The Climate Change London Summit 2015 took up much my time last week. An event which brought together a group of the world’s leading judges, lawyers and legal academics in London. The Climate Change London Summit started on Thursday the 17th of September at the Supreme Court in London.
The Honourable Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah of Pakistan with Tahir Ashraf barrister at the Climate Change London Summit 2015
The most notable highlight for me was being informed … and meeting the Rt Hon. Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah of the HIgh Court of Pakistan, who had Ordered the constitution of a Climate Change Commission in Pakistan.
Climate Change London Summit – King’s College, London
Hosted by the Dickson Poon School of Law at King’s College London, with the support of The UK Supreme Court, HM Government, the Journal of Environmental Law, the Asian Development Bank and the United Nations Environment Programme. The Climate Change London symposium welcomed over 25 eminent international jurists, legal practitioners and academics. It was particularly planned ahead of the UN climate change conference in Paris this December.
The Climate Change London Summit Aim
The aim of Climate Change London was to explore the extent to which courts are equipped to deal with the legal challenges presented by climate change and the potential changes needed for legal systems to resolve environmental and climate change related disputes.
Climate Change London conference organisers explain that: ‘Climate change is a disruptive problem, for our social, financial and legal systems, and will only become more so. The causes and impacts of climate change are many and they operate and are felt at every level, from the local to the international. The climate change treaty process seeks to address and help remedy some aspects of climate change, but it cannot be a comprehensive solution to the problem.’
The most notable highlight for me was being informed by Lord Carnwath at the Climate Change London event of the Order made by the Rt Hon. Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah of the HIgh Court of Pakistan, Ordered the constitution of a Climate Change Commission, to expedite and to effectively implement the fundamental rights of the people. The Pakistan Climate Change Commission which is due to meet imminently at the beginning of October will also report to the Rt Hon. Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah.
Congratulations to the Rt Hon Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and to Pakistan on the creation by judicial Order of Climate Change Commission, a world-leading judicial intervention on climate change which demonstrates to the world the role that the judiciary can play to deal with the global threat of climate change.
It was an honour to meet some of the most notable among many other Climate Change London event attendees including the Rt Hon Lord Robert Carnwath (Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom); the Hon. Justice Brian J Preston, Chief Judge of the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales, Australia; Justice Swatanter Kumar, Chairperson of the National Green Tribunal, India; Justice Antonio Benjamin, Justice of the National High Court of Brazil; Phillipe Sands QC; David D. Caron, Dean and Professor of Law at The Dickson Poon School of Law and Liz Fisher, Professor of Environmental Law, University of Oxford.
Congratulations to the Rt Hon Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and to Pakistan on the creation by judicial Order of Climate Change Commission, a world-leading judicial intervention on climate change which demonstrates to the world the role that the judiciary can play to deal with the global threat of climate change.
For more information on the climate change challenge and air pollution Tahir can be contacted here.