The Fifth Crime
The campaign to make “ecocide” an international crime.
On every continent, humans have left their mark in the form of massive environmental destruction: deforestation in Brazil; strip mining in Canada’s Tar Sands; the devastation of West Africa’s fisheries; the obliterations of landscapes and ecosystems by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Pollution warms the planet, melting polar ice, bringing drought and wildfire to the land, intensifying hurricanes and raising sea levels. Scientists say there is worse to come.
The idea of ecocide is a cri de coeur for repair and reparation, against all odds. Inside Climate News, in partnership with NBC and Undark, report on the moral and legal case for accountability.
Ecocide: Should Destruction of the Planet Be a Crime?
To prosecute and imprison political leaders and corporate executives would require a parsing of legal boundaries and a recalibration of criminal accountability.
By David Sassoon
![A refugee from Democratic Republic of Congo, collects water for their vegetable crops at a water pan in Kalobeyei settlement for refugees in Turkana County, Kenya on October 2, 2019. Credit: Luis Tato/AFP via Getty Images](jpg/refugee_luis-tato-afp-getty-900x600.jpg)