Intergovernmental relations in climate change governance: A Pakistani case

Climate change has posed unprecedented challenges, particularly for developing countries that are more at risk. Policy initiatives are required by different levels of government to address the negative consequences of climate change. Intergovernmental relations (IGRs) have a key role to align the coordination among different tiers of governments in the formulation and implementation of climate change adaptation policies. However, there are multiple challenges to ensure smooth IGRs for effective climate governance. This study is conducted to identify such key challenges for IGRs for effective climate adaptation governance by using a case study of the Pakistani agriculture sector. Our findings reveal that the main reason for weak IGRs is the unstable political situation in the country. IGRs depend heavily on the goodwill of politicians as there are no effective formal mechanisms of coordination between the federal government and provinces for dealing with climate change. Additionally, there is a lack of institutional and technical capabilities of local institutions and the unavailability of support from other tiers of the government due to political differences. Local institutions do not have clear actual roles, responsibilities, and powers. This situation creates uncertainties among the institutions, which ultimately makes them unable to have sound IGRs. There is also a lack of coordination among the provinces for collective efforts due to different political manifestos and diverse governance approaches within their territories. Civil society organizations (CSOs) were found to play an important role in IGRs. CSOs provide a platform for all actors by arranging different workshops and seminars, for example.