What are the crimes against the environment with examples

These are some examples of environmental crimes .

• Indiscriminate felling .
• Illegal hunting of animals .
• Wild animal trafficking .
• Using explosives or poisons for hunting.
• Toxic spills.
• Poor management of hazardous waste.
• Illegal fishing.
• Finning or trading shark fins.
• Introduction of invasive species .
• Introduction of unregulated non-native species.
• Abandonment of domestic animals.
• Hunting, fishing, trapping and trading of protected species of fauna and flora.

After knowing what are the crimes against the environment with some examples, we go on to see which are the main bodies in charge of judging environmental crimes at the international level and that are in charge of finding and arresting criminals:

• International Criminal Court.
• International Court of Justice.
• Interpol.

In 1998, together with the approval of the “Rome Statute”, the International Criminal Court was established , and in 2002 it came into force. The International Criminal Court is linked to the United Nations and is a complementary body to national criminal jurisdictions. This body is empowered to try people on the most serious crimes of international significance, including crimes against the environment in 2016 .

Regarding conflicts between states, these are resolved by the International Court of Justice , specifically by the ” Environmental Chamber of the ICJ ” which hears the demands of one state against another in relation to violations against the environment and crimes against natural resources.

An example of this can be found in 2018, when the International Court of Justice settled a conflict between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, which arose when Nicaragua caused damage to the Island of Portillos (Costa Rica), as a result of dredging work carried out with intention to unite the San Juan River with the Caribbean Sea.

This organization is the ” International Criminal Police Organization ” and is made up of a total of 194 countries. Its purpose is to help the police of these member countries to collaborate with each other in the prosecution of international crimes, facilitating information between countries and providing technical support to the internal organizations of each country.

The Interpol has a Security Unit Environmental whose purpose is to combat environmental crime at international level . To do this, it has a National Group specialized in Environmental Security, whose purpose is to focus the activities to combat environmental crimes that affect a certain country or countries, uniting both the police and customs as well as intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. , thus enabling collaboration with scientists and experts in combating these types of crimes. It also has four teams that operate worldwide (Fishing, Hunting, Pollution and Wildlife), helping to dismantle organizations responsible for environmental crimes.

Working to combat fishing crimes , such as illegal fishing , it conducts an assessment of national law enforcement agencies and provides support tools to neutralize and prevent fishing crimes both at sea and in rivers, lakes, lagoons and more. aquatic areas.

As an example of a crime against the environment related to fishing, we highlight the “Operation Spindrift”, carried out in 2014 whose objective was the dismantling of a transactional trade network of a species of conch called “abalone”, exchanging for this information between seven countries.

It collaborates with member countries to detect and stop crimes related to pollution , helping national organizations to arrest those responsible for such crimes.

In turn, Interpol has different projects whose purpose is to combat different crimes in the matter of pollution, such as “The Eden Project”, in charge of detecting and dismantling the trade in illegal dumping of waste at an international level and the “Project Maritime Pollution ”, which addresses marine pollution crimes such as illegal dumping from ships, in order to avoid the cost of recycling and treating said waste.

It helps to detect and neutralize criminal networks of illegal trade in wild flora and fauna , coordinating various operations through which numerous species subject to illegal trade have been seized.

Among them, it is worth highlighting the “Operation Thunderstorm” carried out in 2018 and directed at the illegal trade of species in 93 countries, mobilizing the Police, customs and border services (among others) and whose action resulted in almost 2000 seizures, as well as the identification of 1,400 suspects, detained around the world.Another of the best examples of crimes against the environment related to the illegal trade of species or parts of these is the “Operation Worthy II” in 2015, whose objective was the ivory trafficking networks detection in Africa, detecting a total of 25 criminal groups, which resulted in the seizure of 4.5 tons of elephant ivory and rhinoceros horns, as well as the arrest of 376 people involved.

If you want to read more articles similar to What are crimes against the environment with examples , we recommend that you enter our Environmental Policy category .