2025/04/27 by Robert Knox, David Whyte · 1 voice · 14 citations
Environmental Science · Social Sciences · #Criminology #International Law and Human Rights #Law #Law and economics #Law in Society and Culture #Political science #Sociology #Wildlife Conservation and Criminology Analyses
paper · doi:10.1080/09644016.2025.2492443
published in Environmental Politics, 1-20 (Taylor & Francis)
openalex publication_date 2025/04/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/02
Calls to criminalise ‘ecocide’ are, it seems, everywhere. What unites these calls is both a sense of urgency and a need for international action. The need for a quick and plausible fix makes international law assume a very specific allure to those who seek to combat. We argue that the proposed crime of ecocide is unable to tackle the social reality of ecocide and may indeed compromise further our ability to do so. At the same time, it argues that it is neither desirable nor possible for us to simply ‘abandon’ the law; until the system of production is transformed, environmental struggles will necessarily be forced to reckon with law and to demand regulatory outcomes.