Just when you thought you've heard it all from environmentalists, along comes 'ecocide'. 'This is Ecocide' is a new campaign launched by environmentalists in an attempt to make certain actions punishable through prosecution. The main drive of the campaign is the push and implementation of 'ecocide' as the 5^th international Crime Against Peace, alongside Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, War Crimes and Crimes of Aggression. According to the Web site: Ecocide is the extensive destruction, damage to or loss of ecosystem(s) 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. It can be the outcome of external factors, such as flooding or an earthquake, the result of human intervention, such as mining, logging, or pollution dumping. It can be 'trans-boundary', and 'multi-jurisdictional'. Perhaps the most outlandish comparison of the group is stating that 'ecocide' is even remotely on the same level of genocide during World War II, as they did in this video:

Just in case you were wondering what is categorized as a 'Crimes of Ecocide”, they are the following: ecocide arises out of human intervention. Heavy extraction, toxic dumping, release of pollutants can all result in ecocide. ecocide will stop damaging and destructive activity. Where voluntary corporate governance, market trading and offset mechanisms have have failed, ecocide will create specific legally binding responsibilities.  ecocide is a crime of consequence e.g where an energy company procures its energy by extracting fossil fuel, as opposed to creation from renewable energy, that would result in ecocide. ecocide is not a crime of intent. The intention is rarely to render damage on a given territory, more often it is an outcome of another primary (economic or war) activity. ecocide creates a pre-emptive obligation. A duty of reasonable care is put in place, ensuring that individual and collective (corporate, governmental and armies) responsibility is taken by those who have contractual rights over a given territory before damage or destruction of a given territory takes place.. ecocide is preventative. It is a crime focused on preventing harm, rather than focusing on blame.  This entails the enforcement of standards of conduct and care. ecocide protects public interests. by creating a pre-emptive obligation not to damage, destroy or create loss of ecosystems, emphasis shifts from from the protection of individual (and corporate) interests to the protection of public and societal interests. ecocide is a tool to enforce restorative justice. Instead of paying fines, focus will be on restoration of damage caused by the illegal activity.  Imposing extensive restoration provisions ensures the duty of care is not evaded by those who have derogated their responsibilities. ecocide creates responsibilities at international and national level.  Primary responsibility to prevent, investigate and punish the crime of ecocide is first and foremost with the home country. Where a crime of ecocide has taken place on a given territory, and the home country is unwilling or unable to take action, then the crime will come under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.  By implementing ecocide as a crime at international level, the pressure is immediately created for the crime to be speedily implemented at national level. To read more on 'ecocide', check out this piece in Weekly Standard.