THE ROLE OF THE INTERPOL ON ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMES

By: Fangon, Arvee E. Enriquez, David Jay Esguerra,Bon Josef Jaravata, Sherela Calcita, Ranilo

What is Environmental Crime?
An environmental crime is a violation of environmental laws that are put into place to protect the environment. When broadly defined, the crime includes all illegal acts that directly cause environmental harm. Such crimes are also referred to as ‘crime against the environment.’
What Is The Role Of The Interpol In This Environmental Crimes?
Environmental crime is a serious and growing international problem, and one which takes many different forms
Broadly speaking, wildlife crime is the illegal exploitation of the world’s wild flora and fauna, while pollution crime is the trade and disposal of waste and hazardous substances in contravention of national and international laws.
INTERPOL's response
In today’s global economy there is a need for an international strategy to deal with this type of crime. As the only organization with a mandate to share and process criminal information globally, INTERPOL is uniquely qualified to lead these efforts.
The INTERPOL Environmental Crime Programme: Leads global and regional operations to dismantle the criminal networks behind environmental crime using intelligence-driven policing; Coordinates and develops international law enforcement best practice manuals, guides and other resources; Provides environmental law enforcement agencies with access to our services by enhancing their links with INTERPOL National Central Bureaus; Works with the Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Committee to shape the Programme's strategy and direction

http://www.interpol.int/Crime-areas/Environmental-crime/Environmental-crime

THE FIVE MOST SERIOUS ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMES
1. Wild animal traffic regarded by the Interpol as the third largest illegal business in the world –after drug and arms trafficking –wild animal traffic raises a serious threat for the world´s biodiversity survival.. As a creepy side-note, the more endangered the species is, the higher the price is for it. The most requested species are tropical birds, reptiles ,arachnids and monkeys. But animal trafficking does not only intend to sell them as company animals; we also find such serious cases like the sale of elephants´ or rhinoceroses´ ivory on the black market, used to make decoration items and/or in traditional Chinese medicine. Africa is the 2. Indiscriminate logging –main cause of deforestation. The Amazon destruction –the largest rainforest in the world –speeded up in 2013 at a 29% rise in deforestation, according to the Brazilian government. The uncontrolled logging to get wood for furniture or other goods –or even for farm lands –is the most serious cause of this 3 environmental crime. Other lands –like the Indonesian forests –disappear because of excessive palm oil cultivations Countries With the Highest Deforestation Rates in the World 1) Honduras: -37% Historically Honduras was pretty much entirely covered by trees, with half a percent of the land not forested. Today about half of that remains (52%), with just about 16% existing in a frontier forest state. Between 1990-2005, Honduras saw a decline of 37% in its forest cover. 2) Nigeria: -36% About half the land in Nigeria used to be covered in trees. Today all but about 10% of those have been chopped down, and less than one percent exist as frontier forest. Nigeria has removed 36% of its trees in the past two decades.

3) The Philippines: -32% The islands that make up the Philippines used to be all forested. Today only 35% of those forests remain; the only (slightly) good news in that is about 28% remain as frontier forest. But with a deforestation rate over the past twenty or so years of 26%, the future isn't so bright. 3. Electronic waste mismanagement. In the so-called developed countries there are up to 50 million tonnes of electronic waste every year (computers, TV sets, mobile phones, appliances, etc.). And up to 75% of all these is estimated to leave the official circuit and a good deal of them to be illegally exported to Africa, China or India. It is the case of Ghana´s rubbish dump, a large electronic waste dump coming from the West. Even though the export of this dangerous waste, including the electronic one, is banned in some places, like for example in the EU since 1992, a very good deal of this rubbish, which should be treated, ends up in these remote places polluting it all. Study shows that China generated 11,1 million tons of e-Waste in 2012, followed by the US with 10 million tons, even though there was significant 24,5kg difference per capita in the US. In Europe, Germany discards the most e-Waste in total, but Norway and Liechtenstein throw away more per person. Britain is now the world's seventh most prolific producer, discarding 1,37 million tons or about 21 kg per person. 4. Finning(Shark Finning) A hundred million sharks are captured every year by specialised ships and up to 70 million of them are captured to only have their fins cut off alive on the ship and then be thrown back into the sea. This practice involves a slow and painful death, and it has been banned in the EU since 2003. Knowing that a kilogramme of a shark fin is worth 600 euros in the Asian market, the finning trade is patently obvious. Think about where the shark fin soup comes from when you next see it on the Asian restaurants´ menus, and think twice. Besides from being beautiful and strong creatures, sharks are essential animals for the trophic chain in oceans and therefore essential for their survival.

