In 1999, IUCNP’s Law Programme ascertained that there existed no comprehensive reference on environmental law in Pakistan. Owing to the lack of a collective resource, a perception pervaded that that there were very few laws pertaining to protection and conservation of environment in the context of Pakistan. Consultations with lawyers and stakeholders led to the concept of compiling a book on all natural resource management laws of Pakistan and the processes that affect them.

Environmental law in Pakistan – a six-part series - is the result of hard work and time of several individuals, among them leading lawyers of the country and several staff of IUCN.

It is organized as follows:

Part 1: Federal
Part 2: Balochistan
Part 3: North-West Frontier Province
Part 4: Punjab
Part 5: Sindh
Part 6: Northern Areas

Each part of the series is divided into two volumes.

The first volume describes and analyses the laws governing natural resources, as well as the processes and activities that impact natural resource management.

The second volume contains the full text of all legal instruments discussed. As such it’s a substantive document. For a fuller understanding of environmental legislation at the sub-national level, the provincial and regional surveys should be read together with the volume on federal law. These reviews, individually and together, do not pretend to be exhaustive compilations of the entire body of law related to a specific subject. They are rather a selection and overview of legal instruments with greatest actual or potential impact on natural resources and the environment.

The process of compiling, writing and editing this series has taken a considerable amount of time. The authors are legal practitioners and academics belonging to all provinces and territories of Pakistan. They searched for and reviewed hundreds of federal and provincial legal instruments to identify statutes that directly govern natural resources, as well as those that actually or potentially affect natural resource management in the country.

Environmental Law in Pakistan is intended to serve as a reference resource for law students and

teachers, practicing lawyers, lawmakers, judges, administrators, corporate officers, and others who require information on the subject. Every effort has been made to keep the text of the analysis jargon-free so that it is accessible to the widest possible audience.

In this electronic information base adapted for the World Wide Web (WWW), users will be able to find vol 1 under Description and Analysis (a single PDF document) and vol. 2 has been divided into individual laws under various categories. The full text of each of these laws is also available in separate PDF files. For Northern Areas, in addition to the statutory laws, there’s a separate section on customary, which is also available as a single document in the PDF format.

For further information, please contact:

webmaster@iucnp.org

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