IN August 2022, a monstrous flood and torrential rains inundated an area the size of Great Britain and affected over 33 million people, a staggering number close to the population of Canada. This climate disaster is only one of the many that has hit Pakistan, an underdeveloped country with minimum resources to address the aftermath of such a crises. One would think that Pakistan is paying the price of its contribution to creation of carbon emissions, however, fact of the matter is that Pakistan produces less than 1% of the world’s carbon footprint yet is suffering the biggest consequences of climate change. I will never forget the climate-related carnage I saw after apocalyptic flooding submerged a third of Pakistan. Guterres 27 Sept 2023.

With this context in mind, which entails in reality stories of displacement, disaster, death, suffering of a magnitude beyond what can be comprehended or imagined, Pakistan seeks climate justice from the world! The answer to climate justice is found in measures that firstly, strengthen the legal regime and empower climate ligation. Secondly, climate finance is the answer to climate action. Countries that are not contributors of the excessive carbon emissions and are suffering beyond proportion to their guilt, should be compensated through climate finance, capacity building and technology development. Lastly, climate justice needs to be recognized through a legal regime that transcends states and empowers states and citizens alike to seek justice through an effective and exclusive international forum.

Climate change indicates most predominantly and alarmingly a significant increase in the average world temperature which will lead to serious impacts on the environment. Climate justice is interdependent upon the protection of human rights and it intersects with many branches of international law; however there still remains a need of a coherent binding legal regime which can provide protections and a mechanisms whereby safeguards and pre-emptive measures can be put in place to reduce the impact of man-made climate change and counteract legal avenues can be available for challenging and addressing non-compliance of acceptable standards.

At present there is an array of hard law and soft law addressing the various themes of climate management and environmental protections. The first attempts at identifying climate........

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