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Seven years ago, I was standing
in the Royal Courts of Justice in London -

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I'm a barrister -

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and it was the very last day
of a long running case

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where I had been representing a man

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who had been very badly injured
and harmed in the workplace.

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I was his lawyer,

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and I was giving voice
on his behalf in court.

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There was a moment of silence

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while we waited for the judges
to come into the room,

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and at that moment,
I looked out of the window,

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and I got thinking.

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I looked out and I thought,

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you know, the Earth has also
been badly injured and harmed,

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and something needs to be done about that.

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My next thought actually changed my life.

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I thought, 'The Earth
is in need of a good lawyer.'

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(Laughter)

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Now, that was a thought
that didn't leave me alone.

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I went away and I thought about it,

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and I thought, well, you know,
'As a lawyer in court,

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where are the tools that I need
to represent the Earth in court?'

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And what I realised
was that they didn't exist.

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So I started thinking about this:
What do I need to put in place for this?

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What if the Earth had rights?
After all, we as humans have rights.

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The most important right of all,
of course, is our right to life.

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What if the Earth
had the right to life as well?

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I spoke to other lawyers about this.

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They said, 'Polly, you're mad.
Of course the earth doesn't have rights.

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And after all, there's a whole body
of environmental law out there.

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Why not just use that?'

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But I said, 'Well, there's a problem here.

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All this existing environmental law,

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it's not working; it can't be working!

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You just have to look at the Amazon
to see this is not working.

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We're looking at mass
damage and destruction

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that's escalating every day.

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Existing law is not stopping that.'

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So what I did was I looked around
to see who else was thinking like me,

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and what I discovered was that, in fact,

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there are many people thinking like me.

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Seven hundred and fifty million people
out there, to be exact.

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Three hundred and seventy million
of them are indigenous.

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They get the idea that the Earth
has the right to life.

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They get the idea
that life itself is sacred -

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not just human life, but all life.

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Also I discovered Buddhists
understood this way of thinking as well.

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That's another 380 million people.

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Seven hundred and fifty million people,
the size of Europe, already think like me.

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It's just that it's not
written down in law.

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But then I got thinking further
because of course, actually,

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with our human rights
and our right to life

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that's also governed on a one to one
by the crime of murder -

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or in America, it's called 'homicide' -

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when it's ourselves and our community,
it's called 'genocide'.

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And I was actually speaking
to a large audience

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a couple of years ago, back in 2009,

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about Earth rights,

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when someone in the audience said,

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'You know, we need a new language

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to deal with this mass
damage and destruction

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that's happening of the Earth,
of our ecosystems.'

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And I thought, you know, you're right.

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It's like genocide;

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it's an ... ecocide!

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And it was one of those lightbulb moments;

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literally, I felt as if a light
had gone on above my head.

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And I thought, my God,
it should be a crime.

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Is that possible?
Could we make ecocide a crime?

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And I rushed home,
and I went off and I researched this.

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And three months later,
I came up for breath,

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and I realised that in fact, indeed,
not only could we make it a crime,

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but it is a missing,
fifth crime against peace.

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Now you'll see here in this slide,
what this sets out here

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are what are known as
the international crimes against peace.

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We already have crimes against humanity,
war crimes, genocide;

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they were put in place after World War II.

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And they act as umbrella laws;
they cover the whole of the world.

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They're kind of super laws;
they supersede everything else.

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All other laws
must come in line with them.

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Crimes of aggression -
that's the run-up to war -

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that was just put in place in 2010.

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And I say that, actually,
there's a fifth crime against peace here,

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and that is ecocide.

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What we have in existence already

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are laws that protect
the wellbeing of life.

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Actually, what they protect
is the sacredness of life itself.

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And I'm saying it's not just human life,

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but we expand our cycle of concern out

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and that it's the wellbeing of all life,
of all inhabitants who live in this earth.

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This is a diagram of what's happening
in the world at the moment.

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We have damage and destruction
on a mass scale playing out,

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which is what I call ecocide,
and I'll unpackage that term in a moment,

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but it's leading to, amongst other things,

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resource depletion,

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which leads to, amongst other things,

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conflict,

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which can then lead to war,

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which of course leads
to more damage and destruction,

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more resource depletion.

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In fact, what's happening
in the Congo at the moment

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is a very potent example of this cycle

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spiraling onwards and upwards,
faster and faster,

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conflict leading to more war,
to more damage and destruction,

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to more ecocide.

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And so it goes on spiraling
onwards and upwards.

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It's what Sir David King calls
'a century of resource wars'.

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That's what we're looking at.

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I think there's another way
that we can turn this around.

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We can actually halt it in its tracks.

