This side event will explore the ongoing development of ecocide law in the context of global environmental crises, including ongoing conflicts and climate change. Leading experts and advocates will discuss legal, political, and societal pathways to strengthen accountability for environmental destruction, particularly for ecocide. The event aims to highlight emerging strategies, share lessons from international efforts of Stop Ecocide Foundation, and mobilize global momentum for making ecocide an internationally recognized crime. While climate policy often focuses on mitigation and adaptation, preventing severe environmental harm remains a major gap in international law.

Hosted at the Ukraine Pavilion, this session will explore how ecocide is being reshaped within national contexts, and why its recognition could be transformative for climate justice, post-conflict recovery and global security. This discussion links legal ecocide innovation with on-the-ground realities, from the Amazon to Ukraine, where environmental destruction intersects with human rights, the rights of nature, resilience and security – bridging both wartime and peacetime ecocide. In addition, the panel will highlight Ukraine’s emerging leadership in framing wartime ecocide.

Moderator

• Ievgeniia Kopytsia, MSCA4Ukaine/Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University (Ukraine)/
  University of Genoa (Italy)/IKEM (Germany)

Speakers

• Oleh Bondarenko, Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management (Ukraine)

• Jojo Mehta, Co-Founder and CEO, Stop Ecocide International (Netherlands)

• Rinata Kazak, Linköping University, Department of Thematic Studies – Environmental Change/CSPR (Sweden)

• Arpana Pratap, Director Blue Economy, Pacific Island Development Forum (Fiji)

• Monica Schüldt, Co-Founder Ecocide Law Alliance (Sweden) – online

• Djalma Alvarez Brochado Neto, Unichristus University (Brazil) – online