In Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila, leaders of 6 Pacific ocean states made an ambitious collective call to phase out fossil fuels, support a rapid and just Pacific transition to renewable energy, and strengthen related legal obligations - including to “prevent Ecocide”.

The panel addressed legal mechanisms already available for prosecution of harm to the environment in wartime, their drawbacks and potential for use in the Ukraine context; but also discussed the usefulness for the future of putting in place an international crime of ecocide, something that Ukraine has a keen interest in, and has already strongly supported (see speeches by Ukrainian MPs at the Council of Europe debate in January). 

L'International Corporate Governance Network(ICGN) a publié un nouveau document d'orientation intitulé Biodiversity as Systemic Risk : 10 Game-Changers for Board Directors and Stewardship Teams (La biodiversité en tant que risque systémique : 10 changements pour les conseils d'administration et les équipes de gestion), qui met en évidence la criminalisation de l'écocide en tant que cadre émergent essentiel.

Après un an et demi de recherche et de rédaction, le prestigieux European Law Institute (ELI) a publié son rapport sur l'écocide : Règles types pour une directive de l'UE et une décision du Conseil. La loi type s'inspire de la définition internationale consensuelle publiée par le Groupe d'experts indépendants (juin 2021, convoqué par notre Fondation) tout en procédant à des ajustements pour le contexte de l'Union européenne et certaines considérations juridiques pertinentes pour le droit communautaire.

The EU Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (“LIBE”) has just voted in support (NB final text still pending publication) of including a crime of ecocide into the Directive on protection of the environment through criminal law, currently under revision.

Strasbourg the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) votes overwhelmingly to adopt resolution 2477 and recommendation 2246, both calling for recognition of ecocide, based on a recently issued report from its Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development on the Environmental impact of armed conflicts.