Visiting lawyer, activist and author Polly Higgins has caused quite a stir:
Eco-crimes are crimes against humanity – author
A visiting author is calling for crimes against nature, or “ecocide”, to be recognised as the fifth crime against humanity.
British environmental lawyer and writer Polly Higgins said current environmental laws are not fit for purpose and corporations which do serious, lasting damage to ecosystems should be prosecuted in the International Criminal Court (ICC), similarly to genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression. … If ecocide were adopted by the Hague, she proposed three categories for criminal charges.
Individuals, such as chief executives and energy ministers, could be charged with unintentional ecocide, ecoslaughter, or ecocide. Their sentences would be equivalent to death caused by dangerous driving, manslaughter and murder.
The definition of ecocide she proposed was the mass “damage, destruction or loss of ecosystems of a given territory, whether by human agency or by other causes, to such an extent that peaceful enjoyment by the inhabitants of that territory has been severely diminished”. …
Higgins suggested lignite mining in Southland and proposed deepwater drilling in the Great South Basin could qualify as New Zealand examples of ecocide because they would create enormous greenhouse gas emissions.
Her proposed legislation has gained significant interest since the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill last year, the United States’ worst environmental disaster. …
Her seminar cited United Nations research from 2008 which showed that the world’s top 3000 corporations caused $2.2 trillion of damage to the global environment each year. If serious environmental damaged was outlawed, she said, this money would flow into innovation. …
Asked after her speech if her proposals were too radical to gain traction, Higgins said: “Something is always radical when it is innovative. The origin of the word radical means to pull out from the roots. I’m not anti-profit, but this is what I’m suggesting to turn around this sinking ship very fast.” …
Higgins said the idea that non-human nature had rights was also already ingrained in Buddhist culture – 750 million people worldwide – and there was a strong appetite for it in indigenous cultures, including Maori.
“It is the developed world that has the disconnect,” she said.
Check out the resources on Polly’s web site.
If a corporation can have the legal rights of a person, I can’t see why the environment can’t have the legal protections of a person, can you?
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress