This blog was written by Nigerian climate advocate, Perfect Johndick

Dhikusooka Ernest is a Stop Ecocide International Student Ambassador and a student in International Relations and Diplomatic Studies at Cavendish University, Uganda.

This blog post was written by lawyer and environment consultant, Eduardo Salazar Ortuño. He writes about Mar Menor near Murcia in the south east of Spain, the largest hypersaline coastal lagoon in Europe. This unique ecosystem is widely believed to be a site of increasing ecocide, mainly due to mining waste and agrochemicals.

This blog was written by Rodrigo Lledó, a Chilean human rights lawyer and the Americas Director at Stop Ecocide International.

This blog post was written by Johan Vollenbroek, Senior Advisor at Mobilisation for the Environment , and Maarten Visschers, Board member at Leefmilieu . They write about the destructive impacts caused by the clearcutting of forests , such as in the United States and the Baltic region, and the need to address current EU legislation considering wood (biomass) burning as a form of sustainable energy.

Rodrigo Lledó is Americas Director at Stop Ecocide International. He is a lawyer and has a Master’s in Public Law and Constitutional Law, as well as a PhD in Law.

This guest blog was co-written by the Youth for Ecocide Law Africa team leads: James Gondi, Debbie Buyaki, Reagan Elijah, Guillaume Kalonji, and Angelina Gabaitse.

This guest blog is authored by Ninsiima Louis Kandahura, a climate advocate and storyteller, and Calvin Stewart Obita, a human rights defender.

This guest blog was co-written by Antoinette Vermilye, the Co-Founder of the marine conservation organisation the Gallifrey Foundation.

This guest blog is authored by Pia Björstrand , environmental lawyer and partner at Omnia Legal, Stockholm.

This blog was written by Esther Stanford-Xosei, coordinator of the Stop the Maangamizi: We Charge Genocide/Ecocide Campaign and co-founder of the Extinction Rebellion Internationalist Solidarity Network. Additional links and campaigning resources were collated by Louise Romain, international grassroots outreach for Stop Ecocide.

This article was written by Monica Lennon , Scottish Labour MSP, and journalist and author Judith Schwartz.

This guest blog is authored by Paola Vitale, a law graduate from the University of Bologna, who is now committed to environmental and climate law advocacy.

This blog post was written by Omar Elmawi , Coordinator at the Stop EACOP campaign and the deCOALonize campaign - with the support of Louise Romain, Stop Ecocide International and Paul Hallows, Global Witness. He writes about the planned construction of the EACOP, a pipeline crossing East Africa, and the environmental, human and climate impacts (both local and global) of this ecocidal project.

This guest blog was written by Deborah Rowan Wright, an ocean conservation policy expert and author of ‘Future Sea: How to Rescue and Protect the World’s Oceans’.

Kate Mackintosh is the Executive Director of the The Promise Institute for Human Rights (Europe).

This post has been written by the ‘ Movimiento de Mujeres y Diversidades Indígenas por el Buen Vivir ’ (Women's Movement and Indigenous Diversities for Good Living) with the special collaboration of one of its members, Paula Mercedes Alvarado Mamani, lawyer and coordinator of the Terricide Bill.

This guest blog was authored by Punya Bhargava, an advocate and founder of the Corporate Social Responsibility firm Huā .

This guest blog is authored by Rafael Kemelmajer, an economist and co-founder of RITA (Regional Impact Trade Alliance).

This guest blog was authored by Charlotte O’Leary, CEO of the impact investment firm Pensions for Purpose.

This independent guest blog was written by human rights lawyer, Steven Donziger , best known for his legal battles with Chevron , particularly Aguinda v. Texaco, Inc . and other cases in which he represented over 30,000 farmers and indigenous people who suffered environmental damage and health problems caused by oil drilling in the Lago Agrio oil field of Ecuador.

