Camden has become the first council in the UK to call for ecocide to be recognised as a crime under international law.
The motion, which reportedly received cross-party support from councilors, calls for ecocide to be recognised as a crime which damages the environment and endangers the future of the planet.
Politicians in other countries have already pushed for similar measures to be introduced, including Mexico, Brazil, the Netherlands and Scotland – Scottish Labour MSP Monica Lennon has led the Holyrood push to introduce ecocide legislation.
A group of lawyers have been brought together by the Stop Ecocide foundation to push for the motion. The foundation calls for ecocide to be added to crimes recognised by the International Criminal Court.
Anna Wright, a councilor with previous experience in human rights and international development who proposed the motion said: “The global destruction of ecosystems continues. These global issues require global solutions but current global environmental laws and governance are clearly inadequate.”
What is ecocide?
Ecocide is the widespread destruction of nature by humans. It takes place through different means, but the most high-profile form of this act is via manmade climate change.
Stop Ecocide International describes it as “mass damage and destruction of ecosystems – severe harm to nature which is widespread or long-term.”
What are some examples of ecocide?
Some of the most widespread incidents of ecocide have taken place in the last 30 years, with devastating consequences for both nature and communities living in affected areas.
Deforestation in Indonesia
In Indonesia, log production, agriculture and the activity of plantations are widely blamed for deforestation. The country has one of the world’s fastest deforestation rates, with the amount of land covered by forests falling from 87% in 1950 to 49% in 2020.
Chernobyl disaster
After the explosion of a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986, roughly 1.5 square miles of forest land which was downwind of the blast was destroyed. In addition, the indecent resulted in 2 people being killed by debris and 28 killed by acute radiation sickness, with many more affected.
War in Ukraine
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 is the biggest attack on a European country since the Second World War, and the conflict has affected many aspects of the planet besides the lives of the people involved. Based on estimates by the Yale School of the Environment, 1,600 tons of pollutants have leaked into bodies of water in and around Ukraine. This and other impacts have resulted in $51 billion of environmental damage.
Which countries have criminalised ecocide?
Only a handful of countries have created criminal laws to prevent ecocide or other forms of destruction of nature. These include:
- Ecuador
- Vietnam
- Uzbekistan
- France
- Russia
- Kazakhstan
- Kyrgyz Republic
- Tajikistan
- Georgia
- Belarus
- Ukraine
- Moldova
- Armenia
Most of the laws in these countries specify the “mass destruction of flora or fauna” as criminal offences, as well as acts that can cause an “ecological disaster”.
Many other countries have made significant progress towards criminalising ecocide, though the process is not yet complete. One of the most high-profile examples is the Brazilian government led by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. President da Silva promised to fight deforestation of the Amazon shortly after he took power last year. Political party PSOL has since submitted an ecocide bill to Congress, proposing legislation to outlaw ‘performing illegal or wanton acts with the knowledge that they generate substantial probability of serious and widespread or long-term damage to the environment.’
