Valérie Cabanes (born 1969) is a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

lawyer and environmentalist. She is noted as a proponent of the idea of

ecocide Ecocide (from Greek 'home' and Latin 'to kill') is the destruction of the natural environment, environment by humans. Ecocide threatens all human populations that are dependent on natural resources for maintaining Ecosystem, ecosystems and ensu ...

as a new crime under

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

Life

Cabanes was born in

Pont-l'Abbé Pont-l'Abbé (; , "Abbot's bridge") is a Communes of France, commune in the Finistère Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in north-western France. The self-styled capital of Pays Bigouden (roughly th ...

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

in 1969. From 2006 to 2012, she was involved in defending the rights of indigenous peoples in Canada and Brazil, producing reports that were debated at the United Nations Human Rights Council and the European Parliament.Bio
/ref> She became a lawyer specialising in international law. In 2013, she began her own campaign to get ecocide recognised as a cime under international law. This objective would require recognition that damage to an ecosystem was a crime and it would include the idea of damage to things that do not belong to anyone. Objects which are said to be

commons The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

, the atmosphere or seawater could also be damaged by ecocide. In her opinion, an international crime of ecocide could be used to dissolve companies who endangering our planet of to bring the heads of companies to account. In 2016, she published her work "Un nouveau droit pour la Terre. Pour en finir avec l'écocide: Pour en finir avec l'écocide". In 2018 she joined a legal team who sued the

government of France The Government of France (, ), officially the Government of the French Republic (, ), exercises Executive (government), executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister of France, prime minister, who is the head of government, ...

for not dealing with

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

as quickly as they should. In February 2021, the courts found that the government had not kept to its

carbon budget A carbon budget is a concept used in politics of climate change to help set greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets in a fair and effective way. It examines the "maximum amount of cumulative net global anthropogenic carbon dioxide () emission ...

s and it was culpable. Moreover the courts ruled that the government should take "all useful measures" to recover the position before the end of 2022. Cabanes was one of the founders of the group End Ecocide on Earth.

Ecocide Ecocide (from Greek 'home' and Latin 'to kill') is the destruction of the natural environment, environment by humans. Ecocide threatens all human populations that are dependent on natural resources for maintaining Ecosystem, ecosystems and ensu ...

(destroying one's home) is a concept that is proposed as a new international crime.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cabanes, Valerie 1969 births Living people 21st-century French lawyers 21st-century French women lawyers French environmentalists 21st-century French essayists People from Pont-l'Abbé