--- title: "ICC and European Space Agency Expand Use of Satellite Evidence" url: https://wearenotforsale.org/ecocide/icc-esa-satellite-evidence-environmental-crime/ author: "Not For Sale" published: 2026-08-03 topic: "Human Trafficking" publisher: "Not For Sale" --- # ICC and European Space Agency Expand Use of Satellite Evidence A new agreement between the International Criminal Court and the European Space Agency could strengthen how ecocide and other forms of environmental destruction are documented in international criminal investigations. By Not For Sale · August 3, 2026 · Human Trafficking **A new agreement will give International Criminal Court investigators greater access to satellite data and Earth-observation expertise as environmental damage assumes a larger role in international criminal investigations. The development strengthens the evidence available to prosecutors, while the separate campaign to recognize ecocide as an international crime continues.** **Reporting updated: August 3, 2026** The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and the European Space Agency have formalized a partnership designed to expand the use of satellite imagery, geospatial analysis and open-source intelligence in international criminal investigations. Signed on July 16, 2026, the Memorandum of Intent brings ESA’s Earth-observation expertise more closely into the work of ICC investigators. Satellite data could help document environmental destruction, damage to infrastructure and changes to places that investigators cannot safely or easily access on the ground. The agreement comes as the ICC prosecutor places greater emphasis on the environmental consequences of alleged international crimes. It also arrives amid a wider campaign to recognize [ecocide as an international crime](https://wearenotforsale.org/ecocide/ecocide-international-crime-environmental-law/). For now, however, the significance of the agreement is practical rather than legislative. It gives investigators more sophisticated ways to gather and assess evidence within the Court’s existing legal framework. ## Building a clearer picture from space The new agreement develops a relationship that was already underway. ESA has previously worked with the ICC prosecutor’s office through **EVIDERI**, a project examining how Earth-observation data and open-source intelligence can be used reliably in legal investigations. The project brought together satellite imagery, news reports, social media material, location data and other publicly available information. In case studies developed in response to requests from ICC investigators, analysts examined burned areas, damaged buildings, fires and changes to infrastructure. This kind of information can be particularly valuable in conflict zones, remote regions and places where physical access has become dangerous or impossible. A series of images taken over time may show when a forest was cleared, when a settlement was destroyed or how an extraction site expanded. Radar satellites can also gather information through cloud cover and darkness, making them useful in regions where conventional imagery is limited. The value lies not simply in producing a picture, but in establishing a record of change. Satellite analysis can help investigators determine what happened, where it happened and approximately when it took place. Under the new arrangement, ESA is expected to provide technical knowledge that can help ICC investigators use this material in a way that is traceable, consistent and capable of being examined in court. ## What satellite evidence can reveal Environmental destruction often leaves a physical pattern. Mining operations create roads, pits, waste areas and changes to nearby waterways. Illegal logging alters forest cover and transport routes. Attacks on settlements may leave burned structures, damaged farmland and displaced populations. Industrial incidents can affect vegetation, soil and water across a wide area. Viewed over time, satellite data may reveal the scale and progression of that damage more clearly than a single photograph or witness account. It can also preserve evidence that might otherwise disappear. Buildings can be rebuilt, debris removed and landscapes altered after an event. Archived satellite images may allow investigators to return to a particular date and compare conditions before and after the alleged conduct. Yet the image is usually one part of a much larger evidentiary picture. Investigators still have to determine what caused the visible change, who controlled the operation and whether the conduct meets the legal requirements of an offense under the Rome Statute. Satellite findings may need to be considered alongside witness testimony, communications, financial records, environmental testing and material collected at the scene. Automated analysis presents further questions. Artificial intelligence can help identify objects and detect changes across enormous collections of imagery, but investigators must be able to explain how those conclusions were reached and how potential errors were identified. The technology may reveal the footprint of destruction. Establishing criminal responsibility remains a separate and more demanding task. ## Environmental damage under the Rome Statute The agreement follows the publication of the ICC Office of the Prosecutor’s Policy on Addressing Environmental Damage Through the Rome Statute in December 2025. The policy explains how environmental damage may be relevant to investigations into the four crimes currently within the ICC’s jurisdiction: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. Damage to land, water, food systems or essential infrastructure may form part of an alleged crime or help demonstrate its effects on a civilian population. The destruction of resources necessary for survival, for example, could be relevant to investigations involving displacement, persecution or other prohibited conduct when the wider legal requirements are met. The policy does not treat every serious act of pollution, deforestation or resource extraction as an international crime. Instead, it sets out how environmental evidence may contribute to cases already falling within the Rome Statute. The Statute includes an existing war-crime provision concerning attacks expected to cause widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment that would be clearly excessive in relation to the anticipated military advantage. That provision sets a particularly high threshold and applies within a specific armed-conflict context. The growing debate around [environmental destruction during