Ecocide is the destruction of the environment caused by humans. It harms all people who rely on natural resources to keep ecosystems healthy and ensure they can support future generations. A group of experts called the Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide describes it as "illegal or reckless actions done with knowledge that they could seriously harm the environment in a widespread or long-term way."

Common causes of ecocide include war, pollution, careless use of natural resources, and other industrial accidents. The term became well-known when Olof Palme, a leader from Sweden, accused the United States of ecocide at the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment. He pointed to the U.S. use of Agent Orange and other chemicals during the Vietnam War.

The Rome Statute, which is the main law of the International Criminal Court (created in 1998 and used since 2002), does not include ecocide as a crime during peacetime, only during war. Ecocide was originally planned to be added to the Rome Statute but was removed because of objections from the United Kingdom, France, and the United States.

This decision was connected to earlier discussions about the Genocide Convention (adopted in 1948 and used since 1951), where colonial powers opposed including cultural genocide in the law.

Ecocide is now a crime in several countries, and many more, along with the European Union, are considering making it a law. Groups like Stop Ecocide International are working to add ecocide to the Rome Statute so it becomes both an international and national law. Countries such as Fiji, Niue, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Tonga, and Vanuatu have supported making ecocide a crime under international law.

Ecocide is a common topic in fiction. Many movies and books are set in a world after ecocide has happened. Examples include the Avatar films by James Cameron, Blade Runner, Mad Max, WALL-E, Interstellar, Threads, and Soylent Green.

Definition

In 2021, the Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide, organized by the Stop Ecocide Foundation, defined ecocide as "illegal or reckless actions carried out with knowledge that there is a high chance of causing serious and either widespread or long-term harm to the environment."

Ecocide can happen with or without intention. Environmental lawyer Polly Higgins explained that ecocide can be categorized as either "ascertainable" or "non-ascertainable." Ascertainable ecocide has a clear human cause, while non-ascertainable ecocide does not. An example of non-ascertainable ecocide is damage caused by extreme weather events linked to climate change.

Arthur H. Westing discussed the role of intent in ecocide, stating, "Intent may not only be impossible to prove without a confession, but I believe it is essentially unimportant."

Causes

Ecocide can harm a people's culture and way of life, and studies show it can have effects similar to genocide. Destroying the natural environment can cause cultural genocide by stopping people from living as they traditionally have. This is especially true for Indigenous people. Ecocide caused by climate change and taking natural resources may become a major cause of genocide worldwide. Some Indigenous scholars say ecocide and genocide cannot be separated. In recent discussions, the link between capitalism and ecocide has been studied. Scholars like Crook, Short, and South argue that capitalism makes climate change's effects worse, leading to more ecocide. Sometimes, the connection between land, capitalism, and war is unclear. For example, after the 2006 Lebanon War, Khayyat studied how the land in South Lebanon adapted to war's damage through human and non-human efforts, using the idea of "resistant ecology."

The standard understanding of genocide, as defined by the United Nations, focuses only on actions that harm individuals' bodies. Some researchers say this definition does not fully recognize the experiences of Indigenous people who faced "social death" from losing their connection to the land during colonization, even if they were not physically killed. An example is Van Solinge's research on how natural resources in parts of Africa have been exploited.

The large-scale loss of species is called ecocide. US environmental theorist Patrick Hossay argues that modern industrial society causes ecocide. Climate change may lead to ecocide. For example, ocean acidification and rising temperatures harm coral reefs, though damage to reefs can also come from causes unrelated to climate change. Some people suggest making ecocide a crime under the Rome Statute to stop corporations from causing climate change, but others say this does not solve the main causes of the climate crisis.

Examples

Even though ecocide is considered a crime in only a few countries, many examples of environmental harm have been called ecocide by experts, reporters, leaders, and others.

