Literature Review

The protection of the environment is currently of the uppermost importance and all legal fields have to contribute to this goal. This includes criminal law, both on a national and an international level. The debate in international criminal law focusses on a proposal to introduce a new core crime of “ecocide” to the Rome Statute. Much has been contributed to this debate, and often the ultima ratio approach has been mentioned in this context. However, the contents of this principle remain vague. In my article, I assess the ultima ratio principle for international criminal law and apply it to the discussion about the introduction of a new core crime of ecocide to the Rome Statute. My assessment reveals that under the current circumstances, this cannot be considered a good fit. Rather, alternatives exist that are to be expected to serve the urgent interest of protecting the natural environment better.

The chapter suggests that the artists and art are having an elemental role in the worldwide campaign of amending the International Criminal Law by including the Law of Ecocide in it. The analysis in the chapter is based on the evidence gathered through artistic research and leading an associate group’s campaign during the years 2020–2022. One piece has been endorsing the Stop Ecocide International’s aims by setting up Artists for Ecocide Law silos for the campaign. The artworks and statements are examined through the concept of articulation as used by Stuart Hall, Lawrence Grossberg, and Jennifer Daryl Slack. The significance that artistic work brings into the whole of the movement and how it makes a difference regarding the engagement for public debate are discussed in detail. Lastly, the chapter gives an overview of the discussion in the launch event of the artistic campaign, which marks the beginning of the international discussion of creatives and artists endorsing criminalizing Ecocide.

In 2021 an independent expert panel drafted a ‘historic’ legal definition of ecocide, a crime committed against the environment and affecting both humans and non-humans. Should the definition be adopted by the International Criminal Court, a question arises as to what form an official ecocide trial or tribunal might take, and what kinds of testimony and evidence would be admitted. This chapter argues for the affordances of turning to certain artworks in order to explore possible modes of witnessing and testifying to ecocide, namely Susan Schuppli’s video-essay, Can the Sun Lie? (2014); artist Amar Kanwar’s multi-element installation, The Sovereign Forest (2011–ongoing); and Zuleikha Chaudhari and Khoj International Artists’ Association’s staged hearing, Landscape as Evidence: Artist as Witness (2017–ongoing). These works each demonstrate the limitations – in particular regarding evidence and testimony – of existing legal, scientific, and political frameworks for responding to climate change, environmental violence, and the destruction of more-than-human lifeworlds. Crucially, they each propose alternatives to these limitations. Together, the three works engage with and amplify understandings of the figure of the witness, beyond the human and beyond a colonial/modern rationality, as well as offering reflections on the role of the artist themself as witness.

Our present situation of anthropogenic ecological disaster calls on Western philosophy in general, and Frankfurt School critical theory in particular, to reconsider some long-standing, entrenched assumptions concerning what it means to be a human agent and to relate to other agents. In my article, I take up the challenge in dialogue with the idea of critical theory articulated by Max Horkheimer in the 1930s. My overall concern is to contribute to on-going efforts to decentre Frankfurt School critical theory in multiple dimensions. With the help of Horkheimer, I seek to show that this theoretical tradition has itself an important contribution to make to the endeavour. In Section 1, I argue that the methodology he advocates for critique of society offers a view of the relationship between the human mind and reality, as well as of humans with other humans, that avoids dogmatic rigidity and is hospitable towards mutual learning through engagement with other philosophical and cultural traditions. In Section 2, I consider the more specific challenge of anthropocentrism, suggesting the need for a more differentiated account of this. While critical theory is unavoidably anthropocentric in certain respects, it could avoid more pernicious forms of anthropocentrism that establish epistemic and ethical hierarchies between humans and other-than-human entities and that conceive of ethical validity as a purely human construction, with no independence of human needs and concerns.

This research is built from the concept that crimes against the environment also have implications for climate change. In this case, ecocides in the form of forest burning that cause Transboundary Haze to contribute positively in increasing carbon emissions in the atmosphere. Therefore, an integrated prevention instrument is needed to simultaneously mitigate forest fires and climate change. Thus, this study aims to examine the potential of Carbon Offset, or what in the regime of Presidential Regulation Number 98 of 2021 concerning the Economic Value of Carbon calls it Greenhouse Gas Emission Offsetting, as an alternative instrument in modern environmental restoration. The research method uses normative juridical with a conceptual approach and legislation. The novelty of this research is to find a correlation between the impact of environmental destruction and climate change, as well as an analysis of carbon trading as an alternative solution. The results of the study indicate that the market mechanism-based carbon offset scheme is expected to be able to change the behavior of the extractive industry in forest land use, so that forest burning is no longer a profitable business option.

