Developing ecocide law.

Ecocide - mass damage and destruction of nature

While most human interaction with the environment creates some level of impact, ecocide refers only to the very worst harms, usually on a major industrial scale or impacting a huge area.

Legal recognition of ecocide as a serious crime

Criminalisation of ecocide creates enforceable accountability for these key decision-makers, so that where there is a threat of severe and either widespread or long-term damage, the dangers will be better researched and taken very seriously. Appropriate safety protocols will be employed or alternative approaches developed in order to protect nature, climate and people, and in order to avoid criminal liability.

Scientific and on-the-ground knowledge

Detailed knowledge of risks to nature, climate and people in specific contexts is extensive, and readily available to decision-makers in policy and industry.

Route to justice for the severest environmental harms

Ecocide law provides a route to justice for the worst harms inflicted upon the living world in times of both peace and conflict, whenever and wherever they are committed.

For history of ecocide law and academic articles, see our sister site www.ecocidelaw.com

Some examples of large-scale destruction that ecocide law could address:

Destruction of endangered species or habitats

Mass Deforestation

Severe water and land contamination

Chemical disasters

Benefits of ecocide law

Top level decision-makers in government and industry will be far more careful and conscious about what they sign off, while investors and insurers will steer clear of projects likely to prove unsafe.
Naming the worst harms as crimes will help all environmental laws to be taken seriously. With the enforceable underpinning of criminal law, multilateral environmental agreements (Paris, Kunming-Montreal) will become easier to adhere to.

Sustainability leaders will no longer struggle uphill while the less scrupulous pass damage and its costs on to nature, communities and governments. Meanwhile, having legal outer boundaries in place will stimulate research into healthier practices.
Criminal law draws moral lines. Ecocide law will help to create a healthy societal taboo around mass damage to nature. Such damage has serious real-world consequences; reflecting this in law will remind us of our dependence upon the living world around us and our responsibility towards it.

International Criminal Court

While we wholeheartedly support ecocide legislation at national and regional levels, our work aims ultimately to support recognition of ecocide as a standalone crime in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

At present, the Statute lists four crimes: Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, War Crimes and the Crime of Aggression. The Statute can be amended to include a fifth crime of Ecocide.

Putting the law in place

Ecocide laws are now being proposed and progressed in domestic and regional parliaments around the world, largely based on (or strongly influenced by) the Independent Expert Panel definition convened by our Foundation. Exactly how these laws proceed and are adopted varies from one jurisdiction to another, but the legal direction of travel is clear.

A straightforward process

Once a proposal is on the table, all States Parties may contribute to the discussion in order to arrive at a final amendment text. This process is open-ended, but historically has taken anything from 2 to 10+ years.
States Parties can then ratify (officially submit their agreement), and the ICC has jurisdiction over the crime in that country one year later. Ratifying states will likely transpose the crime into their own penal codes.
Beyond that, under universal jurisdiction principles, any ratifying nation may, on its own soil, arrest a non-national for ecocide committed elsewhere, as long as it considers the crime to be serious enough.

Any state or group of states which has ratified (officially agreed to) the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) may propose an amendment. There are currently 124 of these “States Parties”.

[In December 2019 the Pacific ocean Republic of Vanuatu urged all states parties to consider adding a 5th crime of ecocide to the Statute.]
This requires consensus at an Assembly of States Parties, or, if a vote has to be taken, requires at least a 2/3 majority (currently 83/124). All states have an equal vote. Once the law is adopted into the Statute, the crime exists (even if it is not yet enforceable). This gives it immediate moral power.

OCTOBER 2024 - AZERBAIJAN

Azerbaijan's parliament, the Milli Majlis, has passed the first reading of a bill that would introduce the crime of ecocide into the country's Criminal Code. Proposed by President Ilham Aliyev, the bill seeks to impose custodial sentences of 10 to 15 years for those convicted of committing severe environmental damage.

SEPTEMBER 2024 - PERU

Peru has taken a significant step toward criminalising ecocide, as a national congressional Technical Committee successfully consolidated three separate proposed ecocide bills into a unified legislative text.

