Russia accuesd of ‘ecocide’ in Ukraine. But what does that mean?

The causes of the dam’s collapse have yet to be established but Ukrine has blamed Russia for one of the biggest ecological disasters Europe has seen in the last few decades. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the dam’s collapse as “an environmental bomb of mass destruction.” Calling it a war crime and possible criminal environmental destruction, or “ecocide”, Zelensky has estimated the cost of the dam’s collapse at 1.2 billion euros.

Several high profile figures outside Ukraine have also agreed with the Ukrainian president. The Swedish climate activist told reporters that “ecocide and environmental destruction is a form of warfare as Ukrainians by this point know all too well, and so does Russia.” 

“And that’s why they are deliberately targeting the environment and people’s livelihoods and homes and therefore also destroying lives…,” Thunberg added.

As the world continues to witness ecological disasters that span national borders, criminal accountability is rare, due lack of proper legislation and investigative process. But there has been a long-running fight to get large-scale environmental destruction recognized as an international crime, prosecutable at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

What is ecocide?

Until now, international criminal law has focused mainly on crimes committed directly against people, now experts feel that there is a gap when it comes to global legislation that would target the gravest harms to the environment.

In 2021, a expert panel drafted legislation that, if adopted, would add “ecocide” as the fifth crime the ICC can prosecute, alongside genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.

The panel defined ecocide as “unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.”

“When you put ecocide alongside genocide, it’s also about saying that actually, when we destroy ecosystems upon which we essentially depend for our existence, then that is just as bad, wrong, dangerous, serious as destroying people,” CNN reported quoting Jojo Mehta, co-founder and executive director of Stop Ecocide International as saying.

Mehta believes the legislation could help stop environmental crimes being perpetrated in the first place, forcing corporate executives and political leaders to consider the environmental damage their actions may cause.

What happens next?

Though, the legislation proposed by the expert panel is yet to be adopted by the more than 120 countries that are parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, but several countries, including Ukraine, have already adopted ecocide as a crime under domestic law.

Some experts believe adoption of the proposed legislation by the ICC is inevitable. “It is not a question of whether ecocide will become part of international criminal law, it’s only a question of when,” Philippe Sands, was part of the expert panel, said.

Though, there are sticking points.

The fact that ecocide would not just apply in conflicts could be an obstacle, reported CNN quoting Doug Weir of a UK-based charity Conflict and Environment Observatory as saying. “It also applies in peacetime, and it’s also potentially targeting corporations, like big oil companies, who may well be committing ecocide through their actions,” said Weir. There are a number of countries that may fear “how far it could go, or what it could constrain,” he added.

Many experts still believe that the recognition of ecocide as a separate crime at the ICC is needed to provide the tools to hold people accountable, and also to act as a deterrent, the report said.

Ukraine calculates the damage

In southern Ukraine, officials and non-profits are still trying to figure out the extent of the ecological catastrophe resulting from the dam collapse.

Once picturesque coastline of Odesa has turned into “a garbage dump and animal cemetery,” Ukrainian authorities have said. Nearly 3,000 people have been evacuated from the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.

There are also fears more environmental disasters could follow. The biggest nuclear plant in Europe, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine, is currently under Russian control and could cause an ecological catastrophe if it were damaged, Weir said.

(With inputes from agencies)

Updated: 03 Jul 2023, 03:04 AM IST