4th largest Dutch city Utrecht calls on the Netherlands to support ecocide law

On March 6th, the city of Utrecht, represented by Alderman Linda Voortman, signed the Stop Ecocide NL Manifesto, which calls upon the Dutch government to support the recognition of ecocide as a crime at the international, European, and national levels.

With this action, Utrecht becomes the first Dutch local authority to join over 200 organisations and companies that have already signed the Manifesto, including the Dutch Committee of Jurists for Human Rights, ASN Bank and Wellbeing Economy Alliance Netherlands. 

Local authorities face various climate challenges and are tasked with ensuring a healthy environment, combatting climate change, and preserving biodiversity. To meet these responsibilities, they require appropriate and supportive legislation. Recognising ecocide will deter and prevent the worst harms to the environment, encourage compliance with existing legislation and steer business and investments towards sustainable activities.  

Alderman Linda Voortman (GroenLinks), who signed the Manifesto on behalf of Utrecht, explains: "Declining biodiversity is a global issue. One million species of animals and plants are threatened with extinction. Biodiversity is also under pressure in the Netherlands. As a municipality, we feel a great responsibility and urgency to improve biodiversity. We do this by increasing biodiversity at the local level and inspiring others within and outside Utrecht. We sign the manifesto because we also want to globally halt ecocide. Additionally, we aim to put the protection of biodiversity on the international agenda." 

Dr. Daan van Uhm, Associate Professor of Criminology and researcher at the Willem Pompe Institute for Criminal Law Sciences at Utrecht University, was also present at the signing ceremony. Dr. Van Uhm explores the topic of ecocide in his work and is active in the multi-disciplinary research group Pathways to Sustainability, with expertise in criminology, earth sciences, humanities, ecology and law. 

"At Utrecht University, we consider ecocide legislation to be very important," said Dr. Van Uhm. "Changing social norms and values underscore the significance of ecocide law. Ultimately, these are issues for the near future. How do we deal with large-scale damage to nature? We see that such behaviour is increasingly viewed as unwanted, at international and European level, but also in the Netherlands. Criminal law can play a more important role in this regard. Ecocide is one of the paths towards the recognition that we need stronger safeguards against large-scale and serious damage to the environment that currently goes unpunished.”

"Stop Ecocide NL congratulates Utrecht for its leadership in being the first of the four big Dutch cities to express support for the international recognition of ecocide. We look forward to seeing who will follow suit," says Tanja Beentjes of Stop Ecocide NL. 

Read the article on the municipality's website. 
Stop Ecocide NL’s Manifesto: https://www.stopecocide.nl/manifest

Pictured: Daan van Uhm, Saskia Oskam, Tanja Beentjes and Linda Voortman.