UNISON’s Scottish Council recently backed a motion supporting the proposed Ecocide Bill that is to be soon presented to the Scottish Parliament.
Photo is: Ryan Morrison STUC Just Transition Officer, Richard Hardy STUC President, Francoise Monkhouse, Stop Ecocide International, Monica Lennon MSP, Laura Young Climate Scientist, and Stephen Smellie UNISON.
Stephen facilitated a fringe meeting at the recent STUC Congress which discussed the proposed Ecocide Bill and how it would protect the environment and nature diversity.
UNISON members are at the forefront of the defence of the natural environment from the scientific staff at the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to the local council employed Environmental Health Officers, from staff at Scottish Water to the cleaners in our schools and hospitals. UNISON members in Council Roads Departments and Grounds Services are often called upon to clean up after natural and human induced climate and ecological disasters.
Possibly more importantly, UNISON members in all services want to live in healthy, environmentally sustainable communities. Our union has a record of championing policies to tackle climate change and support for action to reduce fossil fuel use and a Just Transition to a sustainable and Green economy.
Our Scottish branches took a further step at our recent Scottish Council meeting where a motion from our South Lanarkshire branch on Ecocide was unanimously supported.
Ecocide is the unlawful or wanton acts 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. The motion acknowledged the ongoing global campaign to stop ecocide, and that ecocide-level crimes were included in the EU’s environmental crime directive in February 2024.
UNISON Scotland will now take forward our support for the proposed Ecocide Bill in the Scottish Parliament and will call for support for similar legislation at Westminster.
For more information Stop Ecocide International