A New International Crime of Ecocide?

• Autore: Valeria Luz Puleo
• Carica: MSc Candidate in International Relations University of Bologna
• Pagine: 163-170

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hps://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2531‐6133/13921

A New Internaonal Crime of Ecocide?

As part of an internship in the discipline of international criminal law, I came into

contact with a topic of debate that seems to be of interest to many actors in academic

circles - and beyond. The new international crime of ecocide. In this regard, in early

2021, I had the opportunity to interview two scholars immersed in the topic, Professor

Emanuela Fronza, from the Department of Legal Sciences of the University of Bologna

and Professor Adán Nieto Martin from the University of Castilla-La Mancha. They kindly

answered my questions about the international crime of ecocide.

PROFESSOR FRONZA

1. The introducon of a new crime of ecocide is increasingly at the center

of debate. Can you tell us more about this controversial topic? Climate urgency,

climate crisis, increases in average global temperatures, CO2 and greenhouse gas

emissions, depletion of ecological resources, and extension of urbanization to the

detriment of wild areas. The expressions of ecological concerns continue to multiply, but

they are all based on what science tells us about the state of the planet: we must

intervene immediately. If not, the present dangers will damage our future irreversibly.

They will make the Earth uninhabitable for human beings and other forms of life. It is

not a question of if, but of when it will occur, if we do not changethe way these crises are

managed. That a clear emergency exists, cannot be disputed. What is unresolved and

extremely complex, however, is the debate about the measures to be taken and their

effectiveness.

Faced with this urgency, made more evident by the global pandemic, initiatives

about what measures ought to be taken are burgeoning. Among them is the proposal for

a new international crime of ecocide.

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