By Prof Aman A Cheema and Ankur Taya
The earth is not dying, it is being killed, and those who are killing it have names and addresses
—Utah Phillips, American labour organiser and folk singer
Agent Orange was a mixture of herbicides that the US military sprayed on Vietnam from 1962 to 1971 during the Vietnam War. It served the dual purpose of defoliating forest areas that might conceal Vietnam forces and destroying crops that might feed the enemy. Agent Orange contained dioxins which are toxic even in minute quantities. It had disastrous health consequences for the population such as cancer and serious birth defects, which are still present. It was at this time that the crime of ecocide came to be recognised.
Richard A Falk, an American professor emeritus in Princeton University, in his work Draft Convention Against Ecocide, was the first one to define ecocide. His definition included the use of weapons of mass destruction, chemicals for military purposes, bombs and artillery in such quantity that would impair the quality of soil, use of bulldozing equipment for military purposes and so forth. It was the first time an attempt was made to classify ecocide as a global crime.
Falk’s definition was a reaction to the shameful act of the US army. Within the same time frame, another incident occurred during the Indo-China war where the environment was selected as a military target for comprehensive and systematic destruction. The war displaced many indigenous tribes due to the excessive use of mining and bombing, destroying the environment on a very large scale.
History is evident to the fact that environmental warfare had been used to defeat enemies by denying them access to cover, food and other necessities of life in the countryside. During the Malayan Emergency in the 1950s, to deny the insurgents any weapons they could use against the British Army, the latter spread herbicides and defoliants throughout the Malaysian countryside. These contained Trioxone, which is a part of Agent Orange. The local population suffered immensely. Not only was the forest life affected, but the human population living around the jungle faced chronic health issues such as cancer, brain and nervous system disorder, birth defects, infertility and other reproductive problems, damage to body organs and the like. Direct contact with the harmful chemicals in the herbicide led to loss of vision.
The Chernobyl disaster is another example of ecocide where the explosion of a nuclear reactor released a large amount of radioactive material in the atmosphere. Technicians in the nuclear plant tried a poorly planned experiment, which led to the accident. The end result was a chain reaction that set off a number of explosions and a sizable fireball that blew the reactor’s heavy steel lid off. Air currents carried the gas that the fireball released over great distances. The residents of Pripyat, Ukraine, who lived near the plant went about their daily activities in the early morning hours unaware of what had just occurred. However, within a few hours of the explosion, thousands of people felt unwell. Later, they reported severe headaches and metallic taste in their mouth, along with uncontrollable fits of coughing and vomiting. Initially, the authorities tried to hide the explosion, leading to a delay in the evacuation process of more than 36 hours after the incident.
It was the Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant in Sweden that acknowledged the effect of the Chernobyl disaster, which was located more than 1,000 km away. Officials there declared to the world that a nuclear reactor administered by the Soviet Union had exploded and caused serious degradation of the environment in the area.
A similar incident was reported in Bhopal in 1984. The accident at the Union Carbide pesticide plant released 30 tons of highly toxic methyl isocynate as well as other poisonous gases. These deadly gases lingered close to the ground, burning victims’ throats and eyes and resulting in their deaths. As the pesticide plant was surrounded by shanty towns, more than six lakh people were exposed to the deadly gas cloud that night. Within hours, there were carcasses of humans and animals all over. Though monetary compensation was paid to the victims, the heavy gas also made the water poisonous, killing aquatic life. Many crops were also deemed unsafe for human consumption, and the entire region went into a crisis due to food shortage. Even worse, the site was never properly cleaned by either Union Carbide or the Indian government.
Coming to present times, the one and a half year long Russia-Ukraine war has also degraded the ecosystem. The war has led to serious and long-term environmental damage and the Ukrainian government, international observers and journalists are describing it as ecocide. The humongous explosions polluted air, water and soil by emitting lead, mercury and depleted uranium, just to mention a few toxic materials. Explosives like RDX can seriously harm health. Even buildings that are demolished during war emit cancer-causing dust for years. Already, more than four million people in Russia-Ukraine lack access to clean drinking water due to the destruction of civil infrastructure. Even the soil has turned unsuitable for farming and this will continue for years.
Nuclear accidents are also more likely during these types of wars as the fighting near nuclear plants and power outages could lead to a catastrophe similar to the one that occurred at Chernobyl. Many inter-governmental projects for environmental conservation that had been ongoing for decades stand destroyed due to this war.
These ecocide incidents are just the tip of the iceberg. There have been various instances where the ecosystem has been damaged brutally. These include the Amazon rainforest deforestation, deepwater horizon oil spill, Aral Sea desiccation, Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching, and industrial pollution in developing nations.
It is high time that the safety measures are taken to save the planet. The growing human populace, constantly expanding monetary development or per capita fortune and the application of asset exhausting and polluting technology are all contributing towards ecocide.
This has led thinkers, activists and lawyers to propose that ecocide be considered a heinous crime. Though 11 countries have declared ecocide as a crime and more than 25 countries have lined up to criminalise it, international law has not added it in the list of international criminal law.
Polly Higgins, the famous British lawyer, in 2010 proposed to the United Nations Law Commission to include ecocide as fifth crime against peace in the Rome Statute. However, the plea fell on deaf ears. The time is ripe to consider ecocide equivalent to genocide and include it as a fifth international crime against peace before it is too late. We have to seek inspiration and motivation from the likes of Raphael Lemkin who developed the concept of genocide and made it an international crime against humanity.
—Prof Aman A Cheema is Director, Faculty of Law, Panjab University Regional Centre, Ludhiana; Ankur Taya is a Ph.D. Research Scholar, Department of Law, Panjab University, Chandigarh