About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

34 Nat. Resources J. 933 (1994)
Beyond Restoration - The Case of Ecocide

handle is hein.journals/narj34 and id is 957 raw text is: LUDWIK A. TECLAFF Beyond Restoration-The Case of Ecocide ABSTRACT The term ecocide was first coined to categorize massive destruction of the environment in war. If the sheer scale of the harm done be the distinguishing feature of ecocide, it is contended that the term may justifiably be applied to peacetime activities that destroy or damage ecosystems on a massive scale. The author shows that, although ecocide has a long history, it had little impact on international law until the advent of catastrophic oil spills at sea, nuclear accidents, long-range air pollution, and the threat of global warming. Then the international community began to demonstrate a growing concern, but the measures undertaken in response may already be too little and too late. The concluding part of the article deals with the more radical legal remedies (such as treating ecocide as an international crime) that may be needed to avert the threat of ecocide. INTRODUCTION The term ecocide was first coined some two decades ago to categorize massive destruction of the environment in war and, specifi- cally, the use of defoliants in southeast Asia.1 The word may be new, but the tactics are as old as history. They have been employed by defenders to deny attackers food, water or shelter, or by attackers to induce defenders to surrender, or as a counter-insurgency measure, to quell stubborn rebellion.2 What characterizes such activities in the modern * Ludwik A. Teclaff is Professor of Law Emeritus at Fordhan University School of Law. 1. Random House Dictionary of the English Language 618 (2d ed. 1987) (gives the origin of the term as American). See Falk, Environmental Warfare and Ecocide: Facts, Appraisal and Proposals, 9 Revue beige de Droit International 1 (1973); Gormley, Human Rights and Environment: The Need for International Cooperation 14-15 (1976); Ehrlich et al., Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment 653 (1977); Nietschmann, Battlefields of Ashes and Mud, Natural History, Nov. 1990, at 35. 2. Nietschmann points out that vegetation destruction is a tactic that has been used by governments around the world to deal with insurgency, for excample, by Ethiopian occupation forces in Tigray and Eritrea; by both Myanmar (Burma) troops and resistance forces in the Shan and Karen forests; and by Bangladesh against insurgents in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Nietschmann, supra note 1, at 36. As for scorched-earth tactics, Herodotus, in 447 B.C. described how the Scythians, retreating before the Persian army under Darius, destroyed all that grew on the ground. Herodotus, History 240 (Komroff ed.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most