Conference panels included “Conflict, Environmental Harm and International Criminal Law,” “Climate Change, Justice and the Future of the Law of the Sea,” “Environmental Rights and Climate Justice,” and “Evidence, State Responsibility and the Voices of the Most Vulnerable.”

“The conversations I had with other activists and scholars about ecocide and indigenous sovereignty were incredibly thought-provoking and inspiring,” says UCLA Law student Julia Nguyen ’25. “These connections are ones that I will continue to cherish and will undoubtedly have a lasting impact on my legal career.”

In his keynote address, Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed support for classifying ecocide as a new international crime. In another keynote presentation, Nazhat Shameem Khan, a deputy prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, said, “We know that unchecked environmental degradation poses an existential threat to the world as we know it. The international legal system, including the ICC, stands at a crucial juncture where we must remain relevant and respond to this crisis before it is too late.”

Cheryl Bazard, the ambassador of the Bahamas to Belgium and the European Union, also addressed the topic in a stirring speech. “Devastating storms, rising sea-levels, unpredictable weather patterns and other adverse effects of climate change threaten the very existence of our islands and the livelihoods and identities of our people,” she said. “The obligations of states in respect of climate change are not an abstract legal exercise, but a matter of survival.”

In addition, the Promise Europe hosted a high-level consultation for the ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, regarding his forthcoming policy paper on environmental crimes. This allowed him and Kevin Jon Heller, a scholar of international law and special advisor to the ICC, to hear from a broad array of viewpoints, including from environmental activists and attorneys on the frontlines of the climate emergency. The conversation stemmed from a project in which Mackintosh had supervised a group of UCLA Law students who analyzed responses to a public call for inputs on this policy.

The Promise Europe came away from the conference rich with projects that participants formulated or made stronger through their collaboration at the event. These include work with, and legal assistance for, youth climate activists across Africa; a collaboration with academic partners on a new evidence resource for climate litigation; and continued support to the ICC prosecutor on environmental crimes.

“At the conference, we worked with practitioners and activists to ask what story we need to tell, whose story we need to tell and how we need to tell it to make the most compelling case for climate and environmental justice,” Mackintosh says. “Crucially, we are foregrounding the voices and analyses of people on the frontlines of the ecological crisis, as without these inputs we will never find comprehensive and lasting solutions. It is time to unlock the potential of international law to confront this crisis and move us towards a new era of multi-species care, kinship and justice.”