Setting the Scene

On 23 and 24 October 2018, the ‘Protecting habitats and endangered species in Europe through tackling environmental crime’ conference was held on the beautiful island of Crete, Greece. This unique conference was organised by four different projects, all with the common purpose of improving the environment: European Network of Prosecutors for the Environment (ENPE), the LIFE Natura Themis project, the IMPEL Water Crimes Group and the LIFE Reason for Hope project.

participants

organisations

countries

together in the Natural History Museum of Crete

Why it is so important to talk about the protection of habitats and endangered species

Humberto Delgado Rosa, Director for Natural Capital on the Directorate-General Environment of the European Commission

Words of welcome from the conference chairs

“As prosecutors we work in offices, following black letter law. We deal with paper, books and screens. This conference allows us to reconnect with the reason why we do it all : the sheer, intrinsic beauty and value of the environment. We’re reminded by LIFE Natura Themis of green issues and the need to protect flora and fauna. We’re reminded by our IMPEL Water Crimes colleagues of the importance of water, for all forms of life. I draw huge inspiration from our colleagues at LIFE Reason For Hope, whose work was so cruelly impacted by poachers. If we, as prosecutors, can catch those who commit these crimes, if we can prosecute, obtain damages and remove the proceeds of crime, then we can make others stop and think twice. It’s my hope that, during this conference, we can reconnect with the environment to gain fresh energy for the fight against those who seek to damage it.”

Anne Brosnan, ENPE President and LIFE-ENPE Project Sponsor

“We worked together with three LIFE projects – from the UK, Greece and Austria – and the IMPEL Water Crimes project to organise this conference. We share a common purpose to improve the environment. We have a wide range of specialists here, representatives from international organisations, and national environmental experts and prosecutors. I’m looking forward to hearing their speeches and to learning more about how we can protect habitats and endangered species in Europe through tackling environmental crime.”

Michalis Probonas, LIFE Natura Themis Project Coordinator

“Our LIFE Reason for Hope project aims to reintroduce the Northern bald ibis, a nearly extinct migratory bird species, to Europe. And we need you for that. We need your expertise, because we face illegal hunting. Recently one of our birds was shot in Italy. We need solutions, we need this network in order to reach sustainability in our project. This meeting, which brings together people from very different contexts, is right in the spirit of the European Union, and the spirit of LIFE projects.”

Johannes Fritz, LIFE Reason for Hope Project Manager

“This conference will highlight and present practical solutions and best practices to tackle environmental crime. The conference’s special focus on endangered species and habitats is not without reason. You can find grounds for it in the EU biodiversity strategy to 2020, which includes the objective to halt the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services in the EU by 2020. That’s quite an ambition! And the implementation and enforcement of environmental legislation is essential to achieve it. There is a significant need to strengthen the inspection and enforcement of this topic, and to join forces with other networks. IMPEL wants to continue to contribute to structured dialogue and cooperation between nature experts, authorities, prosecutors, judges, NGOs, networks and scientific institutes.”

Chris Dijkens, IMPEL Chair

Global knowledge exchange – thoughts from China

Dimitri de Boer, ClientEarth China Programme

Tackling environmental crime, wider perspectives

“One of the beauties of a network like INECE is that it has the ability to act nimbly and with agility in ways that government agencies aren’t always able to. It can respond to issues as they emerge, drawing on skills and expertise from all over the world. This complements the work done by governments. As environmental leaders, now is the time for us to take bold and drastic action towards the change we want to see. We can’t expect others to do it, if we can’t do it ourselves.”

Jane Morrison, INECE: Global challenges in tackling environmental crime

“Environment protection is a global issue. An issue that matters to all sectors of society. Prosecutors in China have several roles: to tackle environmental crimes; supervise administrative authorities through implementation of its duties endowed by law, involved environmental cases included; and represent the public’s interest by filing a Public Interest Litigation [PIL]. In the last five months of 2017, we filed 6,335 environmental PILs. We are here to learn from good practices in Europe and from the experiences of European prosecutors.”

Huang Weiping, The Chinese Supreme People’s Procuratorate

“In the Mediterranean region, 25 million birds are illegally killed or taken per year. Over-exploitation – including illegal killing, taking and trade – is one of the main drivers of bird extinctions globally, and is the second most significant threat – after habitat loss – to migratory birds. There is a clear need of enhanced international cooperation and support for countries towards effective law enforcement responses. It’s a problem that requires complex and multi-faced solutions at all levels.”

Laura Aguado, Coordinator for the UNEP task force on illegal killing of birds

“Illegal organised bird killing and trafficking affects some provinces in the south of Italy. We discovered a criminal organisation, with more than ten people involved, completely dedicated to poaching. Each worker captured no less than 200 to 300 birds a day, causing significant damage to the environment. Europol supported our investigation by providing intelligence and analysis services to Italian law enforcement authorities. We have been able to arrest the ten people involved, and have also installed a national action plan to stop and prevent the illegal killing of birds.”

Lieutenant Colonel Giuseppe Tedeschi and Major Claudio Marrucci, Forestale Carabinieri (Italy)

“The Prosecutor General’s Office at the Italian Supreme Court has the power of surveillance regarding the uniformed prosecution of all crimes by encouraging the prosecutorial offices to adopt uniformed practices and shared protocols. However, the Prosecutor General cannot issue binding and mandatory guidelines. Instead, the power of surveillance contributes to general monitoring. It serves a warning and compliance function by identifying and indicating the detected discrepancies, and by encouraging the adoption of uniform practices and shared protocol.”

Pasquale Fimiani, Italian Environmental Network of Prosecutors General

“What happens in Greece from an administrative perspective? The Environmental Liability Directive [ELD] applies when environmental damages occur from activities listed in Annex III. In Greece, damage to protected species and natural habitats caused by non-Annex III activities are also included in the scope of national legislation on the ELD. The main challenges for a more effective implementation in Greece are: timely environmental inspections so as to determine the damage and identify the responsible operator; the time-consuming procedure; and ensuring the financial resources.”

Stavroula Pouli, Ministry of Environment and Energy (Greece)