The natural world remains under siege - a reality deeply familiar to this audience. Through decades of contribution across science, policy, law and advocacy, IUCN Members have helped shape the global response to ecological degradation, biodiversity loss, the climate crisis and environmental injustice. From international agreements to community-led initiatives, your collective efforts have laid the foundation for progress. Yet still, ancient forests fall, oceans are emptied, soils degraded, and the wider environment grows increasingly toxic — while those responsible face no real accountability. Systemic change is no longer optional; it is essential.
Against this backdrop, Motion 061 - Recognising the Crime of Ecocide to Protect Nature - now comes before the Members’ Assembly and deserves the full attention of all IUCN Members.
The motion invites IUCN to support the recognition of ecocide as an international crime under the International Criminal Court. It is proposed by Stop Ecocide International and co-sponsored by a dozen organisations, including the Ministry of Climate Change of Vanuatu, Gallifrey Foundation, Earth Law Centre, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association, and my own organisation The Wildlife Trusts - one of the founding members of IUCN.
This motion is not symbolic. It is a necessary step toward setting a legal boundary - a clear line that no actor can cross to cause severe, widespread or long-term harm to nature without facing criminal consequences.
Existing environmental laws are fragmented, weakly enforced, or full of loopholes. Worse still, many destructive practices continue not only unchecked but actively subsidised - with at least $2.6 trillion annually in global support for environmentally harmful activities. The legal tools at our disposal don’t reflect the scale or urgency of the crisis we face. Recognising ecocide as a crime - defined as unlawful or wanton acts, committed with knowledge of the risk of severe and either widespread or long-term environmental harm - would close this gap in accountability.
By supporting this motion, IUCN Members can help establish a deterrent against large-scale environmental harm and provide a framework for justice and restoration. In doing so, they further advance IUCN’s mission: to conserve nature’s integrity and ensure environmental protection is both equitable and effective.
Importantly, this is not about criminalising ordinary people or halting development. It is about holding accountable those whose decisions cause devastation on a massive scale – namely, executives and policymakers. This approach levels the playing field for sustainable businesses, deters the most serious harm and ensures avenues for redress.
Momentum is growing. Some countries, including Belgium and France, have already adopted the concept of ecocide into domestic law, while Ukraine has resurrected a dormant legal provision of its own and is actively prosecuting cases. Many others are currently advancing legislation, including the Netherlands, Peru, Argentina, Italy and Scotland, where the Ecocide (Scotland) Bill was formally lodged in parliament last week. The European Union has adopted a revised Environmental Crime Directive that criminalises conduct comparable to ecocide. Just this month, The Council of Europe adopted a landmark Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law, empowering states to prosecute acts “tantamount to ecocide”, this treaty is now open for signature. At the international level, a formal proposal to amend the Rome Statute has been submitted by a coalition of Pacific Island states and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). A global norm is taking shape.
Supporting this motion would place IUCN at the heart of a legal transformation increasingly echoed in courtrooms, parliaments and communities worldwide. The 2024 Global Commons Survey found that 72% of people across G20 nations support making severe environmental harm a crime.
I’ve been working in the international conservation sector for three decades. Now leading The Wildlife Trusts, and previously at Friends of the Earth and the Environmental Investigation Agency, I’ve seen – across both the Global North and South – how existing regulations fall short. Like many of you, I’ve witnessed how even the most essential work is too often undermined by decisions taken by the most powerful in society - decisions that ecocide law would help deter. This law is not only a safeguard, but a catalyst for systemic change. It supports IUCN’s core objectives and strengthens global frameworks like the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
There has been a nature-shaped hole in international criminal law for far too long. I urge all IUCN Members to vote in favour of Motion 061 - to take a stand for nature, justice, and the future of life on Earth by calling for ecocide to be recognised as an international crime.
To support informed discussion around this vital issue, IUCN members are warmly invited to a webinar on Motion 061, Recognising the Crime of Ecocide to Protect Nature, taking place on 17 June at 3:00pm London / 11:00am Brasília / 8:00pm Dhaka. Chaired by Professor Christina Voigt, the session will feature distinguished speakers including:
- Justice Antonio Herman Benjamin (Justice of the High Court of Brazil)
- Ian Redmond OBE (Tropical field biologist & conservationist, UK)
- Syeda Rizwana Hasan (Adviser, Interim Government of Bangladesh)
- Gustavo Alanís-Ortega (President, CEMDA, Mexico)
- Nnimo Bassey (Environmental advocate, architect & writer)
- Professor Nicholas A. Robinson (Professor of Environmental Law, Pace University)
- Jojo Mehta (CEO, Stop Ecocide International)
Simultaneous interpretation will be available in French and Spanish.
You can register for the webinar here: https://bit.ly/4l04WSy