Ecocide Law in the media
For a full list of news articles relating to ecocide law, including those before 2024, click here.
"Ecocide law is a powerful symbol of the fundamental importance of the natural world and a recognition that we cannot exist without it."
By Sue Miller for the Journal of Biophilic Design, 08/08/2024
Vanuatu’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Odo Tevi, has called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to include ecocide as a fifth international crime under the Rome Statute.
By Pita Ligaiula for Pina, 31/07/2024
“After the Nuremberg trials, you had a neologism to describe the horrors of the second world war, which was genocide. Now there is another neologism, ecocide. [...] Stop Ecocide is the movement trying to make ecocide an international crime.”
By Simon McBurney for The Guardian, 29/06/2024
The #EU passes "landmark law to protect nature after a knife-edge vote"!
While a massively encouraging step forward, restoration targets must be complemented by #ecocidelaw to prevent major environmental destruction.
By Ajit Niranjan for The Guardian, 17/06/2024
“Only, specifies Esmeralda, the recognition of ecocide as an international crime will make it possible to deter, but also to prevent and punish the "most serious damage committed against nature and the climate, to strengthen existing legislation, including multilateral environmental agreements. It is about protecting nature through criminal law, and also creating a moral imperative that can act as a shield for the living world”."
By Emmanuelle Jowa for Paris Match, 15/06/2024
“The Escazú Agreement complements [ecocide] law by providing environmental defenders with the tools needed to advocate for the protection of their rights and the environment. Together, these mechanisms contribute to a legal framework that protects the environment, and its defenders, and draws a moral red line beyond which actions that damage the planet are deemed unacceptable.”
By Rodrigo Lledó for openDemocracy, 21/05/2024
“We, representatives of thirteen Swedish companies and organisations, call on the government to actively work for the introduction of an international ecocide law that protects valuable nature and contributes to fair rules of the game on the world market.”
By Dan-Eric Archer, Jorgën Eriksson, Johanna Lakso, Martin Forsén and Robert Szöcs for AktuellHållbarhet, 15/05/2024
“As the movement to criminalize ecocide gathers momentum, Jojo [Mehta] stands at the forefront. Her unwavering leadership serves as a beacon of hope for a world where humanity and the environment can co-exist in harmony.”
By Institute of Natural Law, 07/05/2024
“Companies cannot be given a license to spill and kill, provided they clear up the mess”. These were my closing remarks when I led the prosecution in the world’s first mock ecocide trial in 2011.
By Michael Mansfield KC for The Times, 02/05/2024
Jojo Mehta, chief executive of the Stop Ecocide International campaign, said she believes ecocide law could cover the worst kind of harm to Britain’s rivers, should sewage or agricultural pollution be shown to have caused “severe and either widespread or long-term damage”."
By Adam Forrest for i News, 20/04/2024
“A new report commissioned by the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland (ERCS) considers how the unprecedented support for criminalising ecocide can translate into a ‘workable domestic offence’ in Scotland that can hold polluters to account.”
By The Canary, 19/04/2024
“The international criminal court (ICC) has been urged to start investigating and prosecuting individuals who harm the environment.”
By Isabella Kaminski for The Guardian, 26/03/2024
“The Nordic Waste scandal has unfortunately demonstrated that Danish environmental legislation does not work. Denmark should introduce more ambitious legislation by criminalizing ecocide in order to prevent future environmental disasters.”
By Bart Bes and Lars Olesen for Politiken, 26/03/2024
“Vanuatu and Ukraine are united in their calls for a law which applies to all such environmental damage, wherever and whenever it occurs.
This deters polluters from causing destruction in the first place and ensures that those who do can be brought to justice.”
By Maksym Popov and Ambassador Odo Tevi for Euronews, 26/03/2024
“Groundbreaking ecocide laws which will see reckless company bosses jailed for environmental destruction have been backed by the Scottish Government.”
