Zimbabwe Parliament Opens Inquiry Into Potential Ecocide Bill

Summary

8 September 2025 – Zimbabwe's Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Environment, Climate and Wildlife has launched a formal inquiry in response to a petition by Kwekwe-based human rights and environmental defender Emmanuel Nkosilathi Moyo calling for the country to criminalise ecocide.

Following a formal invitation from Parliament, Moyo appeared before the committee on 8 September 2025, where he argued that Zimbabwe should criminalise ecocide to protect communities and ecosystems from mass environmental harm.

Drawing on a 2021 definition by an Independent Expert Panel of international lawyers, Moyo explained that ecocide refers to unlawful or reckless acts causing severe, widespread, or long-term harm to nature, such as cross-border pollution and toxic waste dumping. 

"This is not a law against development. It is a law to protect Zimbabwe's people, our natural wealth, and our sovereignty from reckless destruction," he told the committee. 

His petition specifically requests that Parliament introduce ecocide into the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act and strengthen oversight of mining communities along the Great Dyke, one of the world's most significant platinum reserves.

Moyo argued that ecocide law "...discourages unlawful or reckless acts, provides a pathway for justice, and ensures responsible companies are not disadvantaged by those who cut corners,"

The committee is now considering whether to amend existing environmental legislation or draft a standalone ecocide law, and has committed to conducting a fact-finding mission across Zimbabwe to document evidence of environmental crimes.

Moyo's petition aligns with accelerating momentum across Africa. In July 2025, the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) in Nairobi formally placed ecocide among Africa's strategic environmental priorities for 2025 to 2027, with the Democratic Republic of Congo playing a central role in advancing the decision.

In September 2025, DRC President Félix Tshisekedi reinforced his country’s commitment at the UN General Assembly, stating: "These vital resources are seriously threatened by destructive activities (deforestation, illegal exploitation, pollution) often fueled by recurring armed conflicts, which amount to veritable crimes against nature. This is why the Democratic Republic of Congo supports the initiative led by Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa aimed at establishing, at the international level, ECOCIDE as an autonomous offence."

Guillaume Kalonji, Africa Coordinator at Stop Ecocide International, said:

"Emmanuel Moyo's petition has catalysed genuine parliamentary action. When a committee invites testimony, commits to fact-finding missions, and weighs specific legislative pathways, it shows ecocide moving from advocacy into institutional process. This connects directly with continental momentum through AMCEN and key states like DRC, Burundi and the Republic of Congo. Zimbabwe now has an opportunity to join these frontrunners and join this emerging regional consensus aimed at protecting communities and ecosystems from mass environmental harm."

Read Emmanuel Moyo's petition in full here.