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This is not about slowing down this cycle,
but it's actually stopping it.

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Intervening.

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And by creating a law

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that actually acts
as a disruptor to that spiral

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as it spirals onwards and upwards,

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and that's what a law of ecocide can do.

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This is the beginning
of the legal proposal

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that I submitted into the United Nations.

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Ecocide is a crime

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when we cause extensive destruction,
damage to or loss of ecosystems.

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Now, every word here is legally weighted.

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But possibly the most important word here
is that word 'inhabitants' -

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you'll see it's not just people,
but we're talking about inhabitants.

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And of course, that's a recognition
that if we look at any given territory,

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it's not just human beings
that live there,

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but there are other species as well.

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It's also a recognition 
of the interconnectedness of life itself.

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Ultimately, destroy the Earth
that we stand on,

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and we destroy our ability
to live in peaceful enjoyment.

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Now, there are two types of ecocide here.

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Human-caused ecocide.

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And human-caused ecocide

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is when we see and we're able to ascertain

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that as a result of our actions,

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we're causing mass damage and destruction.

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And in fact, we heard earlier today

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about how, in human-caused terms,

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we're also creating injury in other ways -

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increasing of greenhouse gasses,

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that's one outcome of causing 
mass damage and destruction.

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I have, in fact, just recently
submitted to all governments

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a concept paper
on how we can use this law

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to close the door
to dangerous industrial activity

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that is causing human ecocide,
human-caused ecocide.

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But there is another type of ecocide
that I wish to talk about today,

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and that is naturally occurring ecocide.

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That's when we see
tsunamis, floods, rising sea levels,

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anything that causes
mass ecosystem collapse.

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And we can create an international law

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that doesn't just govern
corporate activity,

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but more importantly, that imposes
a legal duty of care on all nations

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to give us systems
when something like this occurs.

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Because at the moment,

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we have the likes of the Maldives
standing up and saying, 'Help us!

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We're looking at going underwater
with rising sea levels

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within the next decade.'

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And governments are saying,
'Nothing we can do.'

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In fact, what they're saying is actually,

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'We don't have a legal duty of care
to give assistance.'

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By creating a law of ecocide,
we can impose a legal duty of care

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so that all nations come together
and preempt this.

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After all, there are
54 Small Island States

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that are looking at rising sea levels.

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And not just 54 Small Island States,
other countries as well, Bangladesh,

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are looking at not just floods,
rising sea levels,

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but also they have a triple whammy
because they have melting ice as well.

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By imposing a legal
duty of care on nations,

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the dialogue can begin to take place

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where we decide,

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'What are we going to do to give help?'

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And that is very important,
that we can move forward together in this.

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Because, ultimately,
at the end of the day,

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even if they are
the other side of the world,

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we are in this together.

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But it goes further than that.

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In international criminal law,

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we have a principle
called 'superior responsibility'.

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Yes, this is about taking responsibility,

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but more than that,

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it's about imposing
superior responsibility

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upon those who -

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if you imagine like a triangle -
sit at the top of the triangle,

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those in a position
of command and control.

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Now, that means
heads of states, ministers.

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It also means chief executives,
directors, heads of banks -

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those who are in a position
to make decisions

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that can adversely impact
on many million peoples underneath.

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And by imposing a legal duty of care
upon those individuals,

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we actually create a framework
upon which we can make decisions

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that are based on prioritizing
people and planet first.

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And that's about closing the door
to the dangerous industrial activity.

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What this comes down to is
two different ways of viewing the Earth.

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View the Earth as an inert thing,

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and what we do
is we put a price tag on it.

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We impose a value on it.

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What we do is we buy it,
we sell it, we use it, we abuse it,

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we commoditise it.

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That's all governed
by the law of property.

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However, there is another way
of viewing the Earth,

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and that's about viewing the Earth
as a living being.

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And when we do that, 
it comes from a very different place.

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In fact, it shifts dramatically
how we look into the long term.

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Because once we see ourselves
as trustees, as guardians,

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we start taking responsibility
for future generations.

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And this is about realigning
the scales of justice.

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Just now, they're out of kilter,
they're out of balance.

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I believe we can do that;
we can rebalance that.

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In fact, we have done this
once before in history,

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and I'd like to take you back 200 years.

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Two hundred years ago,
William Wilberforce,

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who was the parliamentarian
here in Britain

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who took up the mantle
for the abolition of slavery,

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when he stood up and said,

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'Morally, slavery is wrong;
we must stop this',

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what he met with
was a barrage of objections.

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Big industry said, 'You can't do that,
because it's a necessity.

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The public demand it, and what's more,

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our economies will collapse 
if we get rid of slavery.'

