Environmental Crime and Enforcement: The Legal Landscape
What are the top 5 environmental crimes?
Types of Environmental Crime Littering, Improper waste disposal, Oil spills, Destruction of wetlands, Dumping into oceans, streams, lakes, or rivers, Groundwater contamination, Improperly handling pesticides or other toxic chemicals, Burning garbage
Environmental Crime and Enforcement: The Legal Landscape
Environmental crime is a growing concern for communities, governments, law enforcement and the courts across all nations. As the population continues to grow and technologies advance, the way we interact with the environment and its sustainability is becoming ever more crucial. An important part of managing and protecting our environment is the enforcement of laws, regulations and policies designed to protect our limited resources and mitigate the impact of human activity on the environment. In today’s world, environmental crime has become a growing issue, and the legal landscape surrounding it is constantly evolving.
Environmental crimes can range from a small disturbance of wildlife to large scale pollution, dumping and illegal large-scale harvesting of endangered species. These crimes have real-life consequences that can disrupt the ecosystems and affect the health and safety of citizens around the world. Many governments have embraced a strengthened potential for criminal prosecutions, which is great news. In the United States, the national Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) currently employs more than 700 environmental crime investigators who investigate cases of environmental crime. Similarly, many other countries such as the UK, Canada, and Japan, have established or strengthened their own environmental enforcement bodies to combat the threat of environmental crime.
In the United States, federal law lays out a framework for enforcement of environmental crimes as part of the U.S. Code. The EPA in particular has the authority to fine and criminally prosecute any persons found in violation of their laws. The types of violations that can be prosecuted include polluting activities, negligence of public facilities, and even hacking the EPA computer system in some cases. Additionally, the EPA can investigate and enforce criminal activities carried out by individuals, companies and other entities.
Internationally, enforcement of environmental crimes is a bit more complicated. Most countries have some form of environmental law, but just how well those laws are enforced and the penalties they come with can vary pretty drastically. The United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) has proposed a set of guidelines and principles that aim to create more consistent enforcement standards across the globe. One such proposal is the International Tribunal on Environment and Justice (ITJE), which would be a global court system to prosecute and judge environmental criminals. The ITJE is still in its early stages, however, and is far from becoming a reality.
In the absence of a global enforcement framework, it is up to individual countries to carry out the enforcement of environmental crimes. However, this does not mean that countries cannot work together to combat the issue. For instance, the use of international agreements such as REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) has been used to set data standards on hazardous materials. Such measures give governments, law enforcement officials and courts around the world a tool to combat cross-border environmental crimes.
Environmental crime is becoming increasingly important and the legal landscape continues to evolve as governments across the world work to strengthen their enforcement capabilities. While enforcing environmental crimes is not always a simple task, it is an essential one if we are to protect our environment and promote sustainable development.
