The Federal Environment Ministry of Germany has joined forces with the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL), and the World Wide Fund for Nature [WWF] to combat the impact of environmental crime.
The German government’s International Climate Initiative (IKI) has invested €5 million in the three-year project, which aims to identify and prevent transnational crimes impacting climate, biodiversity, and the environment.
The project will seek to tackle crime across five key areas: fisheries crime; forestry crime; illegal mining; pollution crime; and wildlife crime.
The term environmental crime covers a wide range of illegal activities that harm ecosystems, animals, plants, and the climate.
WWF’s chief executive of transformation and policies, Heike Vesper said: “Destroying the environment and biodiversity for profit is not a trivial offence, but a serious crime with local and global consequences for people and nature.
“Environmental crime is a phenomenon that has been greatly underestimated to date. Illegal deforestation, fishing and mining contribute significantly to global warming and species loss and therefore pose a massive threat to our human livelihoods.”
Internationally, environmental crime is estimated to be the third most profitable form of criminal activity, behind drug trafficking and counterfeit crimes.
Every year, environmental crime generates hundreds of billions of dollars in illegal profits.
INTERPOL
One of the goals of the German-funded project with INTERPOL and the WWF, is to strengthen the capacities and transnational cooperation between law enforcement agencies.
Their aim is to protect civil society organisations when uncovering and prosecuting environmental crimes.
Germany’s federal environment minister, Steffi Lemke said: “Transboundary organised environmental crime exacerbates the triple planetary crisis of biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution.
“Criminal organisations are causing massive damage to the natural foundations of our lives… By cooperating with INTERPOL and WWF, we will join forces and make a valuable contribution in the fight against transboundary environmental crime.”
INTERPOL is an inter-governmental organisation that works with 196 different countries.
Speaking about the impact of environmental crime, INTERPOL secretary general, Valdecy Urquiza said: “There are no borders to environmental crimes, which are uniquely destructive, with long-term consequences that extend far beyond the immediate damage.
“This joint project with Germany and [the] WWF will help provide real support in developing capabilities, intelligence and ultimately, operational outcomes.”
