Mass environmental destruction from human activities
Part of a series on
Environmental law
Pollution control law
Environmental impact assessment
Air quality law
Water quality law
Waste management law
Environmental cleanup law
Natural resources law
Species protection
Water resources law
Mining law
Forestry law
Fisheries law
Game law
Reference materials
Environmental journals
International environmental agreements
Environmental laws by country
Environmental lawsuits
Environmental ministries
Supranational environmental agencies
Related topics
Administrative law
Bankruptcy law
Climate change litigation
Earth jurisprudence
Earth law
Ecocide
Energy law
Environmental crime
poaching
Environmental personhood
Environmental justice
Insurance law
International law
Land law
Land use
Law of the sea
Property law
Public trust doctrine
Rights of nature
Right to a healthy environment
War and environmental law
Wild law
v
t
e
Ecocide (Greek oikos- home and Latin cadere – to kill) is the destruction of the environment by humans.[1] Ecocide threatens all human populations who are dependent on natural resources for maintaining ecosystems and ensuring their ability to support future generations.[2][3][4] The Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide describes it as "unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts".[5][6]
Commonly cited examples of ecocide include; deforestation during the Vietnam War, deforestation in Indonesia and the Amazon rainforest and oil pollution in the Niger Delta. More recently there is mounting evidence that Israel has been committing large scale ecocide throughout 2023-24, with satellite analysis revealing nearly half of Gaza territory’s trees razed, farms devastated and soil and groundwater contaminated by munitions and toxins.[7][8] The term was popularised by Olof Palme when he accused the United States of ecocide at the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment.[9][10]
There is currently no international crime of ecocide that applies in peacetime, only in wartime, covered by the Rome Statute.[3][11] It was originally planned to be included in the Rome Statute and supported by many states, but was removed due to objections by the United Kingdom, France and the United States of America. Ecocide has been made a national law in several countries with many more discussing implementing a law, including the European Union.[12] Stop Ecocide International and others are working to enshrine ecocide into the Rome Statute, making it both international law and national law in member states national law.[11][13][3]
Several world leaders, environmentalists and scientists have publicly supported ecocide being made an international crime including Pope Francis, Antonio Guterres, Greta Thunberg, Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa, Emmanuel Macron, Jane Goodall and Paul McCartney.[14][15] Several countries have also supported the proposal including Fiji, Niue, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Tonga and Vanuatu.[16]
Ecocide is a common theme in fiction with many films and books set in a post ecocide world, including the James Cameron's Avatar films, Blade Runner, Mad Max, WALL-E, Interstellar, Threads, Soylent Green.
^Mehta, Jojo; Jackson, Julia (24 February 2021). "To stop climate disaster, make ecocide an international crime. It's the only way". the Guardian. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
^Crook, Martin; Short, Damien (3 April 2014). "Marx, Lemkin and the genocide–ecocide nexus". The International Journal of Human Rights. 18 (3): 298–319. doi:10.1080/13642987.2014.914703. ISSN 1364-2987. S2CID 145716977.
^ abcEichler, Lauren (4 September 2020). "Ecocide Is Genocide: Decolonizing the Definition of Genocide". Genocide Studies and Prevention. 14 (2): 104–121. doi:10.5038/1911-9933.14.2.1720. ISSN 1911-0359. S2CID 225298981.
^Crook, Martin; Short, Damien; South, Nigel (2018). "Ecocide, genocide, capitalism and colonialism: Consequences for indigenous peoples and glocal ecosystems environments". Theoretical Criminology. 22 (3): 298–317. doi:10.1177/1362480618787176. ISSN 1362-4806. S2CID 150239863.
^"LEGAL DEFINITION OF ECOCIDE". Stop Ecocide International. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
^Cite error: The named reference AutoS8-9 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Ahmed, Kaamil; Gayle, Damien; Mousa, Aseel (29 March 2024). "'Ecocide in Gaza': does scale of environmental destruction amount to a war crime?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
^"Forensic Architecture". forensic-architecture.org. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
^Watts, Johnathan (24 July 2019). "Make environmental damage a war crime, say scientists". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
^Gray, Mark Allan (1995–1996). "The International Crime of Ecocide". California Western International Law Journal. 26: 215.
^ abWhite & Heckenberg. Green Criminology: An Introduction to the Study of Environmental Harm, Routledge, 2014, pp 45-59.