One of the most debated parts of the U.S. military actions in Southeast Asia was the large-scale use of chemical defoliants from 1961 to 1971. Over 20 million gallons of harmful chemicals, such as Agent Orange, were sprayed on 6 million acres of forests and farmland by the U.S. Air Force. These chemicals were used to remove leaves from trees and crops to stop the Viet Cong from hiding weapons and supplies, and to reduce their access to food. Defoliation was also used to clear areas near military bases and along roads and canals. More than 20% of South Vietnam’s forests and 3.2% of its farmland were sprayed at least once. About 90% of the herbicides were used to remove leaves from forests.

The chemicals used continue to change the environment, cause illnesses, and harm wildlife. Along with bombing and hunting by locals for animal parts, Agent Orange led to the extinction of the Vietnamese Javan rhinoceros, leaving only 12 or fewer individuals in Cát Tiên National Park. The last rhinoceros of this group was killed by a poacher in 2010. These environmental harms, along with bombing, hunting, and wildlife trading during the war, also caused declines in other native species, such as the Indochinese tiger, Asian elephant, Edward’s pheasant, northern white-cheeked gibbon, and saola. Official U.S. military records state that 20% of South Vietnam’s jungles and 20-36% (or 20-50%, according to other reports) of its mangrove forests were destroyed. Experts, including Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, lawyers, and historians, have called this environmental damage an ecocide.

According to a preliminary report, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused about 51 billion USD in environmental harm in both countries. A study by the Yale School of the Environment found that 687,000 tons of oil-based chemicals burned due to attacks, and nearly 1,600 tons of pollutants entered water sources. Toxic chemicals have polluted about 70 acres of soil, making farming temporarily impossible. About 30% of Ukraine’s land is now filled with explosives, and more than 2.4 million hectares of forests have been damaged.

A peace group in the Netherlands, PAX, said Russia’s targeting of industrial and energy sites caused serious pollution, and the use of explosives left millions of tons of polluted debris in cities. In early June 2023, the Kakhovka Dam, controlled by Russia, was damaged, causing flooding and warnings of an “ecological disaster.”

The Ukrainian government, international observers, and reporters have called the damage ecocide. Ukraine is investigating over 200 environmental war crimes and 15 cases of ecocide (a crime in Ukraine since 2001). President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin, have met with European leaders, including Margot Wallström, Heidi Hautala, Mary Robinson, and Greta Thunberg, to discuss environmental harm and how to address it legally.

Indonesia has one of the fastest rates of forest loss in the world. In 2020, forests covered about 49.1% of Indonesia’s land, down from 87% in 1950. Since the 1970s, logging, plantations, and farming have caused much of this loss. Recently, the palm oil industry has been a major cause of deforestation, harming the environment and displacing local communities.

Experts often describe Indonesia’s widespread deforestation and other environmental harm as ecocide. This has made Indonesia the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases from forests. It also threatens the survival of native and Indigenous species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed 140 mammal species as endangered and 15 as critically endangered, including the Bali myna, Sumatran orangutan, and Javan rhinoceros.

After a nuclear disaster, four square kilometers of pine forest near the reactor turned reddish-brown and died, earning the name “Red Forest.” Animals in the worst-affected areas also died or stopped reproducing. Experts, lawyers, and reporters have called this event an example of ecocide.

Oil exploration in the Niger Delta has caused major harm to local communities and the environment. Indigenous people have not seen improvements in their quality of life but have suffered serious damage to their natural surroundings. Harmful effects include air and water pollution, noise pollution, and deforestation. According to Nigerian government records, there were more than 7,000 oil spills between 1970 and 2000.

Experts estimate that cleaning up the Niger Delta, including restoring swamps, creeks, fishing areas, and mangroves, could take 25 years. The region is one of the most polluted places in the world. The heavy contamination of air, soil, and water with toxic chemicals is often used as an example of ecocide.

Damage to the Amazon has been described by Indigenous groups, human rights organizations, politicians, experts, and reporters as ecocide and genocide. Indigenous leaders and human rights groups have sent a complaint to the International Criminal Court against former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro for crimes against humanity and genocide for harming Indigenous people and destroying the Amazon. Another complaint has been sent for ecocide by Indigenous leaders.

