India, Jan. 16 -- We have international laws against "genocide" (the systematic killing of a racial or cultural group); "arboricide" (the large-scale destruction of trees); "avicide" (the killing of birds). Is it time for globally recognised laws against ecocide, a punishable offence linked to the hostile and systemic destruction of an ecology?

The International Criminal Court (ICC) currently addresses four international crimes against peace: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. Global advocacy groups are arguing that ecocide should be the fifth.

"The term would help reframe environmental destruction not as a cost of doing business, but as a punishable crime," says environmental advocate Jojo Mehta,...