Earth Day falls on 22nd April, and to mark this important date, Do You Really Know is rerunning a series of episodes about environmental issues affecting our planet. Let's take a refresher on some of the terms and concepts you need to be familiar with, in order to understand climate change. Happy listening!

What is an ecocide?

An ecocide is a term for an act that causes significant damage to the environment or ecosystems. It comes from the Greek word éoikios, meaning home, and the Latin word caedere, meaning kill. In theory individuals, companies and states could be brought to justice for committing such acts. It’s not recognised as a crime in many places, but France is currently looking at passing a law to do just that. The term was first used in the early 1970s in response to strategic deforestation by the American military in Vietnam, carried out with a herbicide called Agent Orange. This was used as a chemical weapon to destroy the forest cover and food resources relied on by Vietnamese guerilla fighters.

So what’s caused the French to consider making ecocide a crime? What’s going on elsewhere then? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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