EnviCrimeNet

We fight against environmental crime

EnviCrimeNet

A network of European Law Enforcement Agencies

Envicrimenet description

THE GENERAL CONTEXT

Environmental crime has long been battering our planet, although the initiatives to fight against this threat have appeared recently. Global warming constitutes one of the greatest hazards faced by humanity, health crises such as the COVID19 that currently plagues the world, are closely related to poor management of environmental resources where criminal activities against the environment play an essential role.

The highest policy-making institutions consider nowadays environment protection as one of their priorities. Several actors are included in this struggle, due to the fact that environmental issues necessarily have to be faced from a wide perspective, in this context, beyond each approach we analyze, crime is present somehow or other.

This is the current situation, there are a common knowledge that environmental crime is a serious problem, but we still count on weak structures to combat efficiently this hazard at international level.

environmental crime investigated

Several forms of environmental crime are being investigated, including:

The illegal import and export of waste products;
The smuggling of protected animal and plant species;
The forgery of transport documents pertaining to waste products, and protected animal and plant species;
Waste-related crime.

WHAT CAN WE OFFER?

This criminal typology requires specific support and advice at a high level within EU Institutions, in order to provide them with a comprehensive approach to the phenomena. An efficient work in this strategic field will facilitate the implementation of the adequate regulatory framework, taking advantage of the advice provided by the four pillars: Competent Authorities (by IMPEL), Prosecutor Activities (by ENPE), Judicial level (by EUFJE) and LEA,s through EnviCrimeNet is essential. This is our main goal regarding strategic advice to high level Institutions.

Taking into account the recent commitment of the European Commission, the “Green Deal” constitutes a platform in which the joint work of the four Networks outlined above takes on special relevance. The interactive work of these networks must be strengthened in order to be able to attack offences against the environment throughout the whole chain, following the recommendation quoted in several EU documents, for instance the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030.

EnviCrimeNet is also called to be a European Centre of Excellence on criminal matters related to this illegal activity. The main purpose in this sense is to develop relevant activities in order to involve the participants in the prosecution of these kind of crimes and set up a group for exchange best practices and lessons learned from previous experiences.

In addition to the above, EnviCrimeNet is a network with projection beyond the borders of the EU. The experience accumulated in working in the Network is used to export this successful model to other regions with high impact in the fight against environmental crime such as Africa or Latin America, promoting exchange and the generation of synergies.