Large-scale destruction of ecosystems through resource extraction, deforestation, and pollution rarely leads to accountability. Such harm is often enabled through different forms of political violence, including displacement, intimidation, lethal violence, and other forms of coercion. In this sense, ecocide is not merely an environmental harm but a systemic practice that destroys the ecological conditions of collective survival, paralleling the dynamics of genocide. As more states debate criminalizing ecocide, the central political question is how national and international institutions should respond to environmental destruction that is systemic and intertwined with political violence.
In the new TraCe Policy Brief, Verena Lasso Mena and Markus Lederer examine how ecocide emerged as a political and legal idea, and why it matters for policymakers today.
The Policy Brief is available for download (PDF).