Growing push to make 'ecocide' an international crime | DW News

There's a growing movement to put acts of environmental destruction on par with war crimes and genocide. An increasing number of activists, lawyers and politicians want what they're calling "Ecocide" to be punishable by the International Criminal Court. They say making this a crime would deter companies and governments from harming the environment. Instead of paying fines and compensation, perpetrators would be liable to arrest, prosecution and imprisonment.Meanwhile, a UN scientific panel has recommended that Australia's Great Barrier Reef be put on a list of endangered World Heritage sites, angering the Australian government. The reef is a major tourist attraction and Australia has been working to keep it off of the in-danger list. The UN body says the decline in coral is due to climate change, and urged Australia to take accelerated action.

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[pinschrunner]

Private corporations should pay the price both financially and criminally, just as they do risk reward analysis strategically. Why should the public pay the costs while they reap profits?

[augustus]

Considering between 1970-2018, 60% of all wildlife has died out, it's obvious that we cannot sustain destroying more than half of the ecosystem in a couple decades. This measure is long overdue.

[ImranKhan-gshy]

Makes sense, human population is at an all-time unprecedented level. So when such a disaster happens, it's consequences are far more disastrous. The earth can't even catch a breath before another mass pollution event.

[hizzlemobizzle]

Of course they should be held accountable. Will they? No.

[eflanders]

Will the cruise ship industry be held accountable for the more than 1 million pounds of human waste dumped yearly into our waters? Or is this only an attack on the oil industry?

[dubsar]

Denying climate change and Science in general should also be a crime against humanity.

[tjmarx]

Host: "right... [tries not to laugh]" (1:33)

Sums this entire segment up nicely.

[MopeyFand]

This is desperately needed immediately. Frankly, if the USA really wants to set themselves apart from China, they should get on board with this.

[zakaryloreto]

We are currently living in the sixth mass extinction of course we should hold measures accountable so we don’t lose more life.

[CoyotePark]

Yes! Sounds very good! Corporations would then have to think about their actions before doing anything

[trendingnews]

We should work together to keep safe for our plannet

[Ralf]

$alles Brazilian Minister of Environment must face trial at once and must be an example after destroy and burn forests and fauna and facilitated environment crimes

[sldavison]

And do what? Demand money? Over consumerism is the main reason we're at this point. Throwing money at a problem doesn't make it go away.

[CooperateMind]

If it happens it would be a big advancement toward a safer and more human world

[sugarbabylove]

Great idea. But I'm sure it won't be implemented.

[MrRichyreid]

Why is BP the headline when the content of the report does not mention BP?

[aoikemono]

Scapegoating a large corporation to put your own conscience at ease? I don't think you get karma points for that.

[markm]

Perhaps these companies need to collectively fund an independent organization to deal with the overall issues, and deploy solutions and preventative measures globally without restrictions from things like patents and capitalist competition.

Just a thought

[DgurlSunshine]

Reactive measures do not "fix" nor deter nor remediate ongoing global contamination by corporate polluters *WHO PROFITS?*

[joncuk]

Fine the entire petrochemical industry en masse starting with the remaining Koch...