09/04/2021
Work on Adani’s Carmichael rail line construction has been disrupted by environmental activists for the second time in three days.
With a group of supporters nearby, 63 year old Cairns-based public servant Carine Visschers blocked vehicles from entering the worksite west of Mount Coolon this morning. She held a sign saying “Make Ecocide A Crime”.
Ms Visschers said “Ecocide is mass damage and destruction of ecosystems – harm to nature which is widespread, severe and systematic.
“Our justice system puts 10 year old children in prison for damaging property; but enables billionaires like Adani to increase their fortune damaging our land and ecosystems and destroying our children’s future. We need to make ecocide a crime to have the hope of a liveable future.”
There is a global movement to make ecocide a crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Doing so would make individuals who are responsible for funding, permitting or causing severe environmental harm liable to criminal prosecution. A panel of international criminal and environmental lawyers are currently drafting a legal definition. High profile supporters include the European Union and the Catholic Pope, as well as a number of nations who are members of the International Criminal Court.
Ms Visschers said “it’s simply not enough for us to talk about climate action but carry on the way things are. To stop climate catastrophe we need individuals to take responsibility – that means holding responsible those who knowingly destroy our planet, and it means those of us who care about protecting our environment taking action to stop destructive projects like Adani.”
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