Why these island nations want ecocide to become an international crime [Video]

Environmental destruction should be on the same level as genocide and war crimes, a group of island nations argues.

“We don’t take damage to nature seriously enough. We don’t even take nature seriously enough,” Jojo Mehta, co-founder and CEO of Stop Ecocide International, told What On Earth.

The South Pacific country of Vanuatu, backed by its fellow island nations of Fiji and Samoa, is pushing to have ecocide recognized by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the independent court based in The Hague, Netherlands, responsible for prosecuting individuals who are charged with the gravest crimes.

Ecocide is defined as the destruction of large areas of the natural environment as a consequence of human activity.

The proposal, made in September 2024, seeks to have ecocide recognized alongside the four crimes under the ICC’s jurisdictionthrough the Rome Statute: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. It would allow for the prosecution of individuals accused of …