Company directors who cause severe or reckless damage to nature could face jail terms or hefty fines under a bill that aims to criminalise environmental destruction in Scotland.

The proposed law, which would be the first of its kind in the UK, is designed to put a class of environment offences known as ecocide on a similar legal footing to other grave crimes such as murder.

Monica Lennon, the Scottish Labour MSP who has tabled the ecocide (Scotland) bill in the Scottish parliament, said it would introduce strict new legal duties on company executives and government agencies, with potential sanctions such as heavy fines or prison sentences.