How to stop Ecocide

If you believe that extensive damage to ecosystems should be criminalised, and that the CEOs and senior management of companies responsible should be held accountable, you can exercise your legal right to make it happen by supporting the Ecocide Directive.

‘Ecocide’ is the extensive damage to, destruction of or loss of ecosystems of a given territory; it covers all major environmental disasters and essentially boils down to the destruction of our natural environment.

End Ecocide in Europe is an initiative with a simple goal: environmental destruction must become a crime – a crime for which those responsible can be held accountable.

The roots

Ecocide has been discussed since the 1970s as a potential international Crime Against Peace, but was excluded from the Rome Statute. Today the ‘widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment’ (Art 8.2 Rome Statute) is a war crime, but it’s allowed during peace. The End Ecocide in Europe initiative believes it’s time to update the law.

If enough people vote to End Ecocide in Europe, the European Commission, under the European Citizens’ Initiative (which enables citizens to propose EU legislation), will have to consider the proposal. There would also be the opportunity for a public hearing in the European Parliament.

An Ecocide law would mean ‘extensive damage’ or ‘destruction’ of ecosystems would become a crime, so someone committing ecocide would be doing something illegal. No intent is necessary, so companies and individuals could be held responsible for committing Ecocide according to criminal law and the principle of superior responsibility, meaning those in positions of power would be convicted.

The bigger picture

If a company commits Ecocide, the CEO and the senior management would be held responsible, not the average employee. The proposed Ecocide Directive is much stronger than existing EU environmental legislation; in existing law, each element contributing to life is more or less protected: air, soil, endangered species, flora and fauna. However, the legislation regards each element independently.

The proposed Ecocide Directive, to the contrary, does look at entire ecosystems. In ecology, an ecosystem describes a unit composed of communities of living organisms and their environment. The elements that constitute an ecosystem develop a system, which exchanges both matter and energy, allowing life in the system to be maintained and to develop.

By protecting such ecosystems, the Ecocide Directive is much more encompassing than existing environmental legislation. In addition, it shifts the focus away from risks (probabilities) towards consequences. If an activity has potentially devastating consequences, it should be illegal, no matter how small the likelihood that the catastrophe occurs.