The Fifth Crime
The campaign to make “ecocide” an international crime.
On every continent, humans have left their mark in the form of massive environmental destruction: deforestation in Brazil; strip mining in Canada’s Tar Sands; the devastation of West Africa’s fisheries; the obliterations of landscapes and ecosystems by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Pollution warms the planet, melting polar ice, bringing drought and wildfire to the land, intensifying hurricanes and raising sea levels. Scientists say there is worse to come.
The idea of ecocide is a cri de coeur for repair and reparation, against all odds. Inside Climate News, in partnership with NBC and Undark, report on the moral and legal case for accountability.
Ecocide: Should Destruction of the Planet Be a Crime?
To prosecute and imprison political leaders and corporate executives would require a parsing of legal boundaries and a recalibration of criminal accountability.
By David Sassoon
Canada’s Tar Sands: Destruction So Vast and Deep It Challenges the Existence of Land and People
By Nicholas Kusnetz
‘A Trash Heap for Our Children’: How Norilsk, in the Russian Arctic, Became One of the Most Polluted Places on Earth
By Marianne Lavelle
The Amazon is the Planet’s Counterweight to Global Warming, a Place of Stupefying Richness Under Relentless Assault
By Georgina Gustin
The Essential Advocate, Philippe Sands Makes the Case for a New International Crime Called Ecocide
By Katie Surma
As the Climate Crisis Grows, a Movement Gathers to Make ‘Ecocide’ an International Crime Against the Environment
By Nicholas Kusnetz, Katie Surma, Yuliya Talmazan
Coal Powered the Industrial Revolution. It Left Behind an ‘Absolutely Massive’ Environmental Catastrophe
By James Bruggers
After the Wars in Iraq, ‘Everything Living is Dying’
By Lynzy Billing
‘We’re Being Wrapped in Poison’: A Century of Oil and Gas Development Has Devastated the Ponca City Region of Northern Oklahoma
By Phil McKenna
The EPA Calls an Old Creosote Works in Pensacola an Uncontrolled Threat to Human Health. Why Is There No Money to Clean it Up?
By Agya K. Aning, Katie Surma, Kristoffer Tigue
In a Growing Campaign to Criminalize Widespread Environmental Destruction, Legal Experts Define a New Global Crime: ‘Ecocide’
By Katie Surma, Inside Climate News, and Yuliya Talmazan, NBC News
Related
The International Criminal Court Turns 20 in Turbulent Times. Should ‘Ecocide’ Be Added to its List of Crimes?
A definition put forth describes ecocide as “wanton acts” that cause “severe” and “widespread or long-term damage” to the environment. Pope Francis and other world leaders support adoption, but such a move by member nations could take years.
By Katie Surma
A Plea to Make Widespread Environmental Damage an International Crime Takes Center Stage at The Hague
By Katie Surma
Plans To Dig the Biggest Lithium Mine in the US Face Mounting Opposition
By Cayte Bosler
Indigenous Women in Peru Seek to Turn the Tables on Big Oil, Asserting ‘Rights of Nature’ to Fight Epic Spills
By Katie Surma
Is it Time for the World Court to Weigh in on Climate Change?
By Katie Surma
Does Nature Have Rights? A Burgeoning Legal Movement Says Rivers, Forests and Wildlife Have Standing, Too
By Katie Surma
Berta Cáceres’ Murder Shocked the World in 2016, But the Killing of Environmental Activists Continues
By Katie Livingstone
Are Bolsonaro’s Attacks on the Amazon and Indigenous Tribes International Crimes? A Third Court Plea Says They Are
By Katie Surma
To Flee, or to Stay Until the End and Be Swallowed by the Sea
By Dalia Faheid, Katie Livingstone
The US Nuclear Weapons Program Left ‘a Horrible Legacy’ of Environmental Destruction and Death Across the Navajo Nation
By Cheyanne M. Daniels
Indigenous Leaders and Human Rights Groups in Brazil Want Bolsonaro Prosecuted for Crimes Against Humanity
By Katie Surma
