'Ecocide should be recognised as a violation of international law'

“Russia’s war against Ukraine not only causes enormous human suffering, but also has brutal environmental consequences. The flooding after the blasting of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant is the worst example so far,” Rinata Kazak, Björn-Ola Linnér and Henrik Carlsen from Mistra Geopolitics, write in the Swedish newspaper DN Debatt.

“Ecocide – a large-scale, deliberate environmental destruction – must be recognised as a violation of international law,” Rinata Kazak, Professor Björn-Ola Linnér and Henrik Carlsen from Linköping University, SEI and Mistra Geopolitics write in DN Debatt.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources publishes weekly overviews of the environmental damage caused by the war. The ministry claims it has evidence of more than 2 000 environmental offences, with damages estimated to over €50 billion so far. In March, the World Bank estimated the total cost of rebuilding Ukraine at $411 billion, equivalent to 2.6 times the country’s GDP in 2022.

dan-meyers-w6X7XaolqA0-unsplash — Aerial photo of a dam. Photo: Dan Meyers / Unsplash.

According to Professor Björn-Ola Linnér, Programme Director of Mistra Geopolitics at Linköping University; Henrik Carlsen, Deputy Programme Director of Mistra Geopolitics at SEI; and Rinata Kazak, Visiting Researcher at Linköping University for Mistra Geopolitics, the Swedish government should:

Push for the inclusion of ecocide as a crime against humanity in international law.
Coordinate actions to support post-war green transformation across Ukraine.
Initiate a donor conference for the environmental restoration of post-war Ukraine.

Swedish green diplomacy should also play a leading role in supporting Ukraine so that reconstruction becomes an opportunity for sustainable social transformation and environmentally conscious peacemaking.

Op-ed article in Dagens Nyheter (Swedish)

Russian translation of the op-ed

Ukranian translation of the op-ed

Featured Mistra Geopolitics’ experts

Linköping University
Professor Björn-Ola Linnér

Dr. Henrik Carlsen. — SEI
Henrik Carlsen

Linköping University

Professor Björn-Ola Linnér

Björn-Ola Linnér is the Deputy Programme Director of Mistra Geopolitics and Professor at the Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research at Linköping University. He analyses how the political processes and actors affect conditions for social changes towards sustainable development in different parts of the world. He has a long experience in research dialogues with various societal actors, such as the climate convention’s secretariat, governments, businesses and environmental organizations.

SEI

Henrik Carlsen

Henrik Carlsen is a Senior Research Fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and Programme Director of Mistra Geopolitics. Currently Dr. Henrik Carlsen is leading the Mistra Geopolitics research theme Foresight Capabilities and Emerging Technologies. He is an expert on decision making under uncertainty, with an emphasis on climate change adaptation. His research interests are based on the intersection between science and policy on long-term challenges to society.

Telephone:+46702677410

Rinata Kazak

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This new text is a summary of the original op-ed published by Dagens Nyheter, summarized by Ylva Rylander, Press contact for Mistra Geopolitics at SEI.