This guest blog was authored by Nana Yaw Osei-Darkwa , an entrepreneur, environmental advocate, and founder of the Green Republic Project .

This blog post was written by Louise Romain, anthropologist, campaigner for climate justice & Indigenous rights and producer of the podcast ‘Circle of Voices’. It draws on an interview at COP15 with Indigenous land defenders Puyr Tembé and João Víctor Pankararu with the support of Amazon Watch.

This guest blog is authored by Mathieu Brien, Founder of Carnivorex and the movement Sauvegardons la Grande Tourbière de Blainville (Save the Great Peatbog of Blainville).

This guest blog was written by Professor Darryl Robinson , an Associate Professor at Queen’s University Canada’s Faculty of Law, where he specialises in international criminal justice. The article was first published in EJIL Talk! , the blog of the European Journal of International Law.

This blog post was written by Zoe Bicât, published author of poems and songs, injury rehabilitation therapist and teacher of Tai Chi Qigong.

This guest blog is authored by the ESG and Data for Good Center of Excellence (CoE) , an organisation dedicated to using data analytics and AI for sustainable and good purposes.

This guest blog was originally publised by Ocean Vision Legal and was co-authored by: Michelle Bender*, Jojo Mehta**, Antoinette Vermilye***, Dr. Anna von Rebay* *Ocean Vision Legal, **Stop Ecocide International, ***Gallifrey Foundation

This guest blog is authored by Paola Vitale, a law graduate from the University of Bologna, who is now committed to environmental and climate law advocacy and collaborates with Youth for Ecocide Law as a core team member.

Ten years after the collapse of the Fundão dam in Mariana, London’s High Court has finally reached a decision. In November 2025, the Court recognised the liabilityof mining company BHP, under Brazilian law, for what is widely considered the largest environmental disaster in the country’s history.

By Clara Tomé ( GARN Youth Hub ) and Bonifacius Tirto Dwilaksono ( Youth for Ecocide Law )

This guest blog was written by Richard Rogers, Executive Director of Climate Counsel and Moneim Adam, Executive Director of Sudan Human Rights Hub and originally published in Euronews.

This guest blog was written by Reagan Elijah, Political scientist, Co-lead at Youth For Ecocide Law Africa and Co-founder Debt For Climate Uganda.

Not long ago, the idea of humanity manipulating the planetary systems that regulate life on Earth belonged largely to science fiction. Today, it is the subject of serious policy debate.

This guest blog was authored by İlksen Dinçer Baş, Coordinator for End Ecocide Türkiye.

This guest blog was written by Sue Miller, Stop Ecocide International’s Head of Global Networks and originally published by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

Imagine waking up on an unfamiliar island beside strangers from every corner of the world. None of you remembers how you arrived. None possesses a deed, a flag, or a claim of inheritance. For a brief moment before ideology, hierarchy, or fear takes hold, something remarkable would likely occur: each person would recognise that no one present has any greater right to the island than anyone else.

Jojo Mehta is the CEO and Co-Founder of Stop Ecocide International.

This guest blog was written by Panamanian student activists, Sofia Ramirez Vakratsas and Andreina Correa Quiros.

We have had ecologists from the UK in this field, who cried when they counted the amount of species they found per square meter. I have been told that in the UK there are only 6000 hectares left of such rich biodiversity, most of them created and maintained with high financial input. I try to explain this to one of my neighbours in our Transylvanian village at the foothills of the Western Carpathian Mountains, as he was praising the local, ever-expanding, large-scale farm which has managed to turn the biodiverse hay meadow into a grass monoculture.

Irene Guacimara Fuentes Bauzá is an environmental advocate and Canary Islands social media reporter.

This guest blog was written by Lyndon DeVantier , freelance coral ecologist.

Environmental crime is one of the most pressing threats to the natural world and all of us who rely on it. Damage to the earth cannot be separated from damage to humans, and human prosperity cannot be conceived without a functioning biosphere. Environmental crime destabilises communities and economies, threatens public health, undermines food security, weakens the rule of law, and fosters corruption. Despite being the fourth largest criminal activity globally, it continues to receive inadequate resources and political prioritisation.

