Easter Island study casts doubt on theory of ‘ecocide’ by early population
GuardianJUN 29 2024
Study: DNA Analysis Challenges Easter Island 'Ecocide' Theory
Above: View on the "traveller" moai statue in front of Rano Raraku, Easter Island. Image copyright: Micheline Pelletier/Contributor/Corbis Historical via Getty Images
The Spin
Establishment-critical narrative
The Rapa Nui collapse myth has been debunked year after year for decades — and these latest findings support that there was no such thing as a Rapa Nui "ecocide." However, given that this enduring lie is all too convenient for green activists and masks the impacts of European colonialism, this is hardly the last nail in the coffin of this narrative.
Pro-establishment narrative
Even if evidence comes to show that Diamond was wrong to choose Rapa Nui as an example of ecocide, the most important issue in his work was to raise awareness about the threat that anthropogenic environmental degradation poses to humanity. Now, the international community has created a legal definition of ecocide to criminalize such damages.