Renowned Oceanographer Calls For Ecocide Law to Protect the Ocean
This World Ocean Day, the celebrated oceanographer and conservationist Sylvia Earle joins other world leaders, such as Pope Frances and Jane Goodall, in support of the recognition of “ecocide” as an international crime, as advocated by global NGO Stop Ecocide International.
Ecocide is broadly understood to mean the mass damage and destruction of ecosystems, resulting in severe and widespread or long-term harm to the natural environment.
From unsustainable fishing practices to chemical and plastic pollution and deep-sea mining, the ocean is suffering the brunt of this damage.
Earle knows all too well how overlooked the issue is, having witnessed the real impact of ocean degradation for decades, as a pioneering oceanographer, explorer, and advocate.
“We must protect the ocean as if our lives depend on it, because they do!” Sylvia said yesterday, during a fire-side chat titled “Protecting the Ocean Through Criminal Law” at the Explorer’s Club, in New York.
The event highlighted Ocean for Ecocide Law, the newest in a range of international networks coordinated by Stop Ecocide International, an international NGO working with politicians, diplomats, lawyers, and influencers across all sectors of civil society aiming to make ecocide only the fifth in a list of crimes at the Rome Statute of International Criminal Court, alongside genocide and crimes against humanity.
Stop Ecocide International has ignited a global movement around the need to hold people, businesses, and governments accountable for their destructive environmental practices, recognizing that the ocean is an integral part of nature and must be prioritized and protected.
“If you kill nature, you kill us as well,” Sylvia said. “Ecocide is peoplecide, if you will. It’s taken us a long time to know what we now know and make these connections. Our prosperity and success as a species has come through the consumption of nature. But clearly there are limits to how far you can go.
“We have to adapt to the reality of the 21st century and what earth is today. Wouldn’t we want to protect the systems that keep us alive now that we know? Even without laws, we can change our behavior. But we need the laws to enforce bad behavior because it only takes a small number of individuals to cause a lot of trouble for everybody.”
Stop Ecocide International’s ocean open letter has already gathered 1500 signatures including various well-established ocean non-profits, such as Sea Legacy, KYMA Sea Conservation & Research, Rob Stewart Sharkwater Foundation, and The Ocean Foundation, and ocean leaders like Cristina “Mitty” Mittermeier, Farah Obaidullah, Capt Alex Cornelissen, all calling for the protection of our ocean through criminal law.
“To underpin our survival, we must protect our oceans at scale,” said Cindy Forde, author and founder of environmental educational platform Planetari.
Jojo Mehta, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Stop Ecocide International said, "We are thrilled to be working alongside some of the world’s most effective and long-established marine conservation organizations in our new Ocean for Ecocide Law network. This is not about punishment - it's about prevention. This is about uniting individuals, organizations and nations with a shared determination to put international legal frameworks in place that will deter the most dangerous behavior and protect life. Together, we can harness the power of international law to safeguard the ocean, our planet’s biggest - and often least appreciated - life support system."