JULY 2024 - FRANCE

A new report by France’s international development financing agency, Agence Française de Développement (AFD), highlights the role that ecocide law would play in “ensuring the planet’s habitability”.

JUNE 2024 - PERU

Two new ecocide bills have been introduced in Peru's parliament by members of the Perú Libre and Cambio Democrático parties, adding to a previous submission and signalling a concerted move towards amending the penal code to include ecocide, based on the Independent Expert Panel’s consensus definition formulated in 2021.

JULY 2024 - ITALY

On 1 July 2024, Italy’s Green and Left Alliance proposed a bill to criminalise "ecocide," based on the Independent Expert Panel’s 2021 definition. The bill must undergo parliamentary discussion, committee review, voting in both houses, and receive presidential approval to become law.

June 2024 - FINLAND

On 17 June, the governing board of the largest political party in Finland’s ruling coalition government, the National Coalition Party, officially expressed support for ecocide as an amendment to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

MAY 2024 - PERU

On 16 May 2024, opposition congressman Américo Gonza introduced a bill to Peru’s parliament proposing to amend the country’s penal code to criminalise ecocide on the national level. The proposed amendment text closely emulates the consensus definition of ecocide produced by Stop Ecocide Foundation’s Independent Expert Panel.

MAY 2024 - SWEDEN

The Swedish Parliament (Riksdag) voted on a total of six motions, from four political parties, that contain proposals to make ecocide prohibited under international law within the framework of the International Criminal Court.
The vote in parliament was close - 153 MPs voting in line with the Foreign Affairs Committee’s recommendations (i.e. against the motions) and 150 voting in favour.

March 2024 - EUROPEAN COUNCIL

The European Council formally adopted a new environmental crime directive, which includes provision to criminalise cases ‘comparable to ecocide’. This is the latest and final vote on the new Directive and follows approval by the European Parliament in February and a landmark political agreement between the European Council, Commission and Parliament in November 2023.
Member states will now have a 24 month period, via the so-called ‘transposition’ process, in which to align national legislation with the newly adopted directive.

March 2024 - FINLAND

On February 20, 2024, a group of Finnish Green MPs, including former Minister of the Interior Maria Ohisalo, submitted a formal written question to the government, inquiring about the administration's intentions to promote the establishment of a new standalone international crime of ecocide via the International Criminal Court.

February 2024 - BELGIUM

Belgium’s Federal Parliament voted in favour of a new penal code for the country, which, for the first time in Europe, includes recognition of the crime of ecocide at both the national and international levels. Nationally, the new crime of ecocide, aimed at preventing and punishing the most severe cases of environmentaldegradation, such as extensive oil spills, will apply to individuals in the highest positions of decision-making power and to corporations.

December 2023 - SAMOA, VANUATU, ROMANIA, ESTONIA & UKRAINE

Two official side events focusing on ecocide were held at the International Criminal Court’s 22nd Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute held at the UN in New York. Vanuatu & Samoa joined forces with the Stop Ecocide Foundation for an event on 11th Dec focusing on victims of ecocide while Estonia & Romania joined Ukraine on 12th Dec to highlight the need to address ecocide in armed conflict.

December 2023 - UNITED KINGDOM

A Private Members Bill dubbed the 'Ecocide Bill', introduced by Baroness Rosie Boycott, aims to close an existing gap in UK criminal law which allows perpetrators of the most severe environmental harms to escape accountability.

November 2023 - EUROPEAN UNION

The EU has agreed to enshrine in law a new offence that aims to punish the most serious crimes against the environment. The final text emerged following several months of negotiation (“trilogues”) between the European Council, Commission and Parliament considering, inter alia, the establishment of a “qualified offence” aimed at preventing and punishing the gravest environmental harms including, as the accompanying recitals specify, “cases comparable to ecocide”.

