Criminalizing Ecocide

Ecocide is the unchecked industrialization that can cause irreversible damage to the environment and ecosystem. The international community has urged the United Nations International Criminal Court (ICC) to recognize ecocide as an international crime.

At present the Rome Statute of the ICC deals with four atrocities. They are genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression. The provision regarding war crimes is the only one that can hold a perpetrator responsible for environmental damage, albeit if it is intentional during wartime.

Ecocide is a crime in 11 countries, and 27 other nations are mulling laws around criminalizing environmental damage that has been caused wilfully. The European Parliament voted unanimously to enshrine ecocide in law. Most national definitions penalise “mass destruction of flora and fauna” or “deliberate actions capable of causing an ecological disaster”.

Indiscriminate burning of fossil fuels polluting land and water ways with plastic and loss is species of fauna and flora has pushed our planet into a geological epoch – the Anthropocene. Ecocide laws can act as legal instruments to plug lacunas in environmental protection. None of the existing international criminal laws protect the environment as an end in itself. The IPCC has reiterated that the global climate action is insufficient.

Criminalizing ecocide will surely lead to a shift in social norms. Individual nations enshrining ecocide into their legislature could build up pressure on the ICC. Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, deep sea trawling could possibly have been avoided if ecocide was internationally criminalized. Laws can hold individuals helming corporations responsible and possible deter environmental damage. Ecocide laws can also double as clarion calls for justice for low and middle income countries disproportionately shouldering the burden of climate change, even though the major chunk of global warming has been caused due to the actions of the so called “developed” countries.

Of course there are some limitations when it comes to defining ecocide. There will be a lot of disagreement between experts and law makers, and even amongst experts. The threshold to prove any actual ecocide may be too high, rendering laws largely ineffective. Criminalizing ecocide appears to be a key step in our fight to save the environment. However, forming these laws may be trickier than many of us think.