What would the world look like if ecocide was law?

In 1972, Swedish Prime Minister Olaf Palme was responsible for the first prominent use of the term ‘ecocide’, adopting it to describe the catastrophic environmental damage sustained during the Vietnam War. Speaking at the United Nations’ first major environmental conference, he stressed the need for a global approach when it came to protecting the environment.

While the term was picked up again and discussed throughout the drafting of the Rome Statute – the treaty that established the International Criminal Court – during the ’90s, it was removed as a crime from the final draft at the behest of four states: the UK, US, Netherlands and France. While the statute has since been amended (once, in 2010, when ‘Crimes of Aggression’ was added), ecocide has never been made an international crime.

Polly Higgins, an environmental lawyer, made it her mission to change that. Along with her close friend and colleague Jojo Mehta, she co-founded Stop Ecocide, a campaign seeking to make widespread and systematic loss or destruction of ecosystems – which includes climate and cultural damage – recognised as an international atrocity crime. In such a world, political leaders and corporate CEOs could see themselves held personally responsible for causing environmental harm.

While Polly sadly died in April 2019 aged 50, her legacy lives on in Stop Ecocide. Along with the likes of Extinction Rebellion (XR), the campaign has given a new platform to environmental discussion. In that sense, while the two movements represent two separate wings of the global environmental cause – direct action and legislative change – they remain intertwined: throughout history, meaningful change has nearly always been achieved in such a way.

As XR gear up for their next international rebellion and Stop Ecocide look ahead to getting a million ‘Earth Protectors’ signed up to their Trust Fund, Jojo Mehta and XR activist Talia Woodin explain what would happen if lawmakers were finally to establish ecocide as an international atrocity.

GLOBAL THINKING WOULD BE REALIGNED 

When old structures are failing to address current realities, disrupting them is sometimes the only way to catalyse change. Right now it feels like law itself is upside down – destroying the Earth is legally permitted whereas standing up to defend the Earth is criminalised. Realigning law in a healthy way necessitates first disrupting the unhealthy status quo. XR has initiated that disruption. Establishing ecocide law is the concrete next step – one that can enable new, healthier forms of governance to begin to evolve. (JM)