The large-scale and lasting harm from the planned destruction of farmland in Gaza has led experts at Goldsmiths, University of London, and the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network to call for an investigation into the Israeli government for the war crime of ecocide under the Rome Statute, due to “widespread, long-term, and severe damage to the natural environment.”

International law

There is no international law that stops ecocide during times of peace, but the Rome Statute makes it a crime to:

The UN's International Law Commission (ILC) considered adding ecocide to a proposed list of crimes against peace and security, which later became the Rome Statute. A rule about harming the environment (Article 26) was supported by 19 countries in a committee but was removed because of opposition from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

In 1977, the United Nations created the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques. Article I of this agreement says, "Each State Party to this Convention agrees not to use environmental changes as a way to harm another country." The terms "widespread, long-lasting, or severe" are not defined in the agreement.

In February 2024, the European Parliament passed a law that makes large-scale, intentional environmental damage "comparable to ecocide" a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Members of the European Union have two years to add this crime to their national laws. As of early 2024, more people are calling for ecocide to be recognized as an international crime.

Efforts to make ecocide a crime have aimed to include it in the list of crimes the International Criminal Court (ICC) can prosecute. These crimes include genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.

In 2010, environmental lawyer Polly Higgins proposed to the UN's International Law Commission that ecocide should be defined as:

This definition covers harm caused by individuals, companies, or governments. It also includes damage from natural causes, such as disasters not caused by humans. The goal was to require people to protect the environment from both natural and human-caused harm. This proposal has not yet been accepted by the UN.

On January 22, 2013, a group of 11 citizens from nine European Union countries started the European Citizens Initiative (ECI) to "End Ecocide in Europe." The initiative wanted to make ecocide a crime, stop investments in harmful activities, and block EU access to products from ecocidal actions. Three European Parliament members signed the initiative first, but it did not collect the needed 1 million signatures. It was still discussed in the European Parliament.

In December 2019, Vanuatu and the Maldives asked the International Criminal Court to add ecocide to its rules.

In June 2021, a group of international lawyers proposed a definition of ecocide and suggested changing the Rome Statute to include ecocide as a crime the ICC can prosecute. The group included members from the UK, Senegal, the US, France, Ecuador, Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, Samoa, and Norway. Their proposed definition is:

Many important people have supported making ecocide a crime at the International Criminal Court. World leaders, environmentalists, and celebrities, including Pope Francis, Antonio Guterres, Greta Thunberg, Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa, Emmanuel Macron, Jane Goodall, and Paul McCartney, have publicly supported this.

At the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment, Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme called the damage from Agent Orange in the Vietnam War "ecocide" and urged it to be made an international crime. In 2017, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it is "highly desirable" to include ecocide as a crime at the ICC. In 2019, Pope Francis explained that "ecocide" means the loss, damage, or destruction of ecosystems in a place that harms people living there. He said this should be the fifth type of crime against peace recognized by the world.

Environmentalist Jane Goodall said the idea of ecocide being a crime is long overdue and could change how people respond to environmental problems. In 2023, Greta Thunberg, Luisa Neubauer, Anuna de Wever, and Adélaïde Carlier wrote an open letter asking European Union leaders to support making ecocide a crime at the ICC. At the 54th session of the Human Rights Council, Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, supported making ecocide a crime at both national and international levels.

Stop Ecocide International (SEI) is an organization that works to change the Rome Statute to include ecocide as a crime. It collaborates with governments, politicians, diplomats, and the public. SEI has groups in nearly 50 countries. Its partner, the Stop Ecocide Foundation, brought together a group of legal experts to define ecocide.

History

The term "ecocide" was first used in the 1970s after the United States used chemicals like Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, which caused serious harm to the environment. At a conference in Washington, D.C., a scientist named Arthur Galston suggested creating an international rule to stop such actions.

An international law professor, Richard Falk, called the U.S. actions in Vietnam a type of "environmental warfare." He said the amount of chemicals sprayed, the destruction of forests, and changes to weather were so severe that they could be considered a crime against the environment. He also noted that the U.S. government hid or changed some facts about these actions.

