"Ecocide" Criminalized by the European Union

Isabella Kaminski discloses the details behind the European Union as the "first international body to criminalize wide-scale environmental damage," in her article, EU criminalizes environmental damage 'comparable to ecocide', by The Guardian, on Friday, November 17th, 2023. 

    The European Union criminalizes severe environmental damage such as illegal logging and habitat loss as seen in the image above. After the assertion of the idea 'ecocide' in 2021 by Professor Galston and a team of international legal experts, the European Union began debating and implementing legal parameters to combat ecocide within their region. While the act will remain informal until Spring of 2024, followed by two years of national implementation, this criminalization of environmental damage considerably minimizes the "widespread, substantial and irreversible or long-lasting damage to large or important ecosystems, habitats or the quality of air, soil or water." In effect to this injunction, countries across the nation, including Scotland, have begun negotiating their own legislative actions to combat severe environmental damage. The law covers a range of actions, criminalizing "water abstraction, ship recycling and pollution, the introduction and spread of invasive alien species, and ozone destruction. But it does not say anything about fishing, the export of toxic waste to developing countries or carbon market fraud." Carrying a permit may not excuse companies, nor individuals for these criminal acts against the environment. The penalty for breaking this new law ranges from large fixed and proportional fines to prison sentences.

    I think that this is an incredible advancement towards environmental justice. Even popularizing the idea of 'ecocide' will contribute to the education of irreversible environmental damage globally. Inditing this new law within the EU and associating legal penalties for committing such damage to the environment will force large companies to acknowledge their ecological footprint and implement adjustments to function without causing "irreversible or long-lasting damage." By implementing this law, primarily subjecting large companies to penalties, the EU strikes the most effective action towards combatting ecocide. As large companies such as logging corporations, are the largest contributors to environmental damage and ecocide, they act as a model to smaller companies, and the public mindset. Most people think "huge corporations already emit so much environmental damage, what could I possibly do to combat that?" So, the act of criminalizing and penalizing the large influential companies, which commit mass ecocide, is an effective, and instrumental example for the public. This law, if executed correctly, will conduct the start of corporations taking responsibility, the education of the public, and further action towards environmental preservation, globally.