war](https://wearenotforsale.org/ecocide/ecocide-in-war-calls-grow-to-recognise-environmental-destruction-as-a-crime/) partly reflects concern that the current framework leaves many forms of severe environmental harm beyond the Court’s reach. ESA’s support may make it easier to document the environmental dimensions of future cases. Whether that evidence can support a prosecution will still depend on the facts, the Court’s jurisdiction and the legal elements of the alleged crime. ## Where the proposed crime of ecocide stands The movement to recognize ecocide as a fifth international crime is progressing through a separate process. In September 2024, Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa submitted a proposal to amend the Rome Statute and add ecocide to the crimes listed under Article 5. Vanuatu subsequently presented the proposal to the Assembly of States Parties. The amendment has not yet been adopted. Ecocide therefore remains a proposed international offense rather than a crime that can currently be prosecuted independently before the ICC. Any change would require the support of states participating in the Rome Statute system and would raise further questions about ratification, jurisdiction and implementation. Other legal systems have moved in related directions. The European Union’s revised environmental crime rules require stronger penalties for serious offenses and refer to conduct comparable to ecocide. Not For Sale has examined what those changes could mean in its report on [the European Union’s stronger environmental crime laws](https://wearenotforsale.org/ecocide/from-directive-to-justice-eu-environmental-crime-laws/). The ICC–ESA partnership does not settle the political debate over ecocide. It may, however, help build the investigative tools that prosecutors would need if environmental destruction plays a greater role in future international cases. ## The link between environmental destruction and human trafficking Although the agreement is not specifically directed at human trafficking, the crimes visible in a landscape are often connected to abuses that remain harder to see. Illegal mining, logging, fishing and land clearing can operate through networks involving corruption, violence, money laundering and the exploitation of vulnerable workers. In some settings, people are recruited through deception, trapped by debt, threatened or prevented from leaving remote worksites. Environmental destruction can also remove the protections on which communities depend. When land is seized, water becomes unsafe or traditional livelihoods collapse, families may be forced to move or accept increasingly dangerous forms of work. These conditions do not automatically amount to human trafficking. They can, however, create vulnerabilities that traffickers and exploitative employers are able to use. Not For Sale has previously examined [how ecocide can increase the risk of human trafficking](https://wearenotforsale.org/ecocide/ecocide-meaning-how-it-fuels-human-trafficking/) and how [corruption connects illegal mining, forced labor and environmental harm](https://wearenotforsale.org/ecocide/corruption-human-trafficking-ecocide-illegal-mining/). Satellite imagery will rarely reveal whether an individual worker has been coerced. What it may reveal is the structure surrounding the exploitation: the mine, the camp, the access road, the cleared forest, the polluted river or the rapid growth of an operation in a previously undeveloped area. That information can then be combined with survivor testimony, recruitment records, financial evidence, company documents and supply-chain investigations. The result is a more complete view of crimes that have too often been divided into separate categories. Environmental destruction, labor exploitation and human trafficking may be investigated under different laws, but they can form part of the same economic and criminal system. ## What happens next The importance of the agreement will depend on how it is used. Investigators will need clear methods for preserving satellite data, explaining analytical techniques and allowing evidence to be tested by all parties in a case. Courts will also have to consider how increasingly complex forms of digital and AI-assisted analysis should be presented. Future ICC filings may show whether Earth-observation evidence is becoming a routine part of international criminal investigations or remains concentrated in a limited number of cases. The political campaign around ecocide will continue alongside that technical work. States must still decide whether the Rome Statute should be amended and what definition, legal threshold and jurisdictional rules a new crime would require. For the moment, the ICC and ESA are strengthening the ability to record what happens to the natural world during alleged international crimes. The larger question is how far international law will go in turning that record into accountability. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Is ecocide currently a crime under the Rome Statute? Ecocide is not currently listed as a separate crime under the Rome Statute. The International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. A proposal submitted by Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa seeks to add ecocide as a fifth crime, but the amendment has not yet been adopted. ### What role will the European Space Agency play? The European Space Agency will contribute Earth-observation expertise, including the interpretation and use of satellite imagery and geospatial data. This information may help ICC investigators document damage to settlements, infrastructure, forests, farmland and waterways, particularly in places that are inaccessible or unsafe. ESA does not decide whether a crime occurred or determine who is responsible. ### Can satellite imagery prove an international crime? Satellite imagery can establish important facts, including where physical damage occurred, how extensive it was and when changes became visible. It will usually form one part of a wider body of evidence. Prosecutors may also need testimony, communications, official records, financial evidence and proof connecting the conduct to particular individuals and the legal requirements of a Rome Statute crime. ### How can environmental destruction increase trafficking risk? Environmental destruction can remove livelihoods, displace communities and push people toward insecure migration or dangerous employment. Illegal mining, logging and other extractive industries may also rely on deceptive recruitment, debt, threats or coercion. These conditions do not automatically constitute trafficking, but they can create vulnerabilities that traffickers