Governments Recognize Ecocide As a Crime at World’s Largest Conservation Congress 

Governments last week passed a motion that recognizes ecocide as a serious crime, strengthening international momentum to criminalize large-scale environmental destruction.

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Last week, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a union with over 1,400 member organizations including states, government agencies, civil society and Indigenous Peoples’ groups, hosted the World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi, setting the vision for nature conservation for the next 20 years. 

The congress, themed “powering transformative conservation”, adopted close to 150 motions on themes spanning from biodiversity and climate to health and plastic pollution. 

Among them, Motion 061: Recognising the crime of ecocide to protect nature was adopted, marking a huge milestone in the legal journey to protect nature. The motion passed with a clear majority of votes cast by states and government agencies, and an overwhelming majority among NGOs and Indigenous Peoples organisations.

Ecocide is the act of deliberately harming the environment. The adopted motion called on states to recognize ecocide as a serious crime in national and international law. It also recommended that states parties to the Rome Statute evaluate an amendment to make ecocide an explicit crime in peacetime and during armed conflict under the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Statute sets out the ICC’s jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and – as of an amendment in 2010 – the crime of aggression. It also tasks the IUCN’s World Commission on Environmental Law to produce practical guidance on the scope and application of prosecuting ecocide, including how prosecutions can support ecosystem restoration and safeguard geodiversity. 

The motion also commended states that have taken a leadership role on ecocide law and invited others to consider adopting domestic legislation. For example, the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic prohibits “massive destruction of the animal or plant kingdoms, contamination of the atmosphere or water resources, and also commission of other actions capable of causing an ecological catastrophe.” Last year, Belgium became the first European nation to adopt ecocide into its Penal Code. 

Currently, the closest restriction to an “ecocide provision” in international law is Article 8(2)(b)(iv) of the Rome Statute. Its main weakness is that actions associated with ecocide are only illegal if the damage caused to the environment “would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated”. This means it applies only during wartime, and even then, only under certain conditions. The newly adopted motion calls for making ecocide a standalone international crime. 

The motion was co-sponsored by Vanuatu, a country that also led the 2024 proposal to the International Criminal Court with Fiji and Samoa that is now backed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a wide range of other organizations. The vote means the IUCN, a globally influential body whose resolutions often shape national and international environmental policy, has formally called for recognition of ecocide as a serious crime under both national and international law. 

“The direction of travel is clear. Ecocide law is rapidly moving from moral imperative to shared legal priority,” said Jojo Mehta, CEO and Co-Founder of Stop Ecocide International.

“Momentum is now converging. Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa are leading at the ICC, backed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Regional ecocide frameworks are emerging across Europe and Africa. IUCN now adds its authority,” Mehta added.

This momentum will be taken forward at the 7th United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) in Nairobi this December. Vanuatu, together with other states, tabled the resolution “Recognising the Crime of Ecocide to Address Environmental Destruction and Climate Harm”. 

UNEA-7 is the world’s highest-level decision-making body for matters related to the environment. It sets priorities for global environmental policies and international environmental law, and the vote will further showcase the level of political support towards ecocide law. 

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