It should come as no surprise that Polly Higgins presents in such an eloquent, passionate and engaging manner. Pursuing her instinct to stand up to injustice, Polly trained as a lawyer and practiced for some years “solving other people’s problems”. Then at the end of a long case she describes looking out the window at the Court of Appeal and thinking “The earth is being injured and harmed and nothing is being done about it” and “The earth is in need of legal representation”.
With this, Polly embarked on her quest to establish ecocide as the fifth UN international crime against peace, alongside genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression. In this context ecocide is defined as extensive damage to, destruction of or loss of ecosystems. The implications of this are profound as ecological damage would fall within the realm of criminal law as opposed to its current position in civil law and ‘soft’ law (i.e. international treaties). Such a change would allow a state to take legal action against a corporation or named individuals within it. However, it became clear that making this a reality would not be plain sailing.
As part of her initial research, Polly unearthed evidence that ecocide had first surfaced as a potential crime at the UN Stockholm Conference in 1972. So why did it not get any further? UN documentation revealed an intriguing story of lobbying behind the scenes at the Working Group for Crimes against the Environment in the 1980s and 1990s. The final vote was fifty countries in favour of the proposal with four objecting. As a result, all references to ecocide were removed. Yes, Polly tells us which four countries objected… but you’ll have to see the video for yourself to find out.
I felt privileged to be in the company of someone dedicated to such an inspiring and ambitious mission. Despite this presentation being delivered almost two years ago, Polly’s campaign is still going strong. In December 2018, she launched an independent Preliminary Examination into Climate Ecocide, saying “I look forward to publically reporting our findings. If the evidence shows that continuous industrial activity known to adversely affect climate breakdown has been permitted, then both the Dutch government Minister and Shell’s senior officers could be held responsible for pervasive impacts on the world’s population at large, including the systematic and widespread collapse of ecosystems”. It remains to be seen therefore whether this examination will serve to disrupt key industrial activities which have come to be seen as normative.
Polly’s talk can be viewed in the YouTube player below.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9ErjSd8xu0]
You can keep up to date with current developments at on the Eradicating Ecocide website
Dr John Maskall
Visiting Teaching Fellow in Environmental Science
University of Plymouth