By John Ferguson for Daily Record, 25/03/2024
“Jojo Mehta spoke to Anna Ackermann, a policy analyst at the International Institute for Sustainable Development, about the cultural contexts of adding the fifth international crime to the Rome Statute, the impact of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on the legal discourse around ecocide, and the significance of the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam.”
By Anna Ackermann for London Ukrainian Review, 04/03/2024
“The historic vote from the EU to include ecocide-level crimes in its revised crime directive shows leadership and compassion, and will strongly reinforce existing environmental laws across the region,’ said Jojo Mehta, Co-Founder and CEO of Stop Ecocide International. ‘It will establish a clear moral as well as legal “red line”, creating an essential steer for European industry leaders and policy-makers going forward.”
By Martin Guttridge-Hewitt for Environment Journal, 28/02/2024
“The European Union has become the first international body to criminalise the most serious cases of environmental damage that are “comparable to ecocide”.
Ecosystem destruction, including habitat loss and illegal logging, will be punished with tougher penalties and prison sentences under the EU’s updated environmental crime directive.”
By Mette Mølgaard Henriksen for Euronews, 27/02/2024
“With prominent voices like that of Belgium leading the way, tangible progress is being made internationally, particularly so in Europe following last November’s agreement to include ecocide-level crimes in the EU’s revised environmental crimes directive. I have no doubt we will see international recognition of the crime of ecocide in the near future.” - Jojo Mehta
By Maïthé Chini for The Brussels Times, 23/02/2024
“A new crime of ecocide, a preventative and all-encompassing framework, can rectify an existing taboo in international environmental regulation: the most serious destructions of nature are morally reprehensible and thus criminally liable acts. Ecocide law therefore holds significant potential to usher in a new era of environmental governance that can ensure exacting protection for nature, on Earth and in outer space.”
By Anna Madrick for Eco-nnect, 11/02/2024
From deadly floods in California to devastating fires in Chile, scientists say the world is not prepared for the climate disasters that are hitting with increasing frequency as human-driven global heating continues to break records.
By Jonathan Watts for The Guardian, 06/02/2024
“A country renowned across the globe for its breathtaking natural beauty, has become one of the most nature-depleted in the world.
No one should deliberately harm our environment and expect the public to foot the bill. That’s why I’m consulting on a proposed new law to make ecocide a crime.”
By Monica Lennon MSP for the Scottish Daily Express, 03/02/2024
Advocates are hailing the legislation as a landmark moment for global environmentalism, and especially the Stop Ecocide movement, which seeks to move legal enforcement of the most serious environmental crimes from the civil into the criminal arena – and thus reframe egregious destruction of nature as more akin to crimes against people.
By Trevor Bach for US News, 02/02/2024
Jojo Mehta, CEO of the group Stop Ecocide International, said Scotland is now at “the forefront of the global conversation” on criminalising ecocide - a term to describe severe types of environmental destruction.
It comes as Scottish Labour MSP Monica Lennon is consulting on groundbreaking proposals for an Ecocide Bill in Scotland.
By Dan Vevers for the Daily Record, 20/01/2024
“[Monica] Lennon [MSP] is eager to gather as much support for her Bill from fellow MSPs as possible before the deadline passes.
Emma Lawson for The Sunday Post, 10/12/24
“The DRC is the first African nation to endorse ecocide as an international crime, joining Pacific nations holding leaders accountable.”
Maya Derrick for Sustainability Magazine, 02/11/24
“In September, Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa made a formal submission to the world's highest court, asking it to put the worst environmental destruction by humans on a par with genocide and crimes against humanity.”
Radio New Zealand, 08/10/24
“Polly Higgins was looking at ways to establish ecocide as an international crime on a par with genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression, so she and Jojo spent the next few years trying to make it happen. There were push-backs and roadblocks along the way, but in 2019 the entire project was placed in jeopardy as a shock diagnosis gave Polly just weeks to live.”
