—Rodrigo Lledó, Director for the Americas at Stop Ecocide International, Chilean lawyer and former Head of the Legal Department of the Human Rights Program at Chile’s Ministry of the Interior, and a member of the Independent Expert Panel that drafted the legal definition of ecocide
Ecocide — the mass destruction of nature — has gained momentum as an international crime since the definition was agreed by a panel of experts in 2021 and the subsequent proposal to amend the Rome Statute in 2024. However, for this legal concept to be effective in the civil law systems of Latin America, it is not enough simply to transpose the international definition; a process of technical adaptation is required that respects the principles of legality and specificity inherent in continental law. This has given rise to the proposal to adopt a Model Ecocide Law for Latin American countries, which seeks both legislative harmonisation and to facilitate the adoption of the crime of ecocide in their domestic legal orders.
Model Law
A model law is a reference legal text, proposed as an archetype (or model) for the parliaments of different countries to consider and incorporate into their domestic legislation, either in whole or in part. It is not binding in itself, but is proposed, de lege ferenda, as a tool for cooperation to harmonise national laws and promote good practices on a specific subject. One of its main characteristics is its flexibility, since in the process of turning it into a formal legal text, parliamentarians may adopt it in its entirety or modify it, in whole or in part.
The concept of a Model Law is well established in international and Latin American legal practice. At the global level, mention should be made of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), which pioneered the development of a Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration in 1985 [1]. In the region, the Latin American and Caribbean Parliament (PARLATINO) has traditionally used this mechanism to promote legislative harmonisation, having even defined a standard procedure for this purpose [2], and having approved more than 100 model laws since 1994.
A milestone in this tradition, in Latin America, was the Model Civil Procedure Code for Ibero-America [3], promoted by the Uruguayan jurist Eduardo J. Couture [4], which laid the foundations for the modernisation of civil proceedings in the region.
The Model Ecocide Law for Latin America is part of this tradition, representing a serious effort to offer the countries of the region a reference text that is technically sound and adapted to the legal systems of countries that share the same legal tradition of strict or codified law, also known as continental or simply Civil Law, in force in Europe and Latin America, systems in which the judge decides according to written law, in contrast to Common Law, which is guided by precedent [5].
The Crime of Ecocide
Although the word ecocide may seem novel, the truth is that it was coined in 1970, in the context of the devastation of the jungle as a method of combat during the Vietnam War [6].
Ecocide is a neologism of Greco-Roman origin, where “Eco” (from the Greek οἶκος, or oikos) means house, habitat, home, and “cide” (from the Latin cidium) means to kill, so ecocide literally means “killing our home” [7].
In 2021, a panel of twelve jurists from five continents, convened by Stop Ecocide International, agreed on a definition of ecocide, intended to be applied by the International Criminal Court, proposing its incorporation into the Rome Statute as a new crime under its jurisdiction. This Panel defined ecocide as “any unlawful or wanton act committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts” [8].
This definition and the proposal to amend the Rome Statute were formally submitted in September 2024 by Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa, and are currently under consideration by the Working Group on Amendments of the International Criminal Court [9].
Model Ecocide Law
For the legal concept of ecocide to be applied in the national legal systems of Latin America, where the Civil Law tradition predominates, an adaptation process is required.
The international definition was conceived for a supranational court with a different logic from the penal codes of the region. For ecocide to be effectively incorporated into national legislation, an adaptation process is needed that takes into account constitutional frameworks, existing environmental legislation, and the socio-environmental realities of each territory [10].
The result of this need is the Model Ecocide Law for Latin America, a project that seeks to offer a technical and legal guide to serve as a reference for strengthening future legislative initiatives throughout the region, in a harmonised manner and respecting the standards of imputation of our legal systems, anchored in the principle of criminal legality.
The Model Law is not intended to replace the legislative processes of each country, but rather to support them, providing a text that serves as a kind of legal “template” from which parliaments can formally approve it and give it legal validity, or make the adjustments they deem appropriate to the particularities of their country, knowing that harmonisation with the continental or codified system has already been satisfactorily carried out by a broad base of academics from different universities on the continent, as well as civil society.
The Three Phases of a Participatory Process
The development of the Model Law is conceived as a collaborative process that takes place in three phases [11].
The first phase is a regional public consultation, open from 5 June to 19 July 2026, in which indigenous and local communities, activists, academics, legal practitioners and any individual wishing to contribute their perspective may participate. The responses collected are not symbolic; they will become an input for the following phases.
The second phase consists of online technical working tables organised by country, with jurists and environmental specialists who will debate the key points of adapting the international definition.
The third and final phase will be an in-person expert congress to be held in Mexico on 29 and 30 September, where the final text will be drafted. On 1 October 2026, a press conference will be held with the organisations convening this initiative.
The project is promoted by Stop Ecocide International in collaboration with the Association of Researchers in Environmental and Climate Criminal Law (AIDPAC), the Mexican Centre for Environmental Law (CEMDA), the Ibero-American University, the Transdisciplinary Centre for Sustainability (CENTRUS), and the Alliance of Environmental Legal Clinics of Latin America and the Caribbean, which brings together 16 reference universities in the region and plays a fundamental role in combining academic research, legal practice and direct work with affected communities.
Points of Technical Debate
The main points of debate to be addressed by the technical tables revolve around the adaptation of the elements of the international definition to Civil Law. These include the structure of ecocide as a crime of endangerment and/or a crime of result, the subjective element of the crime (eventual intent and/or negligence), greater precision in the definition of the damage criteria (“severe”, “widespread” or “long-term”), wantonness as an independent category or as part of unlawfulness, the criminal liability of legal persons, the protection of whistleblowers, penalties, statutes of limitations, and the exercise of universal jurisdiction.
A Legal Framework Supported by Regional Treaties
The work on the Model Law is explicitly grounded in the framework of the Escazú Agreement — the first environmental treaty of Latin America and the Caribbean, and the only instrument worldwide with specific provisions for the protection of human rights defenders in environmental matters — and in Advisory Opinion OC-32/25 of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on climate emergencies. This Opinion recognised that “efforts are being advanced to criminalise at the national and international level conduct that generates massive and long-lasting damage to our ecosystems” (para. 287).
Towards an Unprecedented Legal Tool
Faced with the reality of an ecological crisis that knows no borders, Latin America is moving towards an unprecedented legal tool, designed specifically for its legal systems. The Model Ecocide Law is not a closed text, but an open process that draws on the expert knowledge and territorial experience of those who participate in its construction.
The initiative represents a collective effort to bridge the gap between international criminal law and the domestic legislation of the region, offering a framework of reference that can facilitate and accelerate legislative processes in Latin American countries, ultimately providing a concrete tool for the defence of life.
Suggested citation: Rodrigo Lledó, A Model Ecocide Law for Latin America, Int’l J. Const. L. Blog, Jul. 29, 2026, at: http://www.iconnectblog.com/a-model-ecocide-law-for-latin-america/