This guest blog was written by Soil Association Campaign Policy Advisor, Cathy Cliff.

This blog was written by Linet Nabwire, a climate justice advocate, and Team Leader and Founder of Climate Transformation Network .

This blog was written by Michael Mansfield KC, English barrister and head of chambers at Nexus Chambers.

This guest blog is authored by Dr. Kai-Uwe Schrogl , President of the International Institute of Space Law (IISL), and Anna Maddrick , Legal Adviser on Climate Matters to the Permanent Mission of Vanuatu to the United Nations.

There are conversations you know you will have with your children, even if you do not yet know when. One day I'll have to explain to my son why wars exist, why inequality exists, or why people make decisions that affect others. And I suspect that, sooner or later, I'll also have to answer a much more uncomfortable question: what did my generation do when it realized that the planet was changing?

The Catalan Parliament has initiated a procedure to bring before the National Congress of Deputies a bill to include the crime of ecocide in the Spanish Penal Code. From here, the proposal will continue its progress. There will be several months of hearings in which amendments can be introduced to the text, after which a final vote will take place at the Catalan Parliament.

On 30 July, Deputy Karina Marlen Barrón Perales (PRI) proposed adding a new article to Mexico's Federal Penal Code which would impose 10 to 15 years in prison and a fine of 1,000 to 1,500 pesos per day on anyone who perpetrates "any unlawful or wanton act committed with the knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment”.

At the G20 summit in Indonesia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine set out in a speech to world leaders a 10-point Peace Formula aimed at restoring just and long-lasting peace for Ukraine. Covering nuclear safety, food and energy security, ceasing of hostilities and the upholding of the UN Charter, the formula also specifically includes a call for immediate protection of the environment. In Zelenskyy’s words: “ The eighth challenge is ecocide, the need for immediate protection of environment. [....] ”

We were delighted that Stop Ecocide International, and our Stop Ecocide Foundation, had a very strong presence during COP27 in November 2022.

The Council of Europe has announced that its Committee of Ministers yesterday adopted the Terms of Reference of the Committee of Experts on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law (PC-ENV) , which has been established to draft a new Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law. The following explanatory paragraphs is taken from the CoE release: “The new Council of Europe Convention will provide a common global framework, laying down a general basis of pan-European criminal law, in line with the transboundary nature of the environmental challenge that needs to be met.

Support keeps on growing for the recognition of ecocide within the EU Directive on protection of the environment through criminal law . Two more EU committees, the Petitions Committee (“PETI”) and the Development Committee (“DEVE”) voted this week on proposals for the directive which is currently under revision, both backed inclusion of a crime of ecocide.

Stop Ecocide International, our Foundation and Stop Ecocide Canada, had a very strong presence at COP15 in Montréal during December 2022.

Stop Ecocide Foundation was at the 21st Session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, The Hague, 5th-10th December 2022.

In a press release issued during COP15, Triodos Bank has called for ambitious biodiversity targets and for the introduction of a new crime of ecocide at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

On August 17, a new law, Law 21.595 was published in Chile. It modifies the Penal Code in terms of economic crimes and incorporates a new section on "Attacks against the environment", which includes several elements of the legal definition of ecocide formulated by the Independent Expert Panel, convened by Stop Ecocide Foundation in 2021.

The Nordic Council has voted unanimously during its most recent session in Oslo, Norway to adopt a recommendation calling for ‘the Nordic governments to participate in relevant international discussions to criminalise serious crimes against the natural environment in both wartime and peacetime.’

Monica Lennon MSP has lodged proposals for a Members’ Bill in the Scottish Parliament asking people to support an ecocide prevention law that could see big polluters jailed for between 10 and 20 years.

