Shah Zaman Khan and others v. Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

On February 7, 2023, the Supreme Court of Pakistan decided consolidated appeals concerning private title claims to land designated as protected forest in the former State of Swat. The Court held that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Forest Ordinance, 2002, barred the civil suits where the claimants could not establish title predating the forest notification. It allowed the government's appeals and dismissed the private parties' appeals.

In explaining the importance of forest protection, the Court treated climate change as a present crisis, reviewed Pakistan's forest loss and the carbon-sequestration function of trees, and stated that deforestation compounds the warming caused by fossil-fuel emissions. It relied on D.G. Khan Cement Co. v. Government of Punjab for climate democracy and intergenerational justice and connected forest stewardship with Islamic environmental principles. Although the immediate holding concerned title and jurisdiction, the climate-mitigation analysis formed a substantial part of the Court's rationale for protecting the forest.