Imagine someone deliberately destroying a city, poisoning rivers or burning down forests - a terrible crime, right? But what happens when the perpetrator targets nature rather than people? Welcome to the discussion of "ecocide" - a term as shocking as the reality behind it. As our planet burns in every corner, the idea of protecting nature's rights often gets lost in political platitudes and empty promises. Why is this? Because we live in a system that tolerates environmental crimes and rarely holds anyone accountable.
What exactly is ecocide?
Ecocide refers to massive and often irreversible damage to the environment and nature. It's not about littering or forgetting to recycle; it's about destruction on a colossal scale: the deforestation of entire rainforests, oil spills or the poisoning of ecosystems with chemicals. Put simply, ecocide occurs when humans deliberately or recklessly destroy the basis of life for plants, animals and ultimately ourselves.
The idea of treating ecocide as a crime in its own right isn't new. As early as 1972, Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme called for serious consideration of the concept at the UN Conference on the Environment in Stockholm. Today, there are initiatives to include ecocide in the list of international crimes, alongside genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Legal framework: A long way to go
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague is where the world's most serious crimes are prosecuted. Unfortunately, ecocide is not yet one of them. But progress is being made. In 2021, a panel of legal and environmental experts proposed a definition of ecocide as "wrongful or intentional acts committed with the knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of serious and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment". The aim is to include ecocide as a fifth crime under the jurisdiction of the ICC.
But the road is rocky. Only a few countries - such as Belgium, France and small Pacific island states like Vanuatu - are actively supporting the effort. Many others, especially big powers like the US, China or Brazil, are blocking progress. Why? Because their economies are often based on practices that could qualify as 'ecocide'. The Brazilian Amazon is being deforested, Russian oil is flowing despite disastrous environmental impacts, and industrial giants in the Global North are refusing to drastically cut their carbon footprints.
COP29: A missed opportunity
This year's UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) could have been the perfect platform to put ecocide front and centre. Instead, it rehashed the same old issues without making any meaningful progress. Sure, there are lofty promises about climate targets, but hardly anyone is talking about prosecuting environmental destruction. Why is that?
The reason is simple: the international community struggles to see environmental degradation as a moral crime. Our legal system is anthropocentric - human-centred - and gives rights only to humans. The "rights-based approach" in its full swing, which could grant fundamental rights to other forms of life, is still met with derision. Plants, animals, rivers or mountains should have rights? Seriously? Yet countries like New Zealand and Ecuador have already implemented models where rivers or forests have legal rights. These are small steps in the right direction, but on a global scale we're still light years away.
Shocking examples of ecocide
The list of crimes against nature is long - here are just a few to illustrate the scale of the problem:
The destruction of the Aral Sea: Once the fourth largest lake in the world, the Aral Sea has almost disappeared. Why? Disastrous over-irrigation by the Soviet Union diverted its water to cotton fields, leaving behind a toxic desert, poisoned soil and destroyed ecosystems.
Deepwater Horizon: The 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico wasn't just a financial disaster for BP, it was a massive crime against marine life. Millions of gallons of crude oil spilled into the ocean, killing countless animals and destroying coastal ecosystems.
Deforestation of the Amazon: Huge areas of rainforest are cleared every year, often illegally and with the support of multinational corporations. The Amazon, the 'lungs of the earth', is being irreversibly damaged, displacing not only animals but also indigenous communities.
Global sand mining: Yes, even sand is a scarce resource. In many countries, including Cambodia and many other Asian countries, sand is mined illegally, destroying coastlines, drying up rivers and destroying habitats.
A systemic failure: Nature without a voice
The problem goes deeper. We've built a legal system that puts people at the centre. While corporations enjoy rights as 'legal persons', the forest and rivers on this planet have no voice. We talk about growth, profit and expansion, but never about accountability. The rights-based approach, which gives rights to all forms of life, could be a game changer. Why shouldn't animals, rivers or forests have a right to life, protection and conservation?
The reality is clear: as long as we continue on this path, the planet will remain the victim of a system that tolerates destruction. And yes, it's we humans who are enabling this destruction - through our consumption, our ignorance and our political choices.
It's time we recognised ecocide not just as a legal concept, but as a moral one. If we don't see nature as part of our existence, we will ultimately destroy ourselves. Including ecocide in the ICC would send a powerful signal: that we protect not only human rights, but also the rights of the nature.
This planet doesn't belong to us alone. It belongs to the forests, the oceans, the animals and all forms of life that inhabit it. Ecocide is not just a crime against the environment - it's a crime against us all. It's time to wake up, listen to the language of nature and recognise its rights. Only then can we secure the future - not just for ourselves, but for all life on Earth.
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