November 2023 - BRAZIL

The Environment and Sustainable Development Committee of the Deputies Chamber of the Brazilian Congress approved Bill No 2933/2023 which aims to criminalize the most serious cases of illegal or wanton destruction of the environment, known as “ecocide”. This Bill has been authored and submitted by the PSOL party and supported by a coalition or organisations including Ecoe Brasil, Climate Counsel, Observatório do Clima and Stop Ecocide International.

November 2023 - SCOTLAND

Monica Lennon MSP lodged proposals for a Members’ Bill in the Scottish Parliament asking people to support an ecocide prevention law that could see big polluters jailed for between 10 and 20 years.

November 2023 - NORDIC COUNCIL

The Nordic Council voted unanimously in a session in Oslo, Norway to adopt a recommendation calling for ‘the Nordic governments to participate in relevant international discussions to criminalise serious crimes against the natural environment in both wartime and peacetime.’

October 2023 - CHILE

On August 17, a new law, Law 21.595 was published in Chile. It modifies the Penal Code in terms of economic crimes and incorporates a new section on "Attacks against the environment", which includes several elements of the legal definition of ecocide formulated by the Independent Expert Panel, convened by Stop Ecocide Foundation in 2021.

September 2023 - ITALY

Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra (Greens and Left Alliance), supported by Stop Ecocidio Italia and Stop Ecocide International, has submitted a bill aimed at preventing and criminalising ecocide to the Italian Parliament.
The proposed bill, which is directly based on the wording of the legal definition of ecocide formulated by the Independent Expert Panel convened by the Stop Ecocide Foundation in 2021, has been formally submitted to parliament, with debate and votes due to take place in the coming months.

July 2023 - MEXICO

Deputy Karina Marlen Barrón Perales (PRI) proposed adding a new article to Mexico's Federal Penal Code punishing anyone who perpetrates "any unlawful or wanton act committed with the knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment”.

July 2023 - SPAIN/CATALUNYA

The Catalan Parliament has initiated a procedure to bring before the National Congress of Deputies a bill to include the crime of ecocide in the Spanish Penal Code. From here, the proposal will continue its progress. There will be several months of hearings in which amendments can be introduced to the text, after which a final vote will take place at the Catalan Parliament.

July 2023 - NETHERLANDS

Member of Parliament Lammert van Raan of Partij voor de Dieren (Party for the Animals), officially launched a law proposal to criminalise ecocide in the Netherlands.
The proposal is currently subject to four weeks of public consultation prior to being submitted for advisory opinion to the Council of State. For the bill to become law, it will then need to be approved by Parliament.

July 2023 - BELGIUM

The Belgian Council of Ministers approved the second reading of a bill outlining proposed reforms to the nation’s penal code. Among the new crimes listed for inclusion is Ecocide. Pending approval by Parliament later this year, the development sees Belgium set to become the twelfth country to add the crime to its statute books.

July 2023 - OSCE PA

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has called on parliaments of its participating States to enshrine the concept of ecocide in national and international law.

June 2023 - BRAZIL

The Brazilian political party PSOL (Partido Socialismo e Liberdade) submitted a new Ecocide Bill to the Brazilian Congress. The proposed ecocide law seeks to criminalise “performing illegal or wanton acts with the knowledge that they generate a substantial probability of serious and widespread or long-term damage to the environment.”

June 2023 - AUSTRIA

At a UN Security Council open debate on the effects of climate change on peace and security, the Austrian Ambassador suggested that ‘*the international community should consider making widespread long-term damage to the environment a crime under international law — referred to as “ecocide”.* ‘

May 2023 - SPAIN

On 9 May 2023, the Spanish government officially answered to a written question submitted by Inés Sabanés Nadal, MP for Más País Verdes Equo, on whether the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge intended to support the proposal to recognise ecocide and autonomous crimes against the environment in the framework of the European Council.

March 2023 - EUROPEAN UNION

Via announcement at a monthly plenary session, the European Parliament officially declared its support of the inclusion of ecocide-level crimes into the European Union’s revised Directive on protection of the environment through criminal law.

