International lawyers are now working together to define the new crime of “ecocide.” By criminalizing ecosystem destruction, they hope to both punish and deter those who wantonly harm the earth.

Swedish parliamentarians requested that the Stop Ecocide Foundation launch the project. It’s timed to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the start of the 1945 Nuremberg war crimes trials.

These famous trials punished Nazi leaders. Proponents of the new movement to define and stop ecocide want this environmental crime to be of similar stature to that of genocide and war crimes. Professor Philippe Sands of University College London and Florence Mumba, formerly a judge with the International Criminal Court (ICC), are chairing the panel coordinating the initiative.

Source: Inhabitat