Bronwyn Lay et al., Timely and Necessary: Ecocide Law as Urgent and Emerging, J. Juris. 431–52 (2015)

This paper explores an international law of ecocide, “the mass damage and destruction of the environment resulting from human action,” arguing that it is a legal imperative. Upon tracing ecocide’s definitional challenge, the authors present environmental law, human rights law, and torts law as developing bodies of law that support ecocide as an international crime against peace “by building upon doctrines that link humanity with the environment as trustees, stewards and equally, potential violators of the duty to protect.” The authors conclude that while “[t]he viability of ecocide being inserted into the Rome Statute, or alternatively being the impetus for an alternative forum such as an International Environment Court, is universally considered difficult” at the time of writing, “ecocide law is a legal necessity that surpasses considerations of political lethargy.”