At ICJ hearing, Pakistan urges global cooperation to tackle climate change

• AGP Mansoor Awan makes oral statement before ICJ. 
• Highlights Pakistan's vulnerability to climate change.
• Urges int'l cooperation to address climate change. 

Pakistan has stressed the need for global cooperation to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change during the hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, the Foreign Office said in a statement. 

Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan made an oral statement before the international court in the case concerning Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of States regarding Climate Change.

The case, initiated as a concerning Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of States regarding Climate Change, seeks to render advisory opinion of the ICJ regarding the obligations of states in addressing the global challenge posed by climate change. 

During the presentation before the court, AGP Awan highlighted the country's vulnerability to climate change while underscoring the need for international cooperation to addressed the major issue. 

The AGP highlighted how the people of Pakistan are severely impacted by climate change events, saying: "For the human race, turning a Nelson’s eye to the climate emergency is no longer an option."

At the outset, Awan set out the country's agreement with the like-minded developing countries on three key points — Paris Agreement, interpretation of the obligations of states and disputes regarding the interpretation and application of the obligations.

"Pakistan’s submissions are structured as follows: I will first turn to flooding and desertification that climate change has caused in Pakistan. Second: the obligation of prevention of significant transboundary harm. Third: recognition by states that the obligation of prevention applies generally. Fourth, I will turn to the requirement of knowledge — actual or constructive — in relation to the obligation of prevention," he told the court. 

Flooding and desertification

Awan first spoke about the flooding and desertification, highlighting the devastations faced by Pakistan in 2010 and 2022. He said that the 2010 flooding submerged a fifth of the whole of Pakistan while displacing six million people, killing 2,000 and causing economic losses of about $10 billion.  

He then talked about the 2022 floods which affected 33 million people, destroyed over 2 million homes, 30,000 schools and 2,000 health facilities and causing reconstruction needs to exceed $16 billion. The floods also impacted the country's GDP by $15.2 billion. 

Awan then spoke about the rising and extreme temperatures affecting Pakistan are also resulting in devastating desertification. 

"Water and wind erosion, depletion of soil fertility, deforestation, livestock grazing pressure, loss of biodiversity, water logging, salinity, drought and (again) flooding have now become the main problems," he told the international court. 

Awan said that the 2010 and 2022 floods provide a reliable indication of what more is to come unless all states take the necessary measures. 

Obligation of prevention

The AGP then turned to the obligation of prevention of significant transboundary harm caused to Pakistan through climate changed caused by other states and their activities in their own territory. 

He quoted the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), saying states have "the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction and control do not cause damage to the environment of other states." 

On the requirement of knowledge, the AGP said that obligation of prevention applies from the point at which the state in question had the requisite knowledge of the adverse effects of anthropogenic greenhouse-gas emissions. 

"It would be no excuse for polluting states now to argue that they were ignorant that their release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere could potentially alter the climate system and that such interference could have catastrophic effects for other states," he said. 

AGP Awan said that the international law asks whether the state in question had actual or constructive knowledge. 

Concluding the presentation, the AGP said: "Pakistan urges the court to give an opinion which meets the challenge climate change poses to the planet."