Online Webinar with Q&A
Thursday 2nd March
12:00 Panama / 17:00 London / 09:00 Seattle / 18:00 Amsterdam / 24:00 Jakarta / 06:00 (next day) Auckland
Co-hosted by The Republic of Vanuatu & Stop Ecocide Foundation
Organized by Stop Ecocide International
In association with partners:
Gallifrey Foundation, A Plastic Planet, Earth Law Center,
Global Choices, Mana Pacific, Leatherback Project, Youth 4 Ecocide Law,
Ocean Vision Legal, Planète Amazone, Alliance of Mother Nature's Guardians,
She Changes Climate, Institute for Small Islands
What is missing to prevent severe contamination of and damage to marine ecosystems? Existing environmental protections are often not adhered to or are poorly enforced. Many states , as well as NGOs, lawyers, academics, scientists, grassroots movements and a growing number of voices in the corporate and finance sectors are speaking out in support of stronger legal frameworks and accountability.
In particular, the legal recognition of “ecocide” (severe and either widespread or long-term harm to ecosystems) as a crime at the international level could go a long way to shifting attitudes and guiding behaviour with regard to threats of severe pollution to the Earth’s primary life support system - the ocean.
As a growing group of organisations, changemakers and influencers join forces to support this initiative in a new network Ocean for Ecocide Law, this event will discuss its relevance and benefits in a variety of contexts pertinent to the protection of the ocean, drawing together perspectives from climate-vulnerable states, youth, indigenous, policy-making, law and sustainability leaders.
Speakers:
Republic of Vanuatu: Minister of Climate Change Adaptation, Meteorology and Geo-Hazards, Energy, Environment and Disaster Risk Management and MP for the capital, Port Vila
Republic of Finland: Minister of the Environment and Climate Change.
Sylvia, a marine biologist, oceanographer, explorer, author, lecturer and co-founder of Mission Blue.
She has been a National Geographic explorer-in-residence since 1998. Earle was the first female chief scientist of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and was named by Time Magazine as its first Hero for the Planet in 1998.
Michelle Bender is Ocean Campaigns Director at the Earth Law Center and the founder and creator of the Ocean Rights framework, spearheading an innovative and paradigm-shifting solution to our ocean management challenges. Her Ocean Rights ebook is available on Amazon, and she has coauthored chapters in United Nations: A Better World and Sustainability and Rights of Nature. She is also an environmental law and policy specialist with expertise in ocean and wildlife law, sea otter conservation and marine mammal protection. She serves on the Executive Committee for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature and is also now a legal counsel for Ocean Vision Legal.
Māori activists and professional Māori development leaders, Mike Smith and Hinekaa Mako, have been working on weaving together the Te Ao Māori climate response, with the often purely science-driven world of climate change. The Climate Change Iwi Leaders Group recognises climate change has been brought to the doorstep of many Māori communities. The group's work encompasses Māori-led regional engagement hui and ongoing discussions with nationwide networks and the Crown to develop a high-level strategy in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Dana is a Global Choices Arctic Angel. She is a Law and Politics student and a passionate climate and ocean advocate with in-depth policy development experience including as Egypt’s contact point in the SDG7 constituency group, membership of the YOUNGO Ocean’s Voice working group, and an outreach officer at the MENA Youth Network. She was the youngest and only Arab member of the Sustainable Ocean Alliance Youth Policy Advisory Council of 2022. Her passion to support neurodivergent youth led to her founding EcoSpectrum, the first app aiming to elevate inclusivity of youth within the spectrum of autism in climate action and ocean conservation.
Dr Anna von Rebay is the founder of Ocean Vision Legal, a law firm specializing in ocean litigation for marine protection. She wrote her PhD on the obligation of States to protect the marine environment and specialises on legal pathways how to hold States liable to comply with this obligation.
Sebastian Losada is the Oceans Policy Adviser at Greenpeace International. He has combined his work in political fora with several at-sea expeditions to document deep-sea fisheries and the impacts of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Sebastian has also focused on the impact of industrial fishing practices on coastal communities and the role of fisheries and aquaculture on food security. Sebastian took a 12-month leave of absence in 2012-2013 to work in Brussels as the Fisheries Adviser to the Greens.
Jojo co-founded Stop Ecocide in 2017, alongside legal pioneer the late Polly Higgins, to support making severe harm to nature an international crime.
As key spokesperson and Executive Director of Stop Ecocide International, Jojo has overseen the remarkable growth of the global movement while coordinating legal developments, diplomatic traction and public narrative. She is also Chair of the charitable Stop Ecocide Foundation and convenor of the Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide chaired by Philippe Sands QC and Dior Fall Sow.
Moderator:
Caroline Mair-Toby is a lawyer and international environmental law specialist with over 15 years of experience and research working with public, private and civil society stakeholders, specialising in climate change, climate diplomacy, climate justice, public international environmental and business and human rights law. She has 20 years research experience on Caribbean, African, Indian subcontinent and Pacific Island colonialism, empire, and postcolonial relations, and 5 years’ experience on Indigenous and Indigenous Maroons Peoples’ rights in biodiversity and climate/environmental justice. She has published and spoken widely on these issues.
Caroline is currently the Founder and Director of the Institute for Small Islands; an Executive Director at SHE Changes Climate, an international NGO focused on increasing female representation at all levels of climate decision; and an Associate Attorney at Mair and Company, a Caribbean law firm.