Scoping a Domestic Legal Framework for Ecocide in Scotland

Abstract

This report provides an overview of existing state practice regarding the criminalisation of ecocide. It outlines three main approaches discernible in state practice: framing ecocide as an atrocity crime; adopting the language ofthe Stop Ecocide Foundation’s Independent Expert Panel’s 2021 ecocide proposal; and criminalising severe environmental destruction without evoking the language of ecocide. It finds that while accountability for ecocide has been elusive, there is reason to believe that we may see more attempts to investigate and prosecute ecocide in future.