Environmental Criminals

If we are in a Climate Emergency then I feel we should be tackling
Environmental Criminals with the full force of the law. What is the point of law if it isn't enforced? What is the point if the sactions are not sufficient to really deter the criminals?

Environmental crime is an illegal act which directly harms the environment. Criminal exploitation of the world’s natural resources affects our everyday lives, from the food we eat to the air we breathe. Environmental criminals pose a grave threat to our everyday lives, our planet and to future generations.
https://www.interpol.int/en/Crimes/Environmental-crime

The top 5 environmental crimes are:-

• Wild animal traffic
• Indiscriminate logging
• Electronic waste mismanagement
• Finning - up to 70 million sharks a year are captured only to have their fins cut off alive on the ship & then are thrown back into the sea for a slow & painful death.
• Dumping in rivers & aquifers by companies, factories & public administrations.

https://www.activesustainability.com/environment/crimes-against-the-environment/

In the USA EPA referrals for criminal prosecutions for environmental crimes are at a 30-year low.

 

The United Nations report "The Rise of Environmental Crime" recommends:-

 1 - Reduce threats to security and peace:  Strengthen the information collection, analysis and sharing,across sectors, in peacekeeping missions, Sanctions Commit-tees and across the UN as a whole on the role of natural resource exploitation in conflicts and security in order to inform holistic responses towards securing peace, secu-rity and sustainable development.

This includes integrating INTERPOL liaison officers in peacekeeping missions.  

2 - Rule of law: The international community must recog-nize and address environmental crimes as a serious threat to peace and sustainable development and strengthen the environmental rule of law at all levels to prevent safe havens including disrupting overseas tax havens, improve legislation at international and national levels, implement dissuasive penalties, substantial sanctions and punishments, capacity building and technological support, in order to enhance the enforcement and adjudication capacities in the area of environmental crime. 

3 - Leadership: Governments should establish central coor-dination and national cross-sectoral plans, with unity ofcommand and unity of efforts, in coordination with the relevant UN entities, INTERPOL, and other relevant international treaty bodies and institutions, as appropriate, to combat the involve-ment of criminal organized groups in environmental crimes.

4 - Financial support: Call upon the international devel-opment community to recognize and address environ-mental crime as a serious threat to sustainable development and strengthen the share of ODA to governance and judicial sector reform including to combating and preventing envi-ronmental crime. This should be targeted to capacity building and technological support to relevant agencies, national, regional and global law enforcement efforts against environ-mental crimes, such as information and analysis, inter-agency collaboration, enforcement, prosecution and the judiciary, especially in developing countries and fragile states.

5 - Economic incentives and consumer awareness:Strengthen economic incentives, relevant institutionsand awareness. This requires that plans for alternative liveli-hoods, economic incentives and consumer awareness also in importing countries are fully integrated and coordinated with enforcement efforts. Identifying best practices in behavioural change should be undertaken to reduce demand, including through a Communications Summit to address all points of this trade

https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/7662/-The_rise_of_environmental_crime_A_growing_threat_to_natural_resources_peace%2C_development_and_security-2016environmental_crimes.pdf.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y 

Every living thing on the planet depends on being able to live in harmony with the environment. We are the ones who disturb that balance. We are the ones who rape & destroy our own world. 

We are knowingly pissing on our own home. Ultimately we are also the ones who will pay the price for our actions & non actions. 

 

• by companies, factories and Public Administrations.
  
  https://www.activesustainability.com/environment/crimes-against-the-environment/
  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.
  
  https://www.activesustainability.com/environment/crimes-against-the-environment/Up to 70 million shaks are
  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.
  
  https://www.activesustainability.com/environment/crimes-against-the-environment/
  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.
  
  https://www.activesustainability.com/environment/crimes-against-the-environment