Guadalupe Asunción Valdés Osorio said it bluntly.
This specialist from UNAM’s National Institute of Criminal Sciences proposes something that sounds like legal science fiction: that poisoning a river, razing a forest, or driving a species to extinction should cease to be merely a fine and become a criminal offense, even tried by the International Criminal Court or the International Court of Justice. She calls it ecocide, and defines it as damage so severe to the air, soil, or water that it can cause death or permanent illnesses in entire populations.
Another UNAM academic, Gerardo Torres Salcido, goes even further: he believes this environmental crime can come close to genocide, because it displaces communities and puts those who defend the land at risk. Mexico already tried to legislate it in 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2023, without success at the federal level. Only Mexico City, Jalisco, and Chiapas dared to classify it as a crime. The rest of the country is still waiting.
