FAO and EU Forests

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has called for proposals for the EU-supported programme on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT). Proposals must address at least one of seven thematic priorities:
- support for Voluntary Partnership Agreements;
- improved transparency;
- monitoring and national control systems;
- the enhancement of community forestry;
- support for legal and regulatory frameworks;
- support for relevant private sector efforts; and
- the improvement of timber markets.

Deadline for proposals is 12 December.

EU FAO FLEGT Programme Guidelines

COMIFAC: Wildlife Law

The Central Africa Forest Commission (COMIFAC) has agreed on a Regional Action Plan for Strengthening National Wildlife Law Implementation for 2012-2016. The plan consists of four elements:
- cooperation and collaboration among relevant wildlife law enforcement and prosecution authorities;
- investigations at key border and transit points, domestic markets and transboundary areas;
- effective deterrents and prosecutions; and
- awareness of illegal wildlife trade issues.

The Action Plan will form the basis of a wildlife enforcement network in Central Africa, like those already in place