3.5.1 India
India formulated a National Action Plan on Climate Change in 2008, but the country is growing fast and institutional arrangements are not getting sufficient attention. India needs effective institutional structures and coordination and implementation strategies for policy. According to Navroz K. Dubash and Neha B. Joseph, institutionalisation of climate change has often been ad hoc instead of being designed to suit India’s development-focused approach.293 It also
suffers from a lack of stability in institutions; for example, the office of Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Climate Change was disestablished after two years.It would seem that there is little Bangladesh can learn from India’s institutional arrangements.
3.5.2 Pakistan
However, the Government of Pakistan established three important institutions related to addressing climate change. The Pakistan Climate Change Council (PCCC) was established under section 3 of the Climate Change Act 2017 as a supreme body for monitoring climate change-related developments, both internationally and nationally, and providing policy guidance. This council is headed by the Prime Minister or such other person as the Prime Minister may nominate. This Council shall hold at least two meetings a year and consider the National Climate Change Report to give appropriate direction. The Pakistan Climate Change Authority and the Pakistan Climate Change Fund were established under section 5 and section 12 of the same Act respectively. Under Amendment 18 to the Constitution of Pakistan, enacted in 2010, the government devolved the Ministry of Environment to the provinces and established a new Ministry of Disaster Management in 2011; in 2012, this was renamed as the Ministry of Climate Change (MCC). Therefore, the environment is now under the jurisdiction of the provincial government and climate change responsibility resides at the federal level. The MCC deals with CDM and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation
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initiatives in Pakistan.294 Other ministries with policy responsibility for power, energy, food security and research also have some responsibilities for climate change-related policies in the key areas of mitigation and adaptation. Pakistan has also established an autonomous Global Change Impact Studies Centre to conduct climate change-related research. Other initiatives include the Planning Commission’s Task Force on Climate Change and the Ministry of Environment’s Core Group on Climate Change. The Pakistan government has harmonised institutions between federal and provincial levels and climate change action is—potentially— supported by various bodies.295
3.5.3 Climate Change Commission in Pakistan
In the case of Shehla Zia v. WAPDA (1994),296 the Supreme Court of Pakistan established a commission in the case for providing and reviewing scientific technical and professional data submitted by the parties in the case. As environmental issues often overlap with various other areas, such as mining, science, economics, health and public safety, the Supreme Court utilised the expert guidance of the Commissions, setting a legal precedent in the superior courts in Pakistan. In the Salt Mines case (1994),297 the Supreme Court constituted a committee of six
members to visit the site of extensive mining activity and to recommend remedial measures.298 In the Lahore Bank Road case (2011),299 the Supreme Court decided to seek the assistance of
an expert committee to enable the court to receive technical advice while the judges focused on questions of law; the aim was to reduce the chances of judicial arbitrariness and add legitimacy to the judgment.300 Pakistan’s superior courts have also followed this precedent and adopted the practice of appointing commissions as needed. In the case of Asghar Leghari v
294 Qamar Uz Zaman Chaudhury, Climate Change Profile of Pakistan (Asian Development Bank, 2017)
<https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/357876/climate-change-profile-pakistan.pdf>.
295 Shakeel Ahmad Ramay, Farrukh Iqbal Khan and Sadia Munawar, Institutional Arrangement for Climate
Change in Pakistan (Sustainable Development Policy Institute, 2011), <https://www.sdpi.org/publications/files/project%20report%2019.pdf>.
296 Shehla Zia v. WAPDA [1994] PLD 693(SC).
297 General Secretary, West Pakistan Salt Miners Labour Union (CBA) Khewra, Jhelum v. The Director,
Industries and Mineral Development, Punjab, Lahore [1994[ SCRM 2061.
298 Dr Parvez Hassan, Environmental Jurisprudence from Pakistan: Some Lesson for the SAARC Region. Paper
presented at the South Asia Conference on Environmental Justice organised by the Supreme Court of Pakistan (24–25 March 2012),
<https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/import/downloads/pk_1_environmental_jurisprudence_from_pakistan___s ome_lessons_for_the_saarc_region__d.pdf>.
299 Cutting of Trees for Canal Widening Project, Lahore (2011) SCMR 1743. 300 Ibid, para 54.
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Federation of Pakistan (2015),301 the Lahore High Court has followed the Shehla Zia (1994)302 case and constituted a ‘climate change commission’ for the effective implementation of the National Climate Change Policy, 2012 and Framework (2014–2030). The commission consisted of the heads of all important federal and provincial ministries, departments and authorities, members of civil society, academics and media representatives to focus on priority actions. The commission has submitted a report of recommendations to ensure the smooth implementation of the policy and the framework. A similar commission might assist to Bangladesh to further implementing an effective environmental regime. The Pakistani commission also resolves complex environmental issues, promotes dialogue and discussion between stakeholders, and includes those department or ministries of the government that would ultimately be responsible. It has successfully coordinated between the ministries and department, as well recommending an appropriate budgetary allocation for the implementation of the framework, particularly the priority actions and capacity building, including improvement of the national early warning system.303 The commission also recommended plans for financial allocation to develop dams and the establishment of a separate ministry/national commission on water to deal with water resource management and conservation.304 It has also recommended strengthening its capacity to access international climate finance to combat climate change and suggested certain projects under budgetary allocations. Bangladesh could benefit from such ‘one-stop shop’ to coordinate responses to climate change and seek to ensure climate justice.