^"European Parliament proposes including "ecocide" in EU law". Stop Ecocide International. 29 March 2023. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
^Rob White & Diane Heckenberg, Green Criminology: an Introduction to the Study of Environmental Harm. Routledge, 2014
^"Supporters of Ecocide Law". Stop Ecocide International. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
^"Leading states". Stop Ecocide International. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
^"Stop Ecocide International". 6 pacific nations call for just transition to "fossil fuel free pacific" including strengthening law to prevent ecocide. 17 March 2023. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
Ecocide (Greek oikos- home and Latin cadere – to kill) is the destruction of the environment by humans. Ecocide threatens all human populations who are...
and other parts of Indonesia has often been described by academics as an ecocide. Kalimantan is now divided into five provinces. It was administered as...
Law Commission to recognise ecocide as an international crime. Higgins wrote three books, including Eradicating Ecocide, and started the Earth Protectors...
"Supporters of Ecocide Law". Stop Ecocide International. Retrieved 21 June 2023. "Carice van Houten nieuwe ambassadeur Stop Ecocide NL". www.ditjesendatjes...
Consider Ecocide As An International Crime?". IJLLR. 2022-12-18. Retrieved 2023-06-21. Falk, Richard A. (1973). "Environmental Warfare and Ecocide — Facts...
and other parts of Indonesia has often been described by academics as an ecocide. Sumatra was known in ancient times by the Sanskrit names of Svarṇadvīpa...
Prime Minister Olof Palme, lawyers, historians and other academics as an ecocide. In addition to testing and using the herbicides in Vietnam, Laos, and...
moai contributed to environmental degradation when extreme deforestation (ecocide) destabilized an already precarious ecosystem. Archeological record shows...
7 June 2023. Qazi, Shereena. "'An Ecocide': How the conflict in Ukraine is bombarding the environment". ‘An Ecocide’: How the conflict in Ukraine is bombarding...
Extensive environmental damage caused by the war, widely described as an ecocide, contributed to food crises worldwide. Before the invasion, Russian troops...
Consortium. His research interests include colonialism, genocide, and ecocide. Short, Damien (2003). "Reconciliation, Assimilation, and the Indigenous...
"Explainer: What is ecocide?". Eco-Business. Retrieved 5 July 2023. Aida, Melly; Tahar, Abdul Muthalib; Davey, Orima (2023). "Ecocide in the International...
"'Ecocide' movement pushes for a new international crime: Environmental destruction". NBC News. 7 April 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2023. "Fighting ecocide in...
crisis." He has supported making ecocide a crime at the International Criminal Court stating "I believe that ecocide law is very much needed and inevitably...
introduction of the crime of ecocide to the International Criminal Court stating "There is a real case to be made for recognising ecocide in the International...
ecocide won't solve the climate crisis". euronews. 13 March 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2023. Gigova, Radina (2 July 2023). "Russia is accused of 'ecocide'...
to the environment has a name: ecocide. The Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide defines ecocide as "unlawful or wanton acts committed...
Retrieved 6 March 2020. "Supporters of Ecocide Law". Stop Ecocide International. Retrieved 2 June 2023. "Ecocide as an international crime". UNA_UK. 26...
including Agent Orange. The war is one of the most commonly used examples of ecocide. Various names have been applied to the War. These have shifted over time...
(30–60 ft) due to global warming and the process of desertification, causing an ecocide. The sea's name stems from Caspi, the ancient people who lived to the southwest...
International Law Commission (ILC) considered the inclusion of the crime of ecocide to be included within the Draft Code of Crimes Against the Peace and Security...
experiencing societal collapse due to war, critical resource shortages, and ecocide. When his wife and child are murdered by a vicious biker gang, Max kills...
government, journalists and international observers describe the damage as ecocide. Explosions inflict toxic damage along with physical destruction. After...
environmental destruction) in Indonesia is often described by academics as an ecocide. Logging and the burning of forests to clear land for cultivation has made...
budget of $80 million. Thirty years after a nuclear holocaust caused an ecocide, Eli travels on foot across the wasteland of the former United States....
cultivation in Chakaria Sundarbans have both been described by academics as ecocides. Although many areas are protected under law, some Bangladeshi wildlife...
girls". Lucas supports ecocide being made a crime at the International Criminal Court stating “Establishing the law of Ecocide would signal a major breakthrough...
Global Information