Oldal 30 [30]
ECOCIDE
is whether ecocide could provide the solution to the problems mentioned
above and fill the existing legislative gaps in responsibility regimes.
It is important to discuss the issue of ecocide because the need for
further legislation to protect the environment is fundamentally questionable.
As Minkova highlighted in a recent publication, “the assumption that the
progressive institutionalization of international legal rules would offer greater
protection to nature” is doubtful.” The greatest challenge from the perspective
of international environmental law lies precisely in the specificity of legal
sources. Most multilateral environmental law conventions do not establish
a strict liability regime, which means that states in breach of their
obligations can be held accountable under the general regime of state
responsibility for internationally wrongful acts under international law.”
Furthermore, the often too general, framework-like rules of environmental
conventions mean that there is no question of specifically enforceable
obligations.
The primary goal of this book is to provide an insight into the history,
definition and future of ecocide, placing it within the “corpus” of public
international law. The scope aligned with the embeddedness of ecocide,
including all relevant aspects, with particular regard to international
humanitarian law, human rights law, and international criminal law. It also
collects the relevant definitions of ecocide in law and literature. As I have
already emphasised, environmental protection has a strong moral and
ethical basis, and every one of us is responsible for preserving and protecting
our created world. With this book, I wanted to overstep the traditional
boundaries of legal analysis and include eco-ethical and religious
considerations without compromising the academic value of the content.
It is crucial to understand how penalising severe environmental
degradation can enhance sustainable livelihoods and human settlements.
Over the last hundred years of environmental regulation, we have seen a
move away from purely anthropocentric, human-centred norms towards
ecocentric, nature-centred regulation. Ecocentrism is considered the most
comprehensive approach, focusing on the environment as a whole, not
just on the value of all living things (biocentrism) or animals (zoocentrism).**
# Minkova, Liana Georgieva: Ecocide, Sustainable Development and Critical Environmen¬
tal Law Insights. Journal of International Criminal Justice, Vol. 22. Issue 1. March 2024,
p. 85. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jicj/mqae006.
8 See Voigt, Christina: International Environmental Responsibility and Liability. In:
Rajamani L. — Peel J. (Eds.): The Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law.
2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2021. pp. 1003-1021.
“4 Washington, W. - Taylor, B. - Kopnina, H. N. - Cryer, P. - Piccolo, J.J.: Why ecocentrism
is the key pathway to sustainability. Ecological Citizen, Vol. 1. No. 1, 2021, p. 35.
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