakistan Climate Change Act (2017) is a peculiarity, yet it can be inferred that the parliament passed it in accordance with its authority to make laws pertaining to international accords, like the UNFCCC.
This analysis of Pakistan’s climate governance structure following the 18th amendment comes to the conclusion that the fundamental framework is still firmly established in the Epoch-One approach, with Pakistan’s climate governance concentrating largely on leaning towards international agreements and adherence at the federal level only. In the wake of the 18th amendment, numerous climate ideas for governance that consider the Epoch Two climate governance- specifically provincial coordination involving federation and provinces- have been implemented at the federal level, but even these programs (the Provincial Climate Change Coordination Committee and the Pakistan Climate Change Authority) are merely on paper with no formal actions or notifications made (Alam R., 2019).
Apart from this, there has never been any effort from the government’s side to include the masses or at the least make them feel a part of the policy and decision-making process, although they are the ones being directly and greatly affected by the consequences of climate change at all levels.
Climate change is no more just a threat to Pakistan, it is a reality; such a reality that is hitting all segments of society and all walks of life ranging from socio-economic to political, agricultural, and environmental with each passing day. It is high time that state institutions realize this and work on it in the future to improve the efficiency of national public policies.
The writer is an MPhil scholar at Kinnard College for Women University Lahore.
