Asghar Leghari had had enough. The farmer was tired of watching his family fight against the unpredictable weather that threatened their crops in Rahim Yar Khan District, in South Punjab region. He was also disheartened by the fates of many small-scale farmers around him, whose struggles with weather shifts have ended in poverty. And he was angry at Pakistan's seeming inability to protect its people against the devastating effects of climate change.
So Leghari decided there was only one thing to do: he took the government to court. In August, Leghari, 25, filed a petition with the Lahore High Court claiming that the government was violating his fundamental rights by neglecting to tackle the impacts of climate change. Quoting the objectives of the country's 2012 National Climate Change Policy, he accused leaders of failing "to ensure water, food and energy security in the face of the challenges posed by climate change."
In response, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah ordered the formation of a Climate Change Commission to push forward the policies the government promised. That commission, made up of officials from key ministries - including the Ministry of Climate Change and the Ministry of Water and Power - as well as heads of other government departments and international organisations, has now begun meeting. Climate change "appears to be the most serious threat facing Pakistan," the judge said.
"My petition aimed to compel the concerned departments and ministries to take action and consider climate change an important issue before it is too late," he said. He believes government action on the problem has been negligible, even though the nation has had a climate change policy and framework in place for over three years. "The circumstances that merited the filing of this petition do not affect only me, but are endemic," Leghari said. The case "does not deal with an individual grievance, but seeks to address a larger public interest matter."
Those include things like promoting crop irrigation practices that waste less water and new crop varieties that require less water, and urging farmers to use biogas and manure digesters to generate green energy and reduce methane emissions. Leghari said he isn't demanding compensation. What he wants from the government, he said, is action on the broader problem. "Direct relief would be insufficient in scope to compensate me or other farmers against future grievances," he said. "Climate change is an issue that is here to stay if adequate measures are not taken."