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ARTICLE · 11 AUGUST 2021

The Definition Of Ecocide (August 2021)

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The climate crisis, a problem that once took the form of abstract temperature charts and projections, is now a dizzying parade of broken meteorological records and natural disasters.

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Josef Rybacki
Josef Rybacki
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The climate crisis, a problem that once took the form of abstract temperature charts and projections, is now a dizzying parade of broken meteorological records and natural disasters. It therefore seemed like apt timing when, in June, the Stop Ecocide Foundation's (SEF) expert drafting panel released its definition of the crime of 'ecocide'.

Currently under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), there are four crimes, including genocide. SEF is an NGO that advocates amending the statute to add ecocide as a fifth crime. The publication of the proposed definition is an important step towards achieving that goal.

Definition

[U]nlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.

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