Ecocide should be prosecuted in times of peace as well as conflict
“Companies cannot be given a license to spill and kill, provided they clear up the mess”. These were my closing remarks when I led the prosecution in the world’s first mock ecocide trial in 2011.
By Michael Mansfield KC for The Times, 02/05/2024
Ecocidios, los crímenes contra la naturaleza que dejan daños irreversibles al medioambiente. En nuestro país este tipo de actos se han visto en reiteradas ocasiones, aunque no siempre se castiga a los responsables del daño a los ecosistemas nacionales. 24/5/2024
'Ecocide' law campaign could lead to jail for polluting water firm bosses
Jojo Mehta, chief executive of the Stop Ecocide International campaign, said she believes ecocide law could cover the worst kind of harm to Britain’s rivers, should sewage or agricultural pollution be shown to have caused “severe and either widespread or long-term damage”."
By Adam Forrest for i News, 20/04/2024
Should the Scottish government bring in a new ‘ecocide’ law? By the looks of it, yes.
“A new report commissioned by the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland (ERCS) considers how the unprecedented support for criminalising ecocide can translate into a ‘workable domestic offence’ in Scotland that can hold polluters to account.”
By The Canary, 19/04/2024
Declaraciones de Maite Mompó sobre el ecocidio en la nueva Directiva Europea de Delitos ambientales, en referencia a los datos recopilados por distintas instituciones, que apuntan que el 93% de los casos contra especies protegidas en España no llegan a ser juzgados. 07/04/2024
Environmental activists: Ecocide is already a war crime. Now is the time to get it written into the Danish legislation
“The Nordic Waste scandal has unfortunately demonstrated that Danish environmental legislation does not work. Denmark should introduce more ambitious legislation by criminalizing ecocide in order to prevent future environmental disasters.”
By Bart Bes and Lars Olesen for Politiken, 26/03/2024
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