“Historic Moment”: Knowingly Hurting the Environment May Soon Be Punishable

A legal organization based in the Netherlands came up with a definition for ecocide – or ecological genocide – in the hopes that henceforth, environmental damage made consciously will be recognized as a crime.

“This is a historic moment,” says Chair Jojo Mehta of Stop Ecocide Foundation, the legal organization founded in 2017 with the purpose of defining ecocide. “This expert panel came together in direct response to a growing political appetite for real answers to the climate and ecological crisis. The moment is right — the world is waking up to the danger we are facing if we continue along our current trajectory.”

Twelve environmental and criminal lawyers discussed for six months, and came up with the following definition: “For the purpose of this Statute, ‘ecocide’ means 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.” Acts of ecological genocide include drilling for fossil fuels, clearing land for animal agriculture or palm oil plantations, and dumping waste and crude oil into the ocean. With this new definition, the International Criminal Court could hopefully recognize ecocide as an international crime soon enough, and charge organizations (industries, corporations, governments) accordingly.