and exploitative employers are able to use. ***Sources:*** **International Criminal Court official announcement, Facebook** https://www.facebook.com/InternationalCriminalCourt/posts/1480585427439981/ **International Criminal Court official announcement, LinkedIn** https://www.linkedin.com/posts/international-criminal-court—cour-p-nale-internationale_the-office-of-the-prosecutor-of-the-international-activity-7483526244572135428-Bio1 **Simonetta Cheli, ESA Director of Earth Observation Programmes, LinkedIn** [https://www.linkedin.com/posts/simonetta-cheli-7669879b_today-i-signed-on-behalf-of-the-european-activity-7483499449965756416-VzIv](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/simonetta-cheli-7669879b_today-i-signed-on-behalf-of-the-european-activity-7483499449965756416-VzIv?utm_source=chatgpt.com) **ESA: Leveraging Earth Observation in crimes against humanity investigations** [https://eo4society.esa.int/2025/06/19/leveraging-earth-observation-in-crimes-against-humanity-investigations/](https://eo4society.esa.int/2025/06/19/leveraging-earth-observation-in-crimes-against-humanity-investigations/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) **ESA: EVIDERI, Earth Observation for investigations related to crimes against humanity** [https://eo4society.esa.int/projects/evideri-eo-for-investigations-related-to-crimes-against-humanity/](https://eo4society.esa.int/projects/evideri-eo-for-investigations-related-to-crimes-against-humanity/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) **ESA: EO4SEC, Environmental Crimes and Illegal Trafficking** [https://eo4society.esa.int/projects/eo4sec-environmental-crimes-and-illegal-trafficking/](https://eo4society.esa.int/projects/eo4sec-environmental-crimes-and-illegal-trafficking/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) These ESA pages support the sections explaining how satellite imagery, radar, open-source intelligence, automated change detection and geospatial analysis may be used to corroborate events and investigate inaccessible locations. **ICC Office of the Prosecutor: Policy on Addressing Environmental Damage Through the Rome Statute, full PDF** [https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/2025-12/2025-env-eng.pdf](https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/2025-12/2025-env-eng.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com) **ICC Office of the Prosecutor: policies and strategies page** [https://www.icc-cpi.int/about/otp/otp-policies](https://www.icc-cpi.int/about/otp/otp-policies?utm_source=chatgpt.com) The policy explains how environmental damage may be relevant to the four existing Rome Statute crimes rather than creating an independent environmental offense. **Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, full PDF** [https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/2024-05/Rome-Statute-eng.pdf](https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/2024-05/Rome-Statute-eng.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com) **ICC Rome Statute information page** [https://www.icc-cpi.int/publications/core-legal-texts/rome-statute-international-criminal-court](https://www.icc-cpi.int/publications/core-legal-texts/rome-statute-international-criminal-court?utm_source=chatgpt.com) Article 5 lists the crimes within the Court’s jurisdiction. Article 8 contains the provision concerning widespread, long-term and severe environmental damage during an international armed conflict. **Assembly of States Parties report recording Vanuatu’s ecocide proposal** [https://asp.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/asp_docs/ICC-ASP-23-26-ENG.pdf](https://asp.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/asp_docs/ICC-ASP-23-26-ENG.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com) **Vanuatu’s official statement to the Assembly of States Parties** [https://asp.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/asp_docs/ASP23-GD-VUT-3-12-ENG.pdf](https://asp.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/asp_docs/ASP23-GD-VUT-3-12-ENG.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com) These documents confirm that Vanuatu, supported by Fiji and Samoa, proposed adding an independent crime of ecocide to Article 5. They do not record its adoption as part of the Rome Statute. **Directive (EU) 2024/1203 on the protection of the environment through criminal law** [https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2024/1203/oj/eng](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2024/1203/oj/eng?utm_source=chatgpt.com) **Direct PDF of the directive** [https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX%3A32024L1203](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX%3A32024L1203) This is separate from the ICC process. It establishes minimum European Union rules concerning environmental criminal offenses and sanctions. **UNODC: Forest crime converging with trafficking in persons, illegal mining and other organized crime** [https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/press/releases/2025/April/unodc_-new-study-shows-forest-crime-converging-with-other-types-of-organized-crime–fueling-harms-to-the-environment–communities–and-economy.html](https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/press/releases/2025/April/unodc_-new-study-shows-forest-crime-converging-with-other-types-of-organized-crime--fueling-harms-to-the-environment--communities--and-economy.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com) **UNODC policy paper: Climate, crime affecting the environment, migrant smuggling and trafficking in persons** [https://www.unodc.org/documents/human-trafficking/GLO-ACTII/UNODC_Climate-TIP-SOM_Policy_Paper.pdf](https://www.unodc.org/documents/human-trafficking/GLO-ACTII/UNODC_Climate-TIP-SOM_Policy_Paper.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com) **UNODC: Global Analysis on Crimes Against the Environment** [https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/forest-and-minerals-crime.html](https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/forest-and-minerals-crime.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com) **UNODC report on illegal gold mining and minerals crime** [https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/Crimes%20on%20Environment/ECR25_P2b_Minerals_Crime.pdf](https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/Crimes%20on%20Environment/ECR25_P2b_Minerals_Crime.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com) These support the article’s wider explanation of how environmental crime can intersect with illegal extraction, corruption, forced labor, displacement and trafficking in persons.