Pacific Island leaders urge rich countries to do more to help control climate change
FOX NewsAPR 20 2023
On Monday, Vanuatu, Fiji, and Samoa presented a court proposal to the International Criminal Court (ICC), requesting the classification of environmental destruction, or "ecocide," as a crime on par with war crimes and genocide.
According to the proposal, ecocide is defined in the proposal 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."
Vanuatu was reportedly the first nation to request the ICC ecocide designation in 2019. According to the country's special envoy for climate change, Ralp Regenvanu, legal recognition of ecocide is an important step towards justice and deterring further environmental destruction.
Ecocide, the destruction of nature, should be a global crime. An ICC designation would enable the Paris Agreement to force nations to reduce emissions. A global climate emergency would require nations to modify laws — existing regulations won't save the planet. For Pacific Island nations like Fiji, Vanuatu, and Samoa ecocide is an ever-present and existential threat — countries on the front lines of environmental crisis especially deserve a legal recourse.
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