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
executives 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."
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