March 2023 - EUROPEAN UNION

Following the direction of travel established in the 4 previous consultative committees, the last and most important of these in the context of this Directive, the legal affairs (JURI) committee, unanimously voted to include the most serious environmental crimes - widely known as “ecocide” - in its proposed text for the Directive which will be presented in the EU Parliament on 17th April.

March 2023 - 6 PACIFIC NATIONS

Governments of **Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Tonga, Fiji, Niue, and the Solomon Islands** collective call [link PDF] to phase out fossil fuels, support a rapid and just Pacific transition to renewable energy, and strengthen related legal obligations - including to “*prevent Ecocide*”.

March 2023 - UKRAINE

*United for Justice* state-hosted conference in Lviv discusses ecocide law in high-level panel ”Prosecuting Environmental War Crimes” featuring Environment Minister, following severe environmental damage suffered in Ukraine as a result of Russian invasion.

January 2023 - COUNCIL OF EUROPE (46 STATES)

Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe adopts resolution and recommendation calling for recognition of ecocide, based on report from its Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development on the *Environmental impact of armed conflicts*.

December 2022 - BELGIUM

General Debate, Assembly of States Parties (ASP) to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib reiterates Belgium’s *“willingness to engage in consideration of the introduction of a crime known as ‘ecocide’ into the Rome Statute system.”*

December 2022 - AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND

General Debate, Assembly of States Parties (ASP) to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: Aotearoa/New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Hon. Nanaia Mahuta made a strong statement in support of “*future discussions around the concept of ecocide as an international crime to address environmental destruction at a global level.*”

December 2022 - FINLAND

General Debate, Assembly of States Parties (ASP) to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto welcomes “*every effort to use international criminal justice to respond*” to the threats of climate change and biodiversity loss, and notes the Assembly provides a context to “*continue discussions on the ecocide initiative.*”

November 2022 - UKRAINE

At the G20 summit in Indonesia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine set out in a speech to world leaders a 10-point Peace Formula aimed at restoring just and long-lasting peace for Ukraine. Covering nuclear safety, food and security, ceasing of hostilities and the upholding of the UN Charter, point 8 of the plan addresses the challenge of “countering ecocide”.

September 2022 - PANAMA

UN General Assembly: the Vice President of the Republic of Panama, José Gabriel Carrizo, argued that *"the time has come for the world to have an international body to hold accountable all those who cause damage to the planet. […] When is ecocide going to stop?"*

September 2022 - VANUATU

UN General Assembly: President Vurobaravu urges statesto support including a crime of ecocide in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), telling the Assembly that *“acting with knowledge of severe and widespread or long-term damage to the environment can no longer be tolerated”.*

August 2022 - AUSTRALIA

Senator David Shoebridge (Australian Greens), in his first speech to the Australian Senate Chamber on 2nd August, declares he believes it is *“time to enact a new criminal offence of* ***ecocide****. Ecocide is the mass, widespread damage and destruction of ecosystems in nature.”*

June 2022 - KENYA

Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for the Environment and Forests, Mr Keriako Tobiko, revealed a landmark legislation proposal, stating that said proposal "*contains critical principles”,* which include the “*recognition of the right to nature and, most importantly, creation of the crime of '****ecocide***’”.

May 2022 - CYPRUS

Issue of criminalising ecocide raised during parliamentary speech given by Member of the House of Representatives, Ms. Alexandra Attalides, from Movement of Ecologists-Citizens Cooperation

April 2022 - DENMARK

Danish parliament discusses ecocide following a question submitted to the Foreign Minister and resolves (see 15.22: A. Lind), by large majority, to follow ecocide conversation internationally.

March 2022 - ICELAND

Ecocide parliamentary resolution submitted to Parliament calling for support for international crime of ecocide as well as national ecocide legislation. With cross party support from Pirate Party, Liberal reformation, Social Democrats and Left Green.

February 2022 - EUROPEAN UNION

European Parliament Report on Human Rights & Democracy recommends EU member states to support criminalising ecocide at the ICC & also examine relevance to EU law.

