An article by: Dawod Rasooli (PhD of Soil & Water Silences; TISHK Center for Kurdistan Studies, Germany), Ali Abdelzadeh (Associate Professor in Political Science at Dalarna University, Sweden) and Evin Adin‎ (Soil Fertility Researcher; TISHK Center for Kurdistan Studies, Germany‎)

Introduction

Throughout history, non-democratic regimes have relied on oppression as a primary means of maintaining power. In this process, minorities and indigenous peoples have often been particularly vulnerable, as such regimes tend to view political dissent, cultural plurality, and social diversity as threats to the dominant order. In order to neutralize these perceived challenges, these regimes use systematic marginalization and various forms of oppression, including discrimination, forced assimilation, genocide, and violence. The main aim is to eliminate alternative sources of identity and resistance. At the same time, by undermining collective memory, restricting political participation, and controlling public discourse, these regimes aim not only to silence opposition, but also to reshape society according to a singular, state-imposed narrative. Consequently, the oppression of minorities and indigenous communities becomes a central strategy for consolidating and maintaining power.

However, oppression and marginalization often extend beyond the political and cultural spheres into the environmental realm. Underrepresented and marginalized peoples are also oppressed through ecocide – the deliberate destruction of the ecosystems upon which these communities depend. For many indigenous peoples and historically oppressed minorities, land is a vital source of livelihood, as well as a foundation of cultural identity, spiritual practices, and collective memory. Non-democratic regimes often facilitate large-scale extractive projects, deforestation, dam construction and resource exploitation in order to undermine the social, economic, and cultural survival of minorities, while simultaneously weakening their capacity for resistance. In this way, ecocide functions as both an environmental and political instrument that reinforces existing power hierarchies and extends oppression beyond human targets to the natural systems that sustain them. ‎

Ecocide as a Structural Weapon Against the Voiceless

In Greater Kurdistan, ecocide is unfolding through multiple, interconnected projects that devastate both land and communities. The drying of Lake Urmia, the construction of the Ilisu Dam on the Tigris River, and the aerial spraying of pesticides over the pastures of Kermanshah are not simply responses to “water scarcity” or “energy needs.” Rather, these interventions are coordinated to serve geopolitical objectives: depopulation, forced displacement, and the severance of communities from their ancestral lands.

Why is this strategy so effective against stateless nations? The answer lies in the structure of international law, which recognizes only sovereign states as legitimate actors. This leaves the unrepresented and stateless nations without formal avenues for redress. A Kurd in Amed, a Tibetan in Lhasa, an Assyrian in Nineveh, or a Papuan in West Papua possesses no institutional mechanism to formally challenge the destruction of their homelands. In this legal vacuum, acts of ecocide, such as the drying up of lakes, the construction of dams, and the poisoning of pastures, are transformed from potential crimes into instruments of political control and policy tools that are sanctioned by the state.

The ecocide occurring in Kurdistan reflects a broader international reality faced by all UNPO member communities and other unrepresented peoples worldwide. In the case of Kurdistan, four different regimes are employing water diversion and deforestation policies that not only fragment the ecosystem but also undermine the Kurdish people’s ties to their land. In the Tibetan region, extensive mining activities on the Tibetan Plateau displace nomadic populations, replacing them with state-supported settlements. In the Amazon, large-scale deforestation driven by agribusiness is displacing unrepresented indigenous peoples from their lands. In West Papua, rainforest destruction for nickel mining provides little benefit to local communities. These examples demonstrate that ecocide disproportionately affects the unheard, flourishing in the legal and political silence that surrounds stateless nations.

Furthermore, Kurdistan exemplifies the particular dangers of cross-border ecocide. The Zagros Mountains form a single ecological system, yet political boundaries divide the region among four states. Each of these regimes fragment the ecosystem through dam construction, river diversion, or deforestation. The purpose is not sustainable resource management, but the disruption of collective Kurdish identity by dismantling interpersonal ties as well as the relationship between people and land. In this context, ecocide becomes a deliberate instrument of geopolitics, a weapon through which the existence of a divided nation is threatened by the destruction of the land that sustains it.

Why the UNPO Must Prioritize Ecocide

Inasmuch as UNPO’s agenda is grounded in the promotion of self-determination, it must acknowledge a fundamental reality: self-determination is impossible in the absence of a living ecosystem. When ecosystems are destroyed, the essential conditions necessary for communities to exercise self-determination are eliminated.

Moreover, the use of digital documentation, data analysis, and narrative tools, developed in collaboration with stateless and marginalized communities, establishes new paradigms of collective witnessing. By mapping deforestation, water diversion, or soil contamination, communities can demonstrate the systemic nature of ecocide, connecting environmental damage directly to strategies of displacement, cultural erasure, and political marginalization. In this way, land becomes a medium of testimony, and ecological harm is elevated from an abstract concept to a documented instrument of oppression that can challenge both state and international actors.

Finally, prioritizing ecocide strengthens solidarity within the UNPO. Its members, ranging from Kurds and Tibetans to Assyrians and Papuans, face a shared existential threat rooted in environmental destruction linked to political oppression. Collectively documenting ecocide provides a unifying framework through which the voices of these communities, systematically excluded from international legal and political systems, can be preserved, amplified, and mobilized. This approach enables the UNPO to redefine ecocide as a central axis of the struggle for survival, justice, and self-determination.