The talk of the town – ecocide law!

At the Stockholm+50 Conference, ecocide law was the talk of the town. It heads the Youth Task Force Policy Paper, Faith leaders demanded that their stand for ecocide law go on record, the topic kept cropping up in side events, more than 1000 conference participants picked up ecocide law badges.
Left to right: Pella Thiel, Nina Macpherson, Andreas Follér, Ralph Chami.

Left to right: Pella Thiel, Nina Macpherson, Andreas Follér, Ralph Chami.

At an event about ecocide law on May 31st, Nina Macpherson stressed the importance of  a level playing-field and preventative law; Andreas Follér of Scania stressed the benefits of clear-cut rules and that this is a missing piece of law;  Ralph Chami, Vice President of IMF showed how ecocide law will benefit redirecting financial flows.

In the run-up to the conference, 26 member organisations of Concord Sweden included ecocide law in their list of actions. Member organisations include the Swedish Church, WWF, Olof Palme International Center and the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation.

In the leadership dialogues ahead of the conference, ecocide was top of the key common recommendations.

The first point in UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen’s summing up of the Stockholm conference was that environmental destruction should be a crime. She has since tweeted about ecocide.

Ecocide will be discussed on the Nordic level, states Paula Lehtomäki, Secretary-General of the Nordic Ministers’ Council.

Media coverage has been extensive. Here is a small selection of media attention in Sweden alone.

DN: Allt fler länder stödjer lag mot miljömord – men inte Sverige
SvD: Skydda världens ekosystem i folkrätten
SR Ekot: Ökat stöd för att miljöförstörelse ska bli internationellt brott
SR Morgonpasset: “Ekocid är word of the day” – 5 minuter folkbildning på bästa sändningstid
DN: Många chefer skulle kunna dömas för ekocid
Dagen: Biskop om klimatmötet i Stockholm: det är bråttom nu
Aftonbladet: De vill likställa miljöbovar med krigsförbrytare

Momentum for this necessary law, the foundation for sustainable development, is building.

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