December 2021 - SAMOA

Samoa supports the ecocide conversation at the ICC by co-hosting official side event and providing a supporting statement from the Prime Minister.

December 2021 - BANGLADESH

Bangladesh supports the ecocide conversation at the ICC by co-hosting official side event and providing a supporting statement.

December 2021 - VANUATU

Vanuatu continues its long-standing support of the ecocide conversation at the ICC by co-hosting official side event and providing a supporting statement.

December 2021 - FINLAND

Finland’s foreign minister supports the ecocide conversation at the ICC in his official statement to the Assembly of States Parties

December 2021 - BELGIUM

Belgium supports raising awareness of ecocide internationally in its official statement to the International Criminal Court’s Assembly and intervenes (see 1h26m) in official ICC side event.

November 2021 - IRELAND

Jennifer Whitmore TD asks a parliamentary question: will the Irish government support the recognition of ecocide as an international crime?

November 2021 - West Papua

The provisional government of West Papua launches its Green State Vision in Glasgow during COP26, explicitly including the criminalisation of ecocide.

November 2021 - UK

Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, David Lammy MP publicly announces during COP26, the commitment of the Labour Party to support discussions around an international crime of ecocide.

November 2021 - MEXICO

Senator Raúl Paz Alonzo has asked the Mexican Government to recognise ecocide as the fifth Crime against World Peace and Security.

November 2021 - BELGIUM

Belgium’s parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee passes resolution;
“*calling on the Belgian government to include the crime of ecocide in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and in the Belgian Penal Code"*.

October 2021 - SPAIN

A Proposal was registered at the Ecological Transition Committee of the Congress asking the government to support the creation of Ecocide crime. (P. 50)

September 2021 - UK

Lords debate of revised amendment to UK Environment Bill by Baroness Bennett. Environmental bill - Amendment 126: **‘ecocide’,** that Her Majesty’s Government support the negotiation of an amendment to the Statute of the International Criminal Court to establish a crime of ecocide.

September 2021 - CHILE

Subcommittee on the General Framework for Human, Environmental & Natural Rights of the Constitutional Convention discusses ecocide, resulting in a favourable vote for an annex (first draft HERE ) to be added to the new Chilean constitution.

August 2021 - FRANCE

Climate & Resilience Act passed, including up to 10 year sentences for "ecocide" offences (Art 231-3) and a requirement for gov't to report on progress towards international crime of ecocide (Art 296)

July 2021 - CHILE

Parliamentary resolution passed calling on the government to pursue proposing an ecocide amendment to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

June 2021 - SCOTLAND

Parliamentary motion calling on the government to welcome the work of the Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide and welcome the emergence of broad international consensus for the recognition of ecocide as a crime.

June 2021 - UK

Environment Bill - Two Amendments
287: To support the negotiation of an amendment to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to establish a crime of ecocide.
293D : To support a UK crime of ecocide using the full recently launched definition.

June 2021 - BANGLADESH

Committee on the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change recommends adding a provision to the Code of Criminal Procedure or drafting a new legal framework to codify ecocide.

June 2021 - EUROPEAN UNION

The EU’s newly adopted Biodiversity Strategy includes: *"Encourages the EU and the Member States to promote the recognition of ecocide as an international crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC)"*

May 2021 - EUROPEAN UNION

European Parliament’s Legal Affairs committee on the liability of companies for environmental damage urges the European Commission to “*study the relevance of ecocide to EU law and EU diplomacy*” (para 12).

May 2021 - EUROPEAN UNION

European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs resolves to encourage “the EU and its Member States to take a bold initiative ... to pave the way within the International Criminal Court (ICC) towards new negotiations between the parties with a view to recognising ‘ecocide’ as an international crime under the Rome Statute” (para 11).

February 2021 - LUXEMBOURG

Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the Environment jointly state that Luxembourg is "ready to support the recognition of ecocide in European and international law when the time comes".

