Conceptualizing Ecocide: Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Abstract

The changing ecological conditions in our globalized world are confronting human societies with new challenges. The collapse of the pre-industrial institutions and the development of new technologies have drastically changed the world’s ecosystems; the twentieth and twenty-first centuries are characterized as a period in which the Earth and its atmosphere experience major consequences due to the impact of human activities (Crutzen, 2002; Hamilton, 2013; Steffen et al., 2007). In the context of large-scale pollution, global deforestation, the disappearance of species, and climate change, discussions about criminalizing ecocide are on the international agenda, not only to protect the environment, but also to preserve the commons of nature, essential for the life conditions on Earth (Hardin, 1968; South, 2010).