On November 8th, the Environment and Sustainable Development Committee of the Deputies Chamber of the Brazilian Congress approved Bill No 2933/2023 which aims to criminalize the most serious cases of illegal or wanton destruction of the environment, known as “ecocide”. This Bill has been authored and submitted by the PSOL party and supported by a coalition or organisations including Ecoe Brasil, Climate Counsel, Observatório do Clima and Stop Ecocide International.

The Stop Ecocide International team, along with host nation team Stop Ecocide Canada have returned from a busy fortnight in Montreal at COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

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 .

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.

The EU has agreed to enshrine in law a new offence that aims to punish the most serious crimes against the environment. The final text emerged following several months of negotiation (“trilogues”) between the European Council, Commission and Parliament considering, inter alia, the establishment of a “qualified offence” aimed at preventing and punishing the gravest environmental harms including, as the accompanying recitals specify, “cases comparable to ecocide”.

After a year and a half of research and drafting, the prestigious European Law Institute (ELI) has published its Report on Ecocide: Model Rules for an EU Directive and a Council Decision . The model law draws inspiration from the consensus international definition released by the Independent Expert Panel (June 2021, convened by our Foundation) while making adjustments for the European Union context and certain legal considerations relevant to EU law.

A new policy “viewpoint” document Biodiversity as Systemic Risk: 10 Game-Changers for Board Directors and Stewardship Teams has been released by the International Corporate Governance Network ( ICGN ), highlighting the criminalisation of ecocide as an essential emerging framework.

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).

The ' Ecocide Bill ', introduced as a Private Members Bill by Baroness Rosie Boycott , aims to close an existing gap in UK criminal law which allows perpetrators of the most severe environmental harms to escape accountability.

The Global Tipping Points report 2023 was produced by The University of Exeter's Global Systems Centre and sees contributions from 200 authors and 25 institutions. The report names Ecocide Law as one of a series of ‘Positive Tipping Points’ in technology, economy and society which offer hope in the face collapsing systems in the natural world.

We were delighted that Stop Ecocide International, and our Stop Ecocide Foundation, had a strong presence during COP28 in December 2023.

Stop Ecocide Foundation was at the 22nd Session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, United Nations, New York, 4 to 14 December 2023.

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”.

Following the direction of travel established in the 4 previous consultative committees, the last and most important of these in the context of this Directive, the legal affairs (JURI) committee, unanimously voted to include the most serious environmental crimes - widely known as “ecocide” - in its proposed text for the Directive which will be presented in the EU Parliament on 17th April.

The Prime Minister of Iceland, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, is hopeful that the upcoming leadership summit of the Council of Europe will produce some positive developments on the matter of ecocide. Jakobsdóttir expressed her optimism in the Icelandic parliament during a discussion responding to a parliamentary inquiry on the matter of ecocide from MP Andrés Ingi Jónsson of the Pirate Party on 20 March 2023.

On December 10 2023, the Coalition for International Criminal Justice (CICJ) issued a statement calling upon the States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to establish a Special Working Group on Ecocide.

Stop Ecocide International CEO Jojo Mehta attended the World Economic Forum in Davos between 15th - 19th January 2024. Jojo spoke at two events: ‘Where Nature Meets Conflict’ , live-streamed on Tuesday 16th January and ‘Law and Litigation for Climate and Nature’ on Thursday 18th January and a clip of Jojo’s contribution to the live-streamed event on the 16th was virally misreported, including by Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, Donald Trump Jr and Fox News.

On Thursday 18 January, representations to the Catalan Parliament were heard from NGOs, community groups and experts on a bill to incorporate the crime of ecocide into the national Penal Code of Spain.

On February 20, 2024, a group of Finnish Green MPs , including former Minister of the Interior Maria Ohisalo , submitted a formal written question to the government, inquiring about the administration's intentions to promote the establishment of a new standalone international crime of ecocide via the International Criminal Court.