Jo Fidgen for Outlook - BBC Sounds, 11/09/24
“Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa have formally asked the International Criminal Court to consider ecocide — acts that destroy the world’s ecosystems — an international crime, alongside genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Rachel Pannett for The Washington Post, 10/09/24
“In this post, I discuss the failure in a lot of the discourse to acknowledge the most challenging issues in defining ecocide. This is an appeal to interested participants to engage with uncomfortable but central conundrums that must be addressed in a sound definition.”
Darryl Robinson for EJIL Talk!, 28/11/24
“With an increasing number of climate related cases being brought around the world, and bold new legislation being introduced that will place responsibility for climate damage squarely at the feet of those in a position to prevent it, ‘Ecocide’ laws look set to revolutionise ESG litigation in the coming years.”
Katie Allard and Teresa Young for Kingsley Napley LLP, 27/09/24
“Patagonia, Natura and Tony’s Chocolonely are among a group of businesses urging the EU to set bolder climate and nature policies…The letter recommends that lawmakers implement an Environmental Crime Directive which effectively criminalises ecocide”
Sarah George for Edie, 21/10/24
“The recent proposal by Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa to recognise ecocide is timely and could provide a global framework of accountability for environmental damage. For Aotearoa New Zealand, this is a chance to champion a progressive legal response and show leadership in the region.”
Nathan Cooper and Leilani Tuala-Warren for Greenpeace, 18/09/24
“Three developing countries have taken the first steps towards transforming the world’s response to climate breakdown and environmental destruction by making ecocide a punishable criminal offence.”
Fiona Harvey for The Guardian, 09/09/24
“At a time when the focus is on restoring Danish nature, a proposal to make the destruction of nature an international crime is worth considering, write Bart Bes and Florina Cianga-Christophersen, from Stop Ecocide Denmark.”
Bart Bes and Florina Cianga Christopherson for Klimamonitor, 20/11/24
“In September, Vanuatu proposed to the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that ecocide be formally classified as an international crime, equal to, for example, genocide.”
Rebecca Root for International Bar Association, 14/10/24
“Justice Vui Clarence Nelson has seen first-hand the devastating impacts of climate change on his homeland, Samoa. He is now backing a push by Pacific island nations to create a new crime of ecocide in the International Criminal Court (ICC).”
Neil Sands for Law News, 30/09/24
“Ecocide law could provide a new global framework within which companies are supported in their moves toward sustainability. It would turbo-charge green innovation, redirect finance and investment away from the most harmful practices, and help meaningfully bridge the intolerable gap between environmental protection and economic development.”
Charlotte O’Leary for Fast Company, 13/09/24
“A significant majority of people in the world's largest economies agree that causing environmental damage should be a criminal offence, according to the results of a major new poll.”
Cecilia Keating for Business Green, 06/09/24
“Scots' overwhelming support for a new crime of “ecocide” has been revealed as COP29 gets under way. Some 98 per cent of respondents to a public consultation on Lennon’s proposed Ecocide Prevention Bill backed her plan, the Record can reveal.”
Dan Vevers for Daily Record, 12/11/24
“The request to recognize ecocide as a crime in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) strikes at the urgent need to address one of the consequences of environmental desecration and the climate emergency: displacement.”
US Committee for Refugees and Migrants, 08/10/24
“Large-scale environmental degradation is a global problem. To deal with it, an international law with global scope is required, write eight experts”
Göran Finnveden, Björn-Ola Linnér,
Kevin Noone, Garry Peterson, Alasdair Skelton, Peter Stenvinkel
Karin Gerhardt, and Glenn Bark for Sydsvenskan, 13/09/24
“One particular designer to watch for is Lucy Tammam, who is using her show to call for stronger legislation to protect the planet. Collaborating with Stop Ecocide International, Tammam has created a one-of-a-kind dress - One Dress: PLANET”
Yasmin Rufo for BBC News, 12/09/24
“A powerful deterrent is needed, a way to prevent the controlling minds in organisations — who are often driven by the prospect of short-term financial gain or power — from making decisions that result in significant environmental harm..”
Monica Lennon and Judith Schwartz for Mongabay, 19/08/24