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27 Trinity C.L. Rev. 35 (2024)
The Criminalisation of Environmental Damage in International Law through the Introduction of Ecocide

handle is hein.journals/trinclr27 and id is 44 raw text is: THE CRIMINALISATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE IN INTERNATIONAL LAW THROUGH THE INTRODUCTION OF ECOCIDE BY CHRIS MCCAY* Introduction The quest for ecological justice in international law has sought to set standards which distinguish between lawful and unlawful conduct.1 Despite this, the international legal sphere has not come to accept ecological damage as a crime in the same way as it has recognised crimes such as genocide. However, the potential introduction of the offence of ecocide presents itself as an outlier in this regard. The crime of ecocide has proven to be a popular, yet heavily contentious topic. Ecocide, for some, represents a valiant effort to deter individuals from committing acts of extreme environmental damage. For others, it is an unnecessary expansion of international criminal law. Such discussions have increased following the recent proposal for a definition of ecocide put forward by the Independent Expert Panel on Ecocide (IEP). While discussions regarding the introduction of an international crime targeting environmental damage are not novel, ecocide provides an ideal opportunity to introduce a crime that not only serves this purpose but is actually implementable.2 Ultimately, * Christopher McCay has recently graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a degree in Law and French. He is a current trainee at the Court of Justice of the European Union and has a keen interest in Environmental Law and Policy. The author would like to thank the Editorial Board for all their feedback and help with this article. Specific thanks go to Dr Christiane Ahlborn and Eoin Jackson for their guidance in the development of this paper. 1 Douglas Fischer, Legal Reasoning in Environmental Law (1st edn, Edward Elgar Publishing Limited 2013) 430. 2 Michael Faure and Goran Skogh, The Economic Analysis of Environmental Policy and Law (1st edn, Edward Elgar 2003) 287. © 2024 Chris McCay and Dublin University Law Society

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