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Ecocide - the trial of individuals to be held accountable for large scale environmental destruction

Greta Jonyniate | 28.09.11

On September 30th 2011 a mock trial will take place in the UK’s Supreme Court in London. The trial will last for one day and a real judge, jury and barristers will test the crime of Ecocide as if it is already law.

Michael Mansfield QC, the prosecuting barrister, and Nigel Lickley QC, the defence barrister, will lead the case for and against Mr X. Before the case is heard, legal argument will be put as to whether Ecocide and the Earth Right to Life should be applied to the charge against Mr X. Mr X has been charged with a number of ecocides - which one will be tried will be determined on the day.

Ecocide can be used to refer to any large-scale destruction of the natural environment or over-consumption of critical non-renewable resources. At present there are thousands of charities, organisations and initiatives in place working hard to try and stop this from happening; however the term Ecocide has yet to be implemented into the judicial system and become a punishable crime.

In April 2010 UK Lawyer Polly Higgins proposed for the United Nations to accept "ecocide" as a fifth crime against peace alongside Genocide, Crimes against Humanity, Crimes of Aggression and War Crimes., which could also be tried at the International Criminal Court.
 

The Trial which has been designed by The Hamilton Group to get Ecocide debated as widely as possible is being crowdfunded. Initially, there was a funding target of £10,000 and this has been exceeded by £1,190 thanks to the 66 funders that made contributions via crowfunded.co.uk.

According to The Hamilton Group “It is argued that the Law of Ecocide is a key law to address humanitarian and environmental issues on a global scale. Implementation of the Law at the 2012 Earth Summit would change inter-governmental policy and action on climate change, provide the necessary legal framework to help pre-empt the energy crunch and halt the over - exploitation of natural resources.

The day-long trial will be streamed live onto the internet worldwide and on SKY Television. What will happen is not pre-scripted; it is ultimately for the jury to determine whether the crime of Ecocide is made out and whether the Earth Right to Life is breached.
 

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