{"id":50387886,"date":"2024-01-16T11:44:16","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T11:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dialogochino.net\/?post_type=explainer&p=387886"},"modified":"2024-04-12T14:15:51","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T14:15:51","slug":"387886-ecocide-what-is-it-and-should-it-be-considered-an-international-crime","status":"publish","type":"explainer","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/387886-ecocide-what-is-it-and-should-it-be-considered-an-international-crime\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecocide: What is it and should it be considered an international crime?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Addressing the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2019, John Licht, Vanuatu\u2019s ambassador to the European Union, recommended<\/a> making environmental destruction an international crime: \u201cThis radical idea merits serious discussion in the face of the scientific evidence showing that climate change poses existential threats to civilisations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a small island state threatened by rising sea levels, Vanuatu has now become one of the main supporters of a campaign to make \u201cecocide\u201d an international crime. They argue that such offences should be under the jurisdiction of the ICC, which currently prosecutes four crimes: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression, which is \u201cthe use of armed<\/a> force by a state against the sovereignty, integrity or independence of another state\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is ecocide?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ecocide describes any kind of activity that knowingly causes significant environmental harm. In 2021, an independent panel of experts convened by the non-profit Stop Ecocide International (SEI) announced a largely accepted definition<\/a>: \u201cunlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The term \u201cecocide\u201d first emerged during the Vietnam War, used to describe to the destructive environmental consequences of the defoliant Agent Orange<\/a>. After featuring in United Nations talks during the following decades, by 1998, ecocide had been proposed as an international crime against peace in a draft of the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the ICC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A legal definition of ecocide as a crime did not make it into the final Rome Statue, but changing this became the main goal of the Scottish lawyer Polly Higgins. One of the most prominent voices in the global movement for the recognition of ecocide, she co-founded the organisation Stop Ecocide International with Jojo Mehta in 2017, and campaigned actively until her death in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"people<\/div>
Members of European Parliament and advocates celebrate the parliament\u2019s unanimous vote for \u201cecocide\u201d to be condemned under EU law in March 2023 (Image: Stop Ecocide International)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Speaking with Di\u00e1logo Chino, Mehta says she is confident that progress is being made, and that ecocide will likely be acknowledged by the ICC before 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe word has been around for 50 years but it only recently started to become more popular,\u201d says Mehta. \u201cThe Rome Statute designated the most severe crimes that affect the global community. Severe damage to the environment belongs in that category. Destruction of the environment is as wrong as the severe destruction of people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should ecocide be an international crime?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The ICC currently recognises environmental destruction in the context of war, having the jurisdiction to prosecute such damage as a war crime. Were the court to recognise ecocide, it would extend the possibility of prosecutions of individuals for harms such as deforestation; the court only holds individuals accountable, which means those at the top of industries and governments would face ecocide charges, rather than organisations or states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Criminalising ecocide would also address a legal gap related to the environment, campaigners argue. Legal accountability typically hinges on damage to individuals, or private or public property. This framework proves challenging when polluters are contributing to the more extensive destruction that causes global-level harm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have environmental agreements but they are not binding; there\u2019s nothing with real teeth. Ecocide provides this<\/blockquote>Jojo Mehta, co-founder of Stop Ecocide International<\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, the UN report \u201cGaps in International Environmental Law\u201d found<\/a> the existing environmental law regime to be fragmented, unclear and reactive. \u201cIt is characterised by fragmentation and a general lack of coherence and synergy among a large body of sectoral regulatory frameworks,\u201d the report reads, claiming this leads to a deficit in coordination at the law-making and implementation levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kate Mackintosh, a researcher at the University of California and a co-creator of SEl\u2019s ecocide definition, tells Di\u00e1logo Chino that its criminalisation would hit corporate actors the hardest. \u201cImaging sitting in the board room to discuss a fossil fuel project and the legal team says there\u2019s a risk of ecocide \u2013 it has a high deterrent value,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Has the ecocide concept gained momentum?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, Pope Francis wrote<\/a> a letter to the Argentinean Association of Professors of Criminal Law that referenced ecocide and called upon the legal system to \u201ccreate a normative system that includes insurmountable limits and ensures the protection of ecosystems.\u201d Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has also supported the campaign, donating<\/a> 100,000 euros (US$109,000) to the Stop Ecocide Foundation in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, France\u2019s National Assembly passed<\/a> an environmental bill that made ecocide a civil offence. In the same year, Belgium\u2019s Federal Parliament adopted<\/a> a resolution to recognise the crime of ecocide at a national and international level. Last November, the European Union agreed<\/a> to update its environmental crime directive, punishing cases of ecosystem destruction with tougher penalties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"overhead<\/div>
Land cleared for soy and cattle farming in the Gran Chaco, in Argentina\u2019s Formosa province. Were the ICC to recognise ecocide, it would extend the possibility of prosecutions of individuals for environmental destruction such as deforestation. (Image \u00a9 Martin Katz \/ Greenpeace)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In Latin America, Chile approved<\/a> a law in August 2023 that added a new chapter to its Penal Code related to crimes against the environment; it incorporates several elements of the ecocide definition. Earlier in June, in Brazil, the left-wing political party PSOL presented<\/a> an ecocide bill to Congress, while in Mexico a similar bill was submitted<\/a> in August. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a strong basis for support for ecocide; there are active discussions in parliaments around the world,\u201d Anna Maddrick, a legal analyst for SEI, tells Di\u00e1logo Chino. \u201cThe general feeling in the court is that if there\u2019s enough support from the states the court will be in favour. Ecocide is the missing element in the Rome Statute.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ICC has also placed emphasis on prosecuting environmental crimes within the limitations of its existing jurisdiction. A 2016 policy paper on case selection highlighted<\/a> the court\u2019s inclination to prosecute crimes involving illegal natural resource exploitation, land-grabbing and environmental damage. This triggered\u00a0several complaints<\/a> against Brazil\u2019s ex-president Jair Bolsonaro to be filed with the ICC, citing his destruction of environmental policies and violations of Indigenous rights. So far, these cases have not been taken up the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf ecocide had been recognised already, some of what happened in places like Brazil would have gone a different way,\u201d says Mehta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What needs to happen next?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The movement to criminalise ecocide has clearly gained momentum in recent years, yet several challenges must be overcome to achieve its inclusion in the ICC\u2019s statute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n