The European Crime Directive, 2008 directive on the protection of the environment through criminal law is currently being revised.
This presents an opportunity to add ecocide as a new criminal offense. This would create an enforceable deterrent to the most severe and either widespread or long-term harms to nature.
Significant moment for the campaign!
On the 16th November 2023 the European Union added a sanction for crimes comparable to ecocide into the EU Environmental Crime Directive:
This is the result of over 10 years of campaigning by a huge number of people from different organisations and institutions and is an incredible step forward towards an international crime of ecocide.