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Author	Mr Hossain Mohammad Reza
Organisation/Institution	The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Law School, Asian Law Center
Country	AUSTRALIA
Panel	Environmental Law
Title	The Promise and the Paradox of Standing Rules in Climate Change Litigation
Abstract	The rules on standing, or locus standi, remain a central and contested issue in climate litigation. While restrictive standing prevents plaintiffs from seeking judicial accountability for climate change, broad standing often coincides with the rise of climate litigation. This paper, however, challenges the assumed interplay between climate litigation development and broad standing rules, offering a nuanced account of their relationship. Drawing on twenty-six in-depth interviews with Supreme Court judges, lawyers, and scholars (conducted under ethics approval from Melbourne Law School), this paper demonstrates that Bangladesh’s broad standing rules have not produced substantial climate litigation cases. This paper reveals how socio-cultural intricacies and institutional deficiencies undermine the promise of broad standing, impeding the emergence of climate litigation in Bangladesh. Bangladesh’s Constitution limits public interest litigation, the main avenue for climate claims, to ‘aggrieved persons.’ In the Flood Action Plan decision, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh interpreted ‘person aggrieved’ expansively, conferring standing on any citizen or organisation demonstrating ‘sufficient interest’ in environmental protection, including those ‘whose heart bleeds for less fortunate fellow beings.’ This expansive approach makes Bangladesh a model for accessible climate litigation. However, this paper reveals a critical paradox: Bangladesh’s progressive standing doctrine has failed to catalyse robust climate litigation. Broader standing has been undermined by several socio-legal obstacles, such as low public awareness, religious beliefs framing climate disasters as divine will, fear of political retaliation, geographical distribution of courts, the psychological burden of protracted litigation, and weak evidentiary systems for proving climate causation. This paper argues that broad standing alone cannot foster the development of climate litigation. Socio-legal barriers may render these broad standing as limiting in practice as restrictive standing rules. Without addressing such barriers, the promise of broad standing will remain unfulfilled. The insights drawn from this analysis hold relevance for other countries facing similar challenges.
Biography	Biography of Hossain Mohammad Reza I am a third-year PhD candidate at Melbourne Law School. My thesis examines the prospects and barriers of climate litigation in Bangladesh through comparative insights from Australia. The thesis sits at the crossroads of Asian Law, Environmental Law, Human Rights and Comparative Law. Alongside my doctoral research, I have served as a Research Assistant in International Law with La Trobe Law School and the INPACC Hub at Melbourne Climate Futures (MCF), where I now co-lead the MCF Law and Litigation Research theme. Before pursuing my PhD, I served over a decade in the judiciary of Bangladesh as a judge and worked with the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, contributing to legal reforms and policy development. I also collaborated with the Bangladesh Law Commission on a comprehensive law lexicon and supported the Bangladesh Judicial Service Commission in selecting future judges. Earlier in my career, I lectured at Premier University Chittagong and BGC Trust University Bangladesh. A recipient of the Australia Awards Scholarship, I completed a Master of Environmental Law at the University of Melbourne in 2018. I also hold an LLB (Honours) and LLM from the University of Chittagong, Bangladesh. My publications have appeared in leading journals, including the Journal of Environmental Law & Litigation (USA), Adelaide Law Review (Australia), Journal of Malaysian and Comparative Law (Malaysia), and Australian Journal of Asian Law. I have presented at the AsianSIL Biennial Conference (2019, Manila) and the Adaptation Conference (2025, Perth).