What brings together Ukraine and Vanuatu? Sadly, it's ecocide
“Vanuatu and Ukraine are united in their calls for a law which applies to all such environmental damage, wherever and whenever it occurs.
This deters polluters from causing destruction in the first place and ensures that those who do can be brought to justice.”
By Maksym Popov and Ambassador Odo Tevi for Euronews, 26/03/2024
Calls for international criminal court to end ‘impunity’ for environmental crimes
“The international criminal court (ICC) has been urged to start investigating and prosecuting individuals who harm the environment.”
By Isabella Kaminski for The Guardian, 26/03/2024
Scottish Government backs 'ecocide law' which could see company bosses jailed for environmental destruction
“Groundbreaking ecocide laws which will see reckless company bosses jailed for environmental destruction have been backed by the Scottish Government.”
By John Ferguson for Daily Record, 25/03/2024
In Conversation: Stop Ecocide Co-Founder Jojo Mehta
“Jojo Mehta spoke to Anna Ackermann, a policy analyst at the International Institute for Sustainable Development, about the cultural contexts of adding the fifth international crime to the Rome Statute, the impact of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on the legal discourse around ecocide, and the significance of the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam.”
By Anna Ackermann for London Ukrainian Review, 04/03/2024
EU Council passes new ecocide rules, but what does that mean?
“The historic vote from the EU to include ecocide-level crimes in its revised crime directive shows leadership and compassion, and will strongly reinforce existing environmental laws across the region,’ said Jojo Mehta, Co-Founder and CEO of Stop Ecocide International. ‘It will establish a clear moral as well as legal “red line”, creating an essential steer for European industry leaders and policy-makers going forward.”
By Martin Guttridge-Hewitt for Environment Journal, 28/02/2024
‘Revolutionary’: EU Parliament votes to criminalise most serious cases of ecosystem destruction
“The European Union has become the first international body to criminalise the most serious cases of environmental damage that are “comparable to ecocide”.
Ecosystem destruction, including habitat loss and illegal logging, will be punished with tougher penalties and prison sentences under the EU’s updated environmental crime directive.”
By Mette Mølgaard Henriksen for Euronews, 27/02/2024
Belgium becomes first in EU to recognise ecocide as international crime
“With prominent voices like that of Belgium leading the way, tangible progress is being made internationally, particularly so in Europe following last November’s agreement to include ecocide-level crimes in the EU’s revised environmental crimes directive. I have no doubt we will see international recognition of the crime of ecocide in the near future.” - Jojo Mehta
By Maïthé Chini for The Brussels Times, 23/02/2024
Our Common Heritage: the Role of Ecocide Law
“A new crime of ecocide, a preventative and all-encompassing framework, can rectify an existing taboo in international environmental regulation: the most serious destructions of nature are morally reprehensible and thus criminally liable acts. Ecocide law therefore holds significant potential to usher in a new era of environmental governance that can ensure exacting protection for nature, on Earth and in outer space.”
By Anna Madrick for Eco-nnect, 11/02/2024
World ‘not prepared’ for climate disasters after warmest ever January
From deadly floods in California to devastating fires in Chile, scientists say the world is not prepared for the climate disasters that are hitting with increasing frequency as human-driven global heating continues to break records.
By Jonathan Watts for The Guardian, 06/02/2024
Ecocide Bill can keep Scotland bonnie and protect our lochs, mountains and beaches
“A country renowned across the globe for its breathtaking natural beauty, has become one of the most nature-depleted in the world.
No one should deliberately harm our environment and expect the public to foot the bill. That’s why I’m consulting on a proposed new law to make ecocide a crime.”
By Monica Lennon MSP for the Scottish Daily Express, 03/02/2024
EU Tackles ‘Ecocide’ in Landmark Moment for Environmentalism
Advocates are hailing the legislation as a landmark moment for global environmentalism, and especially the Stop Ecocide movement, which seeks to move legal enforcement of the most serious environmental crimes from the civil into the criminal arena – and thus reframe egregious destruction of nature as more akin to crimes against people.
By Trevor Bach for US News, 02/02/2024
‘Ecocidio y lucha por la biodiversidad’, en el Hay Festival de Cartagena de Indias: Philipe Sands, Rebecca Solnit, Brigitte Baptiste y Eliane Brum, conversan sobre la biodiversidad y los retos frente al medio ambiente. 28/01/2024
Scotland leading the conversation in move for 'ecocide' laws, says top campaigner
Jojo Mehta, CEO of the group Stop Ecocide International, said Scotland is now at “the forefront of the global conversation” on criminalising ecocide - a term to describe severe types of environmental destruction.
It comes as Scottish Labour MSP Monica Lennon is consulting on groundbreaking proposals for an Ecocide Bill in Scotland.
By Dan Vevers for the Daily Record, 20/01/2024
Ambientalistas y juristas sostienen que el concepto de ecocidio debería ser punible en la Corte Penal Internacional para hacer frente a los crímenes contra el medioambiente. 18/01/2024
The term “ecocide” first emerged during the Vietnam War, used to describe the destructive environmental consequences of the defoliant Agent Orange. After featuring in United Nations talks during the following decades, by 1998, ecocide had been proposed as an international crime against peace in a draft of the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the ICC.
By Fermín Koop for Diálogo Chino, 16/01/2024
While several climate activists have been sent to prison for their involvement in disruptive protests, legislation is now also being strengthened to impose criminal sanctions on individuals found responsible for large-scale environmental damage.
By Claudia De Meulemeester for SustainableViews, 11/01/2024
Humans have this deep separation from nature, that gives us a kind of cultural inability to recognize the severity of what it means when we harm the natural world. We have a large number of environmental laws around the world, and what we’re seeing is that they’re not effective or adequate to address global, ecological, and climate crisis.
By Matthew Green for DeSmog, 8/12/2023
The Scottish Government has been urged to show “much-need global leadership” at COP28 and harness its work on loss and damage into efforts to tackle ecocide.
The appeal comes after delegates unexpectedly agreed to set up a global loss and damage fund on the first day of COP28 in Dubai, with at least $400m pledged so far.
By David Bol for The Herald, 1/12/2023