January 2021 - CANADA

Official response to ecocide petition says Canada will *“follow closely the discussions on ecocide at the international level”*

January 2021 - EUROPEAN UNION

ENVI (environmental) committee calls on the Commission and member states to support recognition of ecocide in international law, and on the Commission to study its relevance for EU law

January 2021 - FINLAND

Former President of Finland (2000-2012), Tarja Halonen, publically expresses her support for an international crime of ecocide.

January 2021 - EUROPEAN UNION

Parliament votes to encourage member states to support recognition of ecocide as a crime at the ICC

December 2020 - SPAIN

Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee presents recommendation to Spanish government to examine possibility of legislating for ecocide nationally and internationally

December 2020 - NETHERLANDS

Party for the Animals delivers white paper on ecocide to parliament

December 2020 - BELGIUM

Official statement made to the ICC’s Assembly of States Parties by Deputy Prime Minister / Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmès makes Belgium first European nation to raise criminalising ecocide at the International Criminal Court.

December 2020 - FINLAND

Foreign minister Pekka Haavisto delivers special message at ICC side event of support for Vanuatu & the Maldives and interest in ecocide discussion and ecocide definition drafting

October 2020 - PORTUGAL

PAN party proposes legislating for ecocide in parliament, motion defeated but discussion is productive (see January 2021)

October 2020 - BELGIUM

Newly formed Belgian government pledges to *“take diplomatic action to halt ecocide crime”* as part of its government programme.

October 2020 - UK

Shadow Justice Minister David Lammy calls for ecocide to be criminalised in his TED Countdown talk

Sept/Oct 2020 - SWEDEN

Two motions on ecocide submitted to the Swedish parliament, one from the Left Party and one from the Greens/Social Democrats.

July 2020 - SWEDEN

MPs from both ruling parties (Green and Social Democrat) contact Stop Ecocide Foundation requesting a draft legal definition of ecocide / Rome Statute amendment

July 2020 - BELGIUM

Motion submitted to parliament by Green parties calling for ecocide legislation nationally and internationally.

June 2020 - FRANCE

President Macron promises to champion recognition of ecocide on the international stage and examine it for inclusion into French law, in response to proposals from Citizens Climate Assembly

March 2020 - SWEDEN

Workers movement urges Sweden to lead on proposing ecocide crime.

December 2019 - VANUATU and the MALDIVES

Call for serious consideration of ecocide crime at the International Criminal Court’s assembly.

November 2019 - VATICAN

Pope Francis calls for ecocide to be made a “*fifth category of crimes against peace*” at the International Criminal Court

Stop Ecocide International (SEI) was co-founded in 2017 by pioneering barrister Polly Higgins (1968-2019) and current CEO Jojo Mehta.

SEI is the driving force at the heart of the growing global movement to make ecocide an international crime. Our core work is supporting diplomatic progress and fostering global cross-sector support for this.

We collaborate with diplomats, politicians, lawyers, corporate leaders, NGOs, indigenous and faith groups, influencers, academic experts, grassroots campaigns and individuals to this end.

Positioned at the meeting point of legal developments, political traction and public narrative, we are uniquely placed to track, support and amplify the global conversation.

Polly Higgins (1968-2019)

Jojo Mehta

Our core international team is located in many parts of the world and managed from the UK by Stop Ecocide International Ltd.

Our charitable entity the Stop Ecocide Foundation is the main fundraising and commissioning vehicle for our work. The Foundation was the commissioning body for the Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide. It has ANBI status in the Netherlands, and 501(c)(3) status in the US via a fiscal sponsor.

