‘Ecocide’ redefined
New definition puts environmental destruction on a par with genocide, crimes against humanity
After six months of deliberation, a team of international lawyers has unveiled a new legal definition of "ecocide" that, if adopted, would put environmental destruction on a par with war crimes – paving the way for the prosecution of world leaders and corporate chiefs for the worst attacks on nature.
The expert panel published the core text of the proposed law on Tuesday, outlining ecocide as "unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts".
Its authors want the members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to endorse it and hold big polluters to account in a bid to halt the unbridled destruction of the world's ecosystems.
The draft legislation requires an ecocidal act to involve "reckless disregard" that leads to "serious adverse changes, disruption or harm to any element of the environment". Another section says such damage would "extend beyond a limited geographic area, cross state boundaries, or [be] suffered by an entire ecosystem or species or a large number of human beings".
This environmental effect would either be "irreversible" or could not be fixed naturally "within a reasonable period of time". Finally, in order for ecocide suspects to be tried, the proposed law says the crime could be committed anywhere — from the Earth's biosphere to outer space.
Any of the ICC's 123 member states can now propose it as an amendment to the court's charter, known as the Rome Statute. Once that happens, the court's annual assembly will hold a vote on whether the amendment can be considered for future enactment. If this passes, member states must then secure a two-thirds majority to adopt the draft law into the Rome Statute, before each member could then ratify and enforce it in their own national jurisdiction.
At that point, ecocide would join genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crime of aggression as the so-called "fifth crime" that could be prosecuted at the ICC.