Shark finning increased since 1997 largely due to the increasing demand for shark fins for shark fin soup and traditional cures, particularly in China and its territories, and as a result of improved fishing technology and market economics. A third of fins imported to Hong Kong come from Europe. Spain is by far the largest supplier, providing between 2,000 and 5,000 metric tons a year.Norway supplies 39 metric tonnes, but Britain, France, Portugal and Italy are also major suppliers. Hong Kong handles at least 50% and possibly up to 80% of the world trade in shark fin, with the major suppliers being Europe, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, United States, Yemen, India, Japan, and Mexico. 5. Dumping in rivers and aquifers. This kind of environmental crime is most often caused by companies, factories and Public Administrations. Faecal and toxic waste coming from factories is usually dumped in a controlled way, but this is not always the case. In these cases waste is uncontrollably released into the environment, while at the same time polluting rivers, lakes aquifers, etc. This is a very serious crime because not only does it cause the local wildlife to die or get ill but also, as a result of the water leaking into the soil, it finds its way to pollute the surrounding flora as well, affecting the food chain http://www.activesustainability.com/crimes-against-the-environment OPERATION AND PROGRAM CONDUCTED BY INTERPOL TO FIGHT ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMES
On the crimes of wildlife trafficking
Project Wisdom
Between 1970 and 1989, the worldwide demand for ivory caused elephant populations to decline to dangerously low levels.
Since 2008, African and Asian rhinoceros populations have also been experiencing unprecedented intensification of poaching. Two sub-species, the Northern White Rhinoceros and the Western Black Rhinoceros, have been shot into extinction during the past five years.
This situation represents a major call for action for the international law enforcement community to combat the illegal trade of ivory and rhinoceros horns.

The response Project Wisdom supports and enhances the governance and law enforcement capacity for the conservation of elephants and rhinoceros.
Among others, the project has the following core objectives: Encourage communication, cooperation and collaboration with respect to intelligence exchange, cross-border investigations and training courses; Contribute to the apprehension of criminals and organized groups; Develop a global picture of the criminal activity hindering the ongoing conservation of elephants and rhinoceros; Reduce wildlife crime in Africa; Support and coordinate law enforcement operations; Provide case-oriented assistance; Emphasize deterrence as well as intelligence-led law enforcement; Contribute to broader civil objective http://www.interpol.int/Crime-areas/Environmental-crime/Operations Regarding the Crime of Illegal finning
Project Scale

Project Scale is an INTERPOL project to support member countries in identifying, deterring and disrupting transnational fisheries crime.
The project was launched during the 1st INTERPOL International Fisheries Enforcement Conference on 26 February 2013 at the INTERPOL General Secretariat in Lyon, France. The Conference was followed by the first meeting of the INTERPOL Fisheries Crime Working Group.
Project Scale is supported by the Government of Norway, the Pew Charitable Trusts and the United States Department of State.
World fish stocks are being rapidly depleted, and valuable species are nearing extinction. Because fish are a valuable commodity, the last decade has seen an escalation of transnational and organized criminal networks engaged in fisheries crime.

Fisheries crime undermines the sustainability of marine living resources and threatens food security and the economic, social and political stability of coastal states which rely on sustainable fisheries for their source of revenue http://www.interpol.int/Crime-areas/Environmental-crime/Operations Regarding Illegal Trade in Electronic Wastes
Project Eden
The illegal trade and disposal of waste threatens the quality of the global environment and poses a significant risk to human health.
When waste is discarded improperly or with little regard for environmental regulations, ecosystems are left vulnerable to the unregulated trade, endangering our air, water and soil.
The response
The project works closely with the INTERPOL Pollution Crime Working Group on the following objectives: Raise awareness of the illegal transnational movement of waste and the environmental and health consequences; Establish National Environmental Security Task Forces (NESTs) to ensure institutionalized cooperation between national agencies, INTERPOL National Central Bureaus and international partners; Develop sustainable institutional capacity of government agencies responsible for enforcing environmental legislation; Promote an intelligence-led approach and conduct operations to suppress criminal activity and disrupt trafficking; Examine the movement of electronic waste within and out of Europe through the CWIT Project (Countering WEEE Illegal Trade), a multi-disciplinary consortium funded by the European Commission.
Project Eden aims to fulfil these objectives by supporting member countries in: Criminal intelligence exchange and analysis to identify criminal networks, their reach and their modus operandi;

Regionally targeted operations conducted in importing and exporting countries. Operation Enigma Phase I targeted the movement of electronic waste between Europe and Africa. Operations Haz and Haz II targeted the illegal transport of hazardous waste between the US and Canada; http://www.interpol.int/Crime-areas/Environmental-crime/Operations On issues regarding indiscriminate logging
Project leaf

Illegal logging operations rely on corruption and could not occur without some form of consent from government officials responsible for protecting forests. Officials accept bribes that allow criminals to obtain logging permits, avoid detection and export illegal timber. This results in the loss of crucial resources for developing countries, while damaging their economies, public trust, and institutional structures.
The response
An international, coordinated response is essential in order to combat the organized transnational nature of the criminal groups involved in illegal logging. Otherwise, halting illegal logging in one country will merely result in an increase in another as the demand for illegally logged wood products remains unchanged.
Effective compliance and enforcement requires cooperation among the many different law enforcement agencies involved, including police, forest authorities, anti-corruption units, financial intelligence units (FIUs) and customs. Project Leaf aims to: Raise awareness of the impact of illegal logging; Develop law enforcement capacity; Enhance information and intelligence sharing; Establish National Environmental Security Task Forces (NESTs) to promote institutionalized cooperation between national agencies and international partners. http://www.interpol.int/Crime-areas/Environmental-crime/Operations