Stop Ecocide International (SEI)

Debbie Buyaki
Co-Lead, Youth for Ecocide Law

Judy Foster
Head of Operations & International Outreach

Robin Gairdner
Head of Digital

James Gondi
Africa Director

Rodrigo Lledó
Americas Director

Anna Maddrick
Legal Analyst & Diplomatic Liaison

Jojo Mehta
Co-founder
& CEO

Sue Miller
Head of Global Networks

Maite Mompó
Spanish Language Director, Stop Ecocidio

Rob Monaghan
Head of Communications

Françoise Monkhouse
Executive Assistant & Events Coordinator

Oliver Müller
Finance Manager

Lucy Rees
National Campaigns Co-ordinator

Constanza Sofía Soler Balza
Americas Coordinator

Andy Squiff
Senior Designer

Valeria Vassallo
Digital Media

Léa Weimann
Co-Lead, Youth for Ecocide Law

Patricia Willocq
Francophone Countries Co-ordinator

Emma Pearce
Digital
Communications Manager

Branch Leads

AOTEAROA / NEW ZEALAND Brigid Inder
Co-lead Stop Ecocide Aotearoa / New Zealand

AOTEAROA / NEW ZEALAND Lyndon De Vantier
Co-lead Stop Ecocide Aotearoa / New Zealand

AUSTRALIA
Michelle Maloney
Co-lead Stop Ecocide Australia

AUSTRALIA
Rob White
Lead Stop Ecocide Australia

BELGIUM
Patrica Willocq
Founder & coordinator, Stop Ecocide Belgique

CANADA
Dona Grace-Campbell
National Director & co-founder, Stop Ecocide Canada

CYPRUS
Paraskevi Christodoulou
Founder, Stop Ecocide Cyprus

DENMARK
Lars Olesen
Co-lead, Stop Ecocide Denmark

DENMARK
Bart Bes
Co-lead, Stop Ecocide Denmark

DRC
Guillaume Kalonji
Stop Ecocide DRC

FINLAND
Raila Knuuttila
Co-Founder, Ecocide Law Finland

GERMANY
Wolf Hingst
Branch Lead, Stop Ecocide Deutschland

ICELAND
Helga Hvanndal
Co-founder Stöðvum vistmorð

ITALY
Dani Spizzichino
Founder & co-lead, Stop Ecocidio Italia

ITALY
Matthew Burnett-Stuart
Co-lead, Stop Ecocidio Italia

NORWAY
Nabil Ahmed
Co-lead Stop Ecocide Norway

PORTUGAL
Marlene Peres
Lead, Stop Ecocidio Portugal

SPAIN
Maite Mompó
Spanish Director, Stop Ecocidio

TUNISIA
Ahmed Elhadj
Representing Stop Ecocide in Tunisia

USA
Julia Jackson
Co-chair,
US Allies

ZAMBIA
Darwin Malwele
Co-lead Stop Ecocide Zambia

ZAMBIA
Precious Kalombwana
Co-lead, Stop Ecocide Zambia

Associate Group Leads

AFGHANISTAN
Abdulhadi Achakzai
Founder EPTDO

ARGENTINA
Miguel Ángel Asturias
Director AIDPAC, Abogado asesor Argentina Sin Ecocidio 

ARGENTINA
Romina Hakl
Argentina Sin Ecocidio 

AUSTRIA
Jennifer Laourou
Co-Founder Österreich gegen Ökozid

BANGLADESH
Kazi Amdadul Hoque
Senior Director Strategic Planning, Friendship

COLOMBIA
Luisa Fernanda Fierro Hernández
Colombia Sin Ecocidio 

GUATEMALA
Cristofer Lopez
Coordinator Guatemala sin Ecocidio.