After the war, few scientific studies were done to understand the long-term effects on wildlife and the environment. A 2021 study found that only one wildlife-related study had been done since the war. This lack of research shows a gap in understanding how the environment recovered, which some people say is due to government and academic neglect.

Despite global criticism, the U.S. government argued that using chemicals was a legal part of the war. This view made it seem like the environmental harm was a minor result of a necessary military action, which ignored the idea of ecocide.

In 1972, during a United Nations meeting in Stockholm, Sweden’s Prime Minister, Olof Palme, called the Vietnam War an ecocide. Leaders from India and China also criticized the war for its harm to people and the environment, calling for ecocide to be treated as an international crime. A group was formed to discuss environmental crimes, and a draft treaty to define ecocide as a war crime was sent to the United Nations in 1973. This treaty said humans have caused lasting damage to the environment during wars and peacetime.

In 1978, a report by the International Law Commission included ecocide as a possible international crime, such as when countries break rules to protect the environment. Countries like Romania, Austria, and others supported making ecocide a crime.

In 1987, the International Law Commission considered adding "ecocide" to the list of international crimes, along with issues like nuclear weapons and colonialism.

In 1996, a lawyer named Mark Gray proposed making ecocide a crime based on international environmental laws. He said that when governments, or even individuals, cause large-scale harm to the environment, it could be called ecocide if it causes serious, long-lasting damage.

In 2011, a group called the Hamilton Group created a mock law about ecocide and tested it in a trial in the UK Supreme Court.

In 2012, a paper on the law of ecocide was sent to governments. At a conference in Brazil, leaders were asked to consider making ecocide a crime. At a youth meeting in Rio de Janeiro, making ecocide a crime was listed as one of the top solutions for sustainability.

In 2012, a conference in Rome, hosted by the United Nations, said environmental crime is a serious type of crime that needs more attention. The United Nations agreed to study how to define environmental crime and whether ecocide should be a crime.

In 2019, Pope Francis asked the world to treat ecocide as a "fifth category of crime against peace." That same year, 24 scientists said ecocide in war zones should be punished as a war crime.

In 2020, a group of lawyers started working on a law to make ecocide a crime.

In 2021, the European Parliament passed two reports supporting the idea of ecocide as a crime. It also said rules about environmental damage should be improved to build trust in European laws.

Also in 2021, 179 countries agreed to support making ecocide a crime.

Countries like Fiji, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu, which are at risk from climate change, called for ending fossil fuels and making ecocide a crime.

In 2023, European Union lawmakers agreed to a new law that could send people to jail for severe pollution and fine companies up to 5% of their global income. This law was approved in 2024 and is now called the Directive on the protection of the environment through criminal law.

Domestic law

Ten countries have made ecocide a crime within their borders during times of peace. These countries used the language from Article 26 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft, which described intentionally causing "serious harm over a long time" to the natural environment in the context of war. It should be noted that Article 26 was not included in the final version of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in 1996. None of these countries created methods to determine if harm was done on purpose.

The countries with laws against ecocide are (in alphabetical order):

• Armenia (2003)
• Belarus (1999)
• Belgium (2023)
• Chile (2023)
• Ecuador (2008; 2014)
• France (2021)
• Georgia (1999)
• Kazakhstan (1997)
• Kyrgyzstan (1997)
• Moldova (2002)
• Russia (1996)
• Tajikistan (1998)
• Ukraine (2001)
• Uzbekistan (1994)
• Vietnam (1990)

In 2021, the French National Assembly passed a law to create an "ecocide" offense as part of a group of actions designed to protect the environment and address climate change.

In popular culture

For more information, refer to the List of nuclear holocaust fiction, which includes stories that show ecocide caused by nuclear holocaust.

Many movies show examples of ecocide and its effects, such as:
• Arjuna
• Blade Runner: Black Lotus
• Extrapolations
• Silo (TV series)
• The 100
• Travelers

Several documentaries discuss the topic, such as:
• Poisoning Paradise: Ecocide New Zealand
• Ecocide changer ou disparaître
• Ecocide: Voices from Paradise
• Heart of Mother Earth