Ecocide: from war crime to an international crime?

Abstract

[eng] In response to the relevance achieved in the last decade, this article explores the evolution of ecocide as a legal concept, from its origins to its contemporary status as a potential international crime, with the aim of assessing whether current proposals are viable and legally coherent. Using both historical and black-letter legal approaches, the research traces the reciprocal influence of early ecocide definitions on international humanitarian law, and how the latter in turn contributed to consolidating a particular legal conception of the former. Focusing on the key elements of the currently prohibited threshold of environmental damage during armed conflicts, the study addresses its limitations, highlighting the ambiguities of the terms and their unsuitability for peacetime application. We conclude that while ecocide was ultimately codified as a war crime in article 8.2(b)(iv) of the Rome Statute, its broader recognition as a standalone international crime requires clearer definitions and a reconsideration of the threshold criteria, in this way contributing to advancing the legal understanding of ecocide and its potential as a tool for environmental justice.