International proposed Ecocide legal recognition and frameworks
The Global Greens are proud to announce our formal endorsement of the Stop Ecocide International demands for legal recognition of and a global legal framework to address Ecocide. We now urge all elected officials of Green parties globally to support and act to make Ecocide an international law.
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.
Nature and biodiversity are the foundations of our world and we inherently rely on them for lives, livelihoods, health and homes. It is increasingly recognised that the climate crises and the ecological crisis are inexorably interlinked.
Global Greens endorses Stop Ecocide International’s position in calling for Ecocide law as a safe and effective political opportunity to swiftly support climate and ecological goals.
In the 1990’s the international community faced the resurgence of tremendous violations of the human rights universally recognised in 1948. Two International Criminal Tribunals were created. In 1998 a permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) was established through the Rome Statute by more than one hundred countries. The ICC, able to take action against any war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocides, became functional in The Hague in July 2002.
Today the global environmental situation has reached a critical point. In December 2015, 195 States gathered in Paris COP21 to agree to limit global warming to 1.5°C. This means dramatic reductions of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide by 2030. If not, 250 million people may be displaced due to climate change by 2050 and there is a growing international scientific concern that a sixth mass extinction of plants and animals has begun, caused by humans.
There is now a historical movement in favor of adopting international standards and law to protect nature and halt degradation. This requires a moral and legal responsibility that goes beyond a declaration of intentions and demands an effective international legal instrument.
There is a need to unify different treaties under the logic of planetary boundaries and to give them the highest international legal value. We must establish a legal instrument that allows the prosecution of the most serious environmental crimes, and most of all prevent such crimes so as to safeguard humanity and nature.
Today existing environmental protections are often not fit for purpose, not adhered to or are poorly monitored. Many governments, as well as, NGO’s, lawyers, academics, scientists, grassroots movements and a growing number of networks within the corporate and finance sectors are speaking out and joining together in support of stronger legal frameworks and accountability.
The legal recognition of Ecocide as a crime at the international level is vital to shift attitudes, business, economic and policy decisions, as well as cultural behaviour with respect to protecting the Earth’s most vital ecosystems and endangered and keystone species.
Time is of the essence, and an international crime of ecocide should be progressed via amendment to the Rome Statute as a matter of priority.
As a movement of Green Parties globally, we must also now demand, as a further step, the creation of an International Court for the Environmental Court (ICE) in charge of the most serious violations of international environmental law. The ICE will depend directly on the UN and thus will be universal and its founding statute will be the core of a binding international environmental law architecture designed to punish and, most of all, to prevent further destruction of nature. Today Global Greens call for:
We, Global Greens, recognise that Greens and elected Greens play a crucial role in environmental leadership and set the standard for the legal and societal changes we need to build a better world from the climate and ecological crisis.
We call upon all Greens, and all people around the world, to join us in legally protecting nature. Time is short, we have the solutions; now we must build the global political will. Only by legally recognising Ecocide, can we stop Ecocide.