Ecocide Law Advisory is a partnership between The UCLA Law Promise Institute Europe and Climate Counsel to provide expert legal advice and training on the drafting and implementation of ecocide laws. To date, advice has been provided to national law makers in Belgium, Brazil, Iceland, The Netherlands, Scotland, Ukraine and the UK, as well as to members of the EU Parliament on the revision of the EU Environmental Crimes Directive.
Ecocide Law Advisory is currently working on a Manual on Prosecuting International Environmental Crimes.
Practitioners are frequently confronted with multiple harmful or destructive acts affecting the natural environment. Individually or collectively, these acts may constitute one or more international crimes. Determining how such complex factual patterns correspond to the applicable legal framework can be challenging.
The Manual on Prosecuting International Environmental Crimes provides national and
international investigators and civil society actors with a succinct, self-contained, and practical resource for identifying, framing, and investigating cases of international crimes that harm or unlawfully appropriate parts of the natural environment (‘international environmental crimes’).
The Manual relies heavily on the lessons learned from the groundbreaking work done by Ukrainian practitioners and international experts from 2022 onwards in Ukraine. It is drafted by the key actors engaged in that work. The Manual will be released later in 2026.
-
We provide legal and policy advice to legislators seeking to introduce or strengthen ecocide legislation. Our support includes legislative analysis, comparative research, drafting assistance, and guidance on aligning national laws with international legal developments and best practices. We have supported parliamentarians in the European Parliament, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom, Scotland and Brazil.
-
We support prosecution authorities in understanding the legal and evidentiary challenges involved in investigating suspected ecocide. This includes guidance on applicable legal frameworks, environmental evidence, attribution of responsibility, and cooperation with scientific experts.
-
We assist civil society organizations in monitoring, assessing, and promoting the effective implementation of ecocide laws. Our support includes legal analysis, capacity building, and guidance on accountability mechanisms, compliance monitoring, and public engagement.
-
We advise businesses and other corporate actors on understanding and complying with emerging ecocide laws and standards. This includes identifying legal risks, strengthening environmental due diligence processes, and developing practices that help prevent environmental harm.
-
We provide legal and strategic advice to governments, international organizations, civil society groups, and other stakeholders engaged in efforts to recognize ecocide as an international crime under the Rome Statute. Our support includes legal analysis, advocacy strategies, and guidance on international processes.
-
We support international and regional human rights bodies, special procedures, treaty bodies, and related mechanisms in examining the links between severe environmental harm, human rights, and international criminal accountability. Our expertise includes legal analysis, research support, and contributions to reports, recommendations, and policy development.
Ecocide Law Advisory provides tailored advice, support and training to >>>
We also develop scholarship and reflection on the crime of ecocide, including through the comprehensive resource hub www.ecocidelaw.com
-
Manual on the National Criminalisation of Ecocide & Factsheet
The manual assists lawmakers in implementing the new EU Environmental Crime Directive (ECD). The Directive entered into force in May 2024 and must be implemented by Member States by May 2026. Ecocide Law Advisory partnered with the Working Group on National Criminalization of Ecocide to develop the manual.
-
EU Environmental Crime Directive
The new Environmental Crime Directive was adopted on 11 April 2024 and entered into force on 20 May 2024.
Ecocide Law Advisory was instrumental in advising Green Party Members of the European Parliament on the development of the new Directive.
-
Independent Expert Panel on the Legal Definition of Ecocide
Kate Mackintosh and Richard J Rogers were deputy Co-Chairs of the Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide, which issued its consensus definition in June 2021. The definition has been formally proposed as an amendment to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court by Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa.
-
Brazil
Paolo Busse and Richard J Rogers were instrumental in drafting and advocating for the historic Ecocide Bill No 2933/2023 criminalize the most serious cases of illegal or wanton destruction of the environment, known as “ecocide”.
The bill has been approved by the Environment and Sustainable Development Committee of the Deputies Chamber of the Brazilian Congress on November 8th 2023.
-
Netherlands
In November 2023, departing Member of Parliament Lammert van Raan of the Party for the Animals submitted an Ecocide Criminalization Act to the Dutch House of Representatives and the Council of State. Ecocide Law Advisory provided technical expertise.
-
Scotland
The Ecocide Prevention Bill, introduced by Monica Lennon (MSP) has been published in the Scottish Parliament on the 29th of May 2025. The Bill aims to tackle major environmental damage, including deforestation, pollution, and habitat destruction, with a particular focus on holding corporations accountable for their actions.
Visit ecocidelaw.com for a comprehensive resource hub providing a regularly updated collection of material relating to ecocide law, including an annotated bibliography, definitions, history, existing and proposed laws, and media coverage.
Ecocide means unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.
Meet the Team
-
Richard J. Rogers
Executive Director, Climate Counsel
-
Kate Mackintosh
Executive Director, The UCLA School of Law Promise Institute Europe
-
Paolo Busse
Criminal, Environmental and Human Rights Lawyer
-
Darryl Robinson
Professor, Queen's University Faculty of Law
-
Xuchen Zhang
Legal Associate, The UCLA School of Law Promise Institute Europe
-
Sjoerd Lopik
Climate and Sustainability Law Partner, De Roos Advocaten
-
Lisa Oldring
Senior Fellow, The UCLA School of Law Promise Institute Europe
-
Vincent Delbos
Honorary Judge (Inspector General of Justice) France, lecturer in environmental law, Sciences Po Paris and Paris Bar Training School
