ECOCIDE is broadly understood to mean mass damage and destruction of ecosystems – severe harm to nature which is widespread or long-term.
ECOCIDE, committed repeatedly over decades, is a root cause of the climate and ecological emergency that we now face. Below are some examples of activities that can lead to such destruction, and could potentially be addressed by an “ecocide law”.
Ocean damage
Overfishing and overextraction
Unsustainable practices like bottom trawling, factory fishing and open pen aquaculture wreak massive damage on marine wildlife ecosystems threatening the health, resilience and productivity of our ocean.
We extract from the water the equivalent of 45% of the biomass of the entire human species (177.8 Mt )each year!
Oil spills
Many examples, the worst being Deepwater Horizon 2010 which formed a slick extending over more than 57,500 square miles (149,000 square km), with an estimated 1,100 miles (1,770 km) of shoreline polluted.
Chemical and Plastic Pollution
Plastic production is set to triple in the next three decades while the planet and our bodies choke in plastics and the chemicals associated with them. These are killing the ocean micro and macro flora and fauna and end up as microplastics on the seabed floor if they have not made their way into the guts of creatures.
Deep sea mining
This young extractive industry is already provoking calls for a moratorium due to impacts of physical disruption and pollution in the Pacific.
DEFORESTATION:
The biggest combined threat to biodiversity and climate on the planet is deforestation, especially of tropical rainforests which harbour the richest ecosystems and actively moderate the global climate
Industrial livestock farming
Cattle ranching for beef production is the single biggest reason for Amazon deforestation….
…..along with growing soy for animal feed.
Mineral extraction
Copper, iron ore and gold mining ….
….as well as oil drilling all contribute to deforestation as well as creating additional harm via contamination of land and river systems.
Palm oil & wood production
These are key causes of deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia.
LAND & WATER CONTAMINATION
Oil spills
The Niger Delta has suffered from continuous oil spills over many decades of extraction and is still one of the most polluted regions on Earth.
Mining
From goldmining …
..to mountaintop removal, mining of all kinds has a record of serious land and water contamination.
Tar sands
The Athabasca tar sands in Alberta, Canada ] are the biggest of these operations, devastating wildlife, indigenous lands and creating scars visible from space.
Fracking
The toxic effects of unconventional oil and gas extraction are extensively documented – and cumulative.
Textile chemicals
The textile industry has huge polluting impact via wastewater eg from dyeing and tanning
Agricultural pollution
and insect populations are all seriously affected by industrial agricultural chemicals and monocrop practices.
AIR POLLUTION
Chemical disasters & weapons
Many examples, of which the Bhopal gas tragedy is considered the worst
…Use of chemical weapon Agent Orange was the first context in which the word “ecocide” was recorded.
….contamination from nuclear testing
….as well as actual use of nuclear weapons are obvious examples
…but the oil industry recently discovered to be implicated too.
Industrial emissions
Our climatic system – the umbrella ecosystem for all others – can only remain stable below certain planetary boundaries, so the fossil fuel industries…
….agriculture industries
and cement industries are all implicated at production stage.
Climate and ecological emergency is the result of many years of these harmful industrial activities. Most of the risks have been known for decades by the companies choosing to continue these practices. The responsibility lies with decisions made at the top of industry, finance and government.
As citizens we can and must take responsibility for what we eat and buy, but ordinary citizens do not make those high level investment and policy decisions. Ordinary citizens cannot therefore be blamed for ecocide.
But we can help to stop it. Next up - how to make it a CRIME…