COLOMBIA
Isis Álvarez Ortiz
Colombia Sin Ecocidio  

CROATIA
Dina Drajiga
Coordinator

GHANA
Prince Yeboah Okyere
End Ecocide Ghana

GHANA
Nana Yaw Osei-Dwarka
End Ecocide Ghana

LATVIA
Jānis Matulis
Latvian Green Movement

LIBERIA
Dr Justin Akankali
Founder End Ecocide Liberia

MALAWI
Aubrey Chidziwisano
Kuthetsa Kuononga Chilengedwe Malawi

MAURITIUS
Neha Sewsingh
Campaign Lead, End Ecocide Mauritius

MEXICO
Verónica Sacta
México Sin Ecocidio

NIGERIA
Gaius Okwezuzu
Co-Director, End Ecocide Nigeria

NIGERIA
Prof. Violet Aigbokhaevbo
Co-Director End Ecocide Nigeria

PERU
Erik Ortega
Co-founder and Coordinator, Perú Sin Ecocidio

SOUTH AFRICA
Mihle Gayiza
Secretary SAYCCC

SOUTH KOREA
Juneseo Hwang
Co-lead End Ecocide Korea

SRI LANKA
Shantha Dalugamage
Chairman, Stichting Mission Lanka

SWEDEN
Pia Björstrand
President,
End Ecocide Sweden

SWITZERLAND
Lillian Robb
Lead, End Ecocide Switzerland

TURKEY
İlksen Dinçer Baş
End Ecocide Türkiye

UGANDA
Kayinga Muddu Yisito
Founder COTFONE

UGANDA
Eriga Reagan Elijah
Uganda Diplomatic Liaison

UKRAINE
Olga Chevganiuk
Head of International Department, UAnimals

VENEZUELA
Víctor Rujano
Venezuela Sin Ecocidio

VENEZUELA
Daniel Delgado
Venezuela Sin Ecocidio 

Board of Stop Ecocide Foundation

Jojo Mehta
Chair of the Board

Richard Leachman
Treasurer of the Board & Strategy Consultant

Kathelijne Drenth
Secretary of the Board

Advisory Board

Patrick Alley
Co Founder, Global Witness

Nnimmo Bassey
Founder Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation

Mindahi Bastida
Indigenous Elder & spokesperson

Gail Bradbrook
Co-Founder, Extinction Rebellion

Valérie Cabanes
International law expert (human rights)

Sophie Dembinski
Head of policy & UK manager, Ecosia

Clare Dubois
Founder, TreeSisters

Baltasar Garzón
International criminal lawyer, former judge in Spain’s Audiencia Nacional

Ken Kitatani
Director General, Intl. Council on Environmental Economics & Development

Kurikindi
Amazonian Elder & Shaman

Kate Mackintosh
Executive Director, UCLA Law Promise Institute Europe

Andreas Magnusson
Climate activist and Organiser with Fridays For Future

Mike Mansfield QC, Human Rights barrister, Nexus Chambers

Chidi Oti Obihara
Green Finance Expert

Lisa Oldring
Legal Advisor, Human Rights & Doctoral Researcher, University of Amsterdam

Mikko Pyhälä
Ambassador Emeritus, Finland

Jonathon Porritt
Founder Director, Forum for the Future; Author & Sustainability Campaigner

Mike Robinson
Chief Executive, Royal Scottish Geographical Society

Richard Rogers
Partner, Global Diligence LLP; Founder, Climate Counsel

Ellen Cormack
Co-lead, Students Network

Pella Thiel
Founder, End Ecocide Sweden

Jan van de Venis
Human Rights & Rights of Nature Lawyer

Elly van Vliet
Honorary Consul of Vanuatu in the Netherlands

Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh
Associate Professor of Sustainability Law, University of Amsterdam

CHILE
Nanda Poblete
Chile Sin Ecocidio

Stop Ecocide International is the expert advisory organisation at the heart of the development of ecocide law.

We also track, report on and amplify this legal initiative, which is rapidly being taken up by lawmakers around the world.

We work toward recognition of the most severe, and widespread/long-term environmental harms as international crimes. Our charitable Foundation commissioned the drafting of the Independent Expert Panel definition of ecocide published in 2021.
We provide expert advice on ecocide law, its rationale, implications and progress at diplomatic and government level in multiple jurisdictions. We particularly focus on developments at the International Criminal Court through official side events and collaborations with interested states.

With 15 years of experience in this space, and with teams and associate groups in 50+ countries, we work with diplomats, politicians, lawyers, corporate leaders, NGOs, indigenous and faith groups, influencers, academics, grassroots campaigns and many more.
We connect and convene, organise and participate in relevant fora from UN COPs to industry conferences and civil society events, panels, podcasts, documentaries and conversations across multiple media. We build networks of special interest groups around ecocide law and provide resources for those wanting to engage.