ST. PAUL, Minn. — On Monday, April 28, Senator Sandy Pappas (DFL-St. Paul) announced a Senate Resolution to criminalize acts of environmental destruction, known as ecocide, in Minnesota and to proclaim April as Ecocide Awareness and Prevention Month in Minnesota.
Ecocide is an 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. From 1980 to 2024, there were 61 confirmed environmental disasters in Minnesota that cost the state at least $1 billion each, at an average of 1.8 events per year. From 2019 to 2023, the most recent data on record, the rate of environmental disasters in Minnesota costing at least $1 billion each increased fourfold, to four events a year.
Senator Pappas releases the following statement:
“This Minnesota Senate Resolution encourages programs and public engagement to prevent environmental degradation, a ‘threat multiplier’ of long-term harm to our state, nation, and planet. The cost of mitigation, reconstruction, repair and prevention is currently borne by taxpayers, but they should be borne by and paid by the entities most culpable in causing these disasters.”
Two states, New York and Vermont, passed bills in 2024 to criminalize ecocide and hold perpetrators accountable for damages in their states. Many countries and the European Parliament have legislated the crime of ecocide and its punishment. On Dec. 4, 2024, ecocide was introduced as a crime at the International Criminal Court, equal to the human rights crimes of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
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