Nearly every single day, research reports testify new evidences of substantial environmental degradation occurring around the world, impacting the lives of millions of people. As a notion, this environmental degradation that pertains to both naturally existing mechanisms of environmental or ecosystem degradation and ecological destruction due to anthropogenic activities is commonly referred to as Ecocide. While there is a significant body of research on ecocide, there appears to be a noticeable absence of bibliometric analyses dedicated to comprehensively studying and exploring this field. While the majority of literature in the area of environmental degradation revolves around the detrimental impacts of ecocide, there is a dearth of studies exploring the past, present and future of extant literature using bibliometric analysis. This research adopts bibliometric methodology to glean significant insights into the progress made in this field, delving into research articles published from 1990 to 2022. The paper aims to classify the available literature on Ecocide based on bibliometric criteria, including publication year, geographical region, authorship, affiliated institution, and source. Also, a bibliometric analysis of keyword co-occurrence to understand the mainstream themes underpinning the Ecocide literature was performed. The paper also reviews the legal frameworks and comes up with future areas of research in the domain of ecocide. This work can help find commonalities and connections in the published works. With this knowledge, researchers might build stronger partnerships and reach a larger audience with their advances. This research can fill up the gaps in the extant literature and provide new directions for research and policymaking.

From climate disaster to the specter of nuclear annihilation to the rise of fascism and destruction of democracy to the advent of AI and other potentially destructive technologies, a number of material threats are matched by symbolic threats that undermine the capacities of people to respond. The war on public and critical education and the public sphere, the erosion of investigative journalism, ideologies of cynicism, and the crises of critical theoretical tools and literacies undermine individual and collective agency to respond to these threats. The result of these material threats and crises of agency is political paralysis, cynicism, and despair.

n/a

Ecocide is a term used to describe serious or wide-spread or long-lasting destruction or damage of the natural environment or other forms of environmental degradation. The concept of ecocide has been very actual for several decades. However, there has been growing momentum in recent years to establish ecocide as an international crime under the mandate of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC is a court of last resort that prosecutes individuals for the most serious crimes of concern to the international community, including war crimes, war aggression, crimes against humanity, and genocide. In December 2021, a group of experts proposed a definition of ecocide to the ICC, which could serve as the basis for establishing ecocide as an international crime. The definition proposed is: "Unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts." If ecocide were to be established as an international crime, it would allow for individuals, or legal entities, and even states to be held accountable for their actions that cause significant harm to the environment. This would be a significant step forward in protecting the planet and ensuring that those responsible for environmental destruction are held accountable for their actions. The purpose of this paper will be to research the idea of ecocide as a new crime and to give a short preview of this “new” crime in the Macedonian criminal code.

n/a

More than the previous century, the destruction caused on environment potentially has been the highest in last decade or so. A report by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) placesit as the fourth-largest criminal operation in the world, just after counterfeiting, human trafficking,and drug smuggling. It is very recent that environmental damage is treated at par with a criminal activity, and with the looming crisis of climate change, it is now, more than ever that criminality of ecocide should be looked into. But it is not an easy process since the contrast between crime and damage highlights a persistent dilemma for criminology, whether to limit its focus just on legally recognized offences or delve into activities that are legal but its effects are negative and needs to forbidden. For the longest time, violations of law are dealt with but lawful degradation is brushed off with moral derangement but it derails the future whose basis is in environment. With the support of an internationally enforceable legal framework, these crimes and harms need to be addressed through both informal and official modes of settlement and restitution. This paper explores ecocide as a new challenge for the existing regulatory framework and recommends new legislative interventions.

This paper reviews key definitions of ecocide that have emerged since the 1970s, from Richard A Falk’s early draft International Convention on the Crime of Ecocide, to the Stop Ecocide Foundation Expert Panel’s definition of 2021, and analyses enduring legal and political challenges to the prospects for a new international crime. Despite the latter definition gaining prominence and considerable support we argue that there is a continuing necessity to reflect on the key challenges to the development of an international crime that can actually deliver accountability for serious crimes against the environment, and that engagement with previous definitions can assist in these reflections. We discuss core problems with categorising and negotiating ecocide, guaranteeing legality and ascertaining appropriate gravity and requisite levels of intention. Based on our analysis of past and present definitions, and the social construction of related crimes and international norms, we advocate for a robust articulation of the potential crime that balances foreseeability and flexibility, detached from the requirements of the other core crimes and includes an understanding of intent that embraces reckless acts and omissions and which avoids a cost versus benefit analysis. While we are advocates of ecocide’s criminalisation, we are also conscious of the political and operational barriers to ecocide’s creation and implementation. As such, we argue both for interim measures such as non-binding declarations in support of ecocide, and for humility with regards to what the law can meaningfully achieve. For us, ecocide represents one possible tool in a toolkit that must include a range of legal and political interventions to prevent and repair environmental destruction.