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Well, those 300 companies
that were involved in slavery,

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they came up with different ideas.

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They said, 'Leave it to us to sort out,
our voluntary mechanisms:

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we will self-regulate this.

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Too many laws already.

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(Laughter)

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What's more, we'll limit the numbers
if push comes to shove.

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In fact, we can leave it
to market forces to work this out.

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Create a cap-and-trade
system, if you like.'

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Now, the interesting thing

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is that the British parliament
said no to all of those proposals.

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And indeed, two days
before William Wilberforce died,

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laws were passed,

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which created ripples
right across the world in ending slavery.

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Now, if we look to today,

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what we're seeing
is actually a very similar picture.

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What's changed here is the picture.

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This is of the Athabasca tar sands,

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in Canada.

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Now, when I first saw these pictures,

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my heart stopped,
it stopped me in my tracks.

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I looked at what was going on there,
and I said, 'Really, this is a crime.'

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00:14:02,555 --> 00:14:07,756
Now, what we've seen today is that
industry is saying exactly the same thing.

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The difference is that, in fact,
we have tried those solutions,

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and we've discovered they haven't worked.

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Now, one of the successes
that came out of slavery

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was the fact that it was managed,
there was a transition period.

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Not one of those companies
went out of business.

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And William Wilberforce
was governed by something

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that I am also very governed by.

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This is not about 
closing down big industry.

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This is about making
the problem into the solution.

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In fact, not one of those 300 companies

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went out of business
after the abolition of slavery.

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Some of them went on
to trade in tea in China.

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They were given subsidies.

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Some of them actually
became the polices of the seas.

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William Wilberforce said,
'Three crucial things have to happen:

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You pull the subsidies,
you outlaw the problem,

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and you create new subsidies
in the other direction.'

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And that's precisely
what we're needing to do today.

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But it's more than that.

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It actually goes back
into the annals of time,

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of something that's known
as the Sacred Trust of Civilization.

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Now, this is a concept
that goes back in written documents,

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as far as I could find,
to the 16th century,

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and it has been enshrined
in the United Nations Charter,

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which is our first successful
international legal document,

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put in place after World War II.

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What that says

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is that members of the United Nations
have a duty, a legal duty,

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to put the interest of the inhabitants -

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it's that word again, 'inhabitants' -

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as number one,

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the primary duty
that we have, duty of care,

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and that we accept as a sacred trust.

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Trust!

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So this is about us being
trustees, stewards, guardians

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and that we have an obligation

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to promote to the utmost
the wellbeing of the inhabitants.

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It's a health and wellbeing provision;

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it's about putting
people and planet first.

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A law of ecocide gives this section
in the United Nations Charter

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legal validity.

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And that's very important.

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Because an international law of ecocide
is a crime against humanity,

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but it's more than that:

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it's a crime against Nature,
it's a crime against future generations.

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Ultimately, most importantly,
it's a crime against peace.

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This is about prioritizing
people and planet

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over and above profit,

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but also a recognition
that when we do that,

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when we open the door
to a conflict-free world,

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we can create innovation
in a very different direction,

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that actually gives us abundance
in many, many ways.

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Now, I'm not anti-profit, not at all.
In fact, I'm very pro it.

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But what I am doing

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is I am closing the door
to that which causes life destruction,

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and I'm opening the door
to that which affirms life itself.

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So this takes me back to seven years ago,

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when I started with one
very powerful thought

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and how it's really led me on a journey
and continues to do so.

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It's not just about proposing
an international law of ecocide,

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but in fact, it's also beginning
to lead me along a journey of examining,

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What is it that we need here?

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Leadership, an adaptive leadership;
we have fast-changing times.

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It's also led to a book,
Eradicating Ecocide,

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that sets out this law

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and explains why law, in fact, 
has caused the problem.

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Did you know this?

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It is the law of corporations
to put profit first.

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A company has a legal duty to maximize
its profits to its shareholders.

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Now that used to serve us well.

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But unfortunately,
we didn't look to the consequences.

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A law of ecocide would supersede this
and pose a piece of legislation

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that, in fact, allows us to look 
to the consequences.

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A 'think before you act' provision

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that acts as a great turnkey.

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In conclusion, I just want to say this:

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Martin Luther King once said

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that when our laws align themselves

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to equality and justice,

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00:18:28,574 --> 00:18:31,278
then we will have
true peace in this world.

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When our laws align themselves
with a higher understanding,

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then we will have
that true quality in justice.

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Ecocide is a law that allows us
to align ourselves with natural justice.

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And I believe that in my life

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that that is something worthy
of actually giving my life to

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to make happen.

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Thank you very much.

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(Applause)