The crime of ecocide entered the criminal code in Belgium

The new criminal law, adopted by the Belgian House of Representatives in 2024, began to be implemented as of September.

In the new law, ecocide is defined as "the deliberate execution of an illegal act that causes serious, widespread and long-term damage to the environment through action or omission, knowing that it causes the damage in question."

Within the scope of the regulation, situations such as major oil spills, large-scale pollution of the seas and nuclear waste causing severe damage to the environment can be considered as ecocide crimes.

Natural persons who commit the crime of ecocide may be sentenced to imprisonment from 15 to 20 years, and legal entities may be sentenced to a fine of 1.2 million to 1.6 million euros.

In order for an act to be considered ecocide, the damage must be serious, large-scale and long-lasting, the act must be intentional and the perpetrator must know the damage he has caused.

In Belgium, the law in question can be applied to matters that fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government, such as the North Sea, radiation and radioactive waste management.

Thus, Belgium became the first European Union (EU) country to regulate ecocide as an independent and serious crime under this name in its criminal law.

On the other hand, the concept of ecocide, used as an abbreviation for ecological destruction, is defined by the European Law Institute as "the destruction and destruction of the environment, even at the cost of life".