Pacific island nations want ‘ecocide’ to be an international crime

Climate strike in 2019 in Vanuatu

Climate strike in 2019 in Vanuatu. Photo from the Flickr account of 350.org. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The Pacific Island nations of Vanuatu, Fiji, and Samoa have formally asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to include the term “ecocide” as a crime covered by the body.

Based on their proposal, ecocide is defined as “unlawful 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.”

The proposal comes as Pacific island states face a unique and unparalleled threat due to the ongoing Climate Crisis. As the World Meteorology Organization (WMO) noted in an August 2024 press release, “A triple whammy of accelerating sea level rise, ocean warming and acidification is imperiling Pacific Islands, which face growing threats to their socioeconomic viability and indeed their very existence because of climate change.”

If the ICC accepts the petition, government leaders and heads of corporations accused of committing pollution with impunity can be held liable for ecocide.

Vanuatu first raised the idea during the ICC Assembly of States Parties in 2019. It said that the resolve of the ICC “to strengthen the international rule of law to protect our common heritage and environment could be our joint legacy.”

Odo Tevi, Vanuatu’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, asserted the need to reform ICC rules since they only cover environmental crimes during times of conflict.

Reckless destruction of nature can and does take place at any time, not just during conflict. If we want to inhabit and inherit a livable planet, we must act now.

We must recognise the dire threat and dire consequences of severe environmental destruction wherever and whenever it occurs.

Tevi explained the urgency of making ecocide an international crime.

The recognition of ecocide as a crime sends a powerful message: the destruction of nature will no longer go unpunished. This is about holding those responsible for environmental destruction accountable, whether they are governments, corporations, or individuals.

Environmental damage is often overlooked until it begins to affect humans. But by then, it’s often too late. We need to act now to ensure the long-term protection of ecosystems and prevent irreversible damage.

Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu’s Special Envoy for Climate Change and Environment, summed up the position of small islands states reeling from rising sea water levels and other harsh consequences of climate change.

Environmental and climate loss and damage in Vanuatu is devastating our island economy, submerging our territory, and threatening livelihoods. This tragedy is not unique to Vanuatu but is shared by many small island nations that, despite bearing the least responsibility for the crisis, suffer most from its impacts.

Justice Vui Clarence Nelson, a Supreme Court judge in Samoa, told LawNews in an interview about the need for action instead of simply talking about climate change.

This country has taken the view that to help protect the environment we need to push for the inclusion of ecocide in the ICC statute as a criminal offence. The thinking being that if you criminalise it, you make the larger nations, who are the major emitters, responsible for their actions.

There’s frustration, clear frustration, at how there’s been a lot of talk but not a hell of a lot of action. Certainly our government has expressed that very strongly on the international stage and that position is shared by a lot of the Pacific island nations.

This would give momentum to climate action. Momentum’s something that’s very important to something like this – beginning to get a bit of traction and keeping it going.

Scholars Nathan Cooper and Leilani Tuala-Warren of the University of Waikato urged New Zealand to support the proposal of its neighbors in the Pacific.

The crime of genocide was adopted in 1948 as a result of the horrors of the second world war, and much work was necessary to define and delimit it. Faced with an array of existential threats from ecological crises, it is timely that an ecological crime has been proposed.

Aotearoa [New Zealand] was the first country in the world to give a river the legal status of a person. It should now follow that we support this proposal to criminalise ecocide, for the sake of our own environment and that of our neighbours.

Jojo Mehta, co-founder and CEO of Stop Ecocide International, highlighted the legal significance of including ecocide among the crimes under the jurisdiction of ICC.

By establishing legal consequences, we create a guardrail that compels decision-makers to prioritise safety for people and planet, fundamentally altering how they approach their obligations. We also create a route to justice for the worst harms, whether they occur in times of conflict or in times of peace.

In recent years, some countries have introduced protections against ecocide into their domestic laws, like Belgium, Chile, and France.

Scholar Daniel Bertram noted the challenges in convincing ICC members to accept the proposal of Vanuatu, Samoa, and Fiji. He reminded advocates to persuade various stakeholders, including member states of ICC, to support the petition to make ecocide an international crime.

Ecocide’s prospects at success, then, hinge on a so far largely silent majority. It is this silent majority that supporting states and ecocide advocates in civil society and academia will have to sway. The outcome is far from certain. States may either decide to kill the proposal once and for all, to take it forward and mold it in line with their own expectations.

Another big concern in the campaign is the fact that countries with the largest history of greenhouse gas emissions, like the United States, Russia, and China, are not parties to the ICC.

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