Italian people are overwhelmingly in favour of making ‘ecocide’ – destroying, polluting or damaging the natural living world on a large scale – a crime, according to the results of a new study of 18 G20 countries released on Friday.
The Global Commons Survey 2024, conducted by Ipsos UK and commissioned by Earth4All and the Global Commons Alliance (GCA), found that 67% of the Italian public support criminalizing actions approved or permitted by leaders of larger businesses or senior government officials that cause widespread, long-term or irreversible environmental damage.
Ecocide, which literally means to “kill one’s home”, is not among the crimes that can be prosecuted at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Corporations behind episodes of severe environmental harm may sometimes be sued, and occasionally fined, but these are monetary penalties they can budget for.
So there is no real disincentive for executives not to commit ecocide, as there is no risk of arrest or jail time for the executive
s to blame.
However, a campaign to have ecocide join this exclusive club of ‘crimes against peace’ that the International Criminal Court can punish is gathering steam and there has been some progress at national level too.
Ecocide was recognized as a federal crime in Belgium earlier this year and related laws have also been passed in Chile and France.
The Global Commons Survey said that 88% of people in Italy are extremely, very or somewhat worried about the state of nature today and 86% about the state in which we will leave nature for future generations, a level that was similar to the G20 average.
Some 62% agree that, because of human activities, the Earth is close to environmental ‘tipping points’, where climate or nature, such as rainforests or glaciers, may change suddenly or be more difficult to stabilize in the future.
This is below the G20 average of 69%.
It said 44% of Italians feel very exposed or somewhat exposed to environmental or climate risks, with younger age groups more likely to feel
exposed (54% of 18-24 year olds, 55% of 25-34 year olds).
At 72%, the level of support for criminalizing ecocide was slightly higher across the G20 countries surveyed than in Italy.
“The majority support (72%) for criminalizing actions which allow serious damage to the climate surprised us,” said Owen Gaffney, co-lead of the Earth4All initiative.
“The majority of people want to protect the global commons; 71% believe the world needs to take action immediately.
“Our survey demonstrates that people across the world’s largest economies are acutely aware of the urgent need to safeguard our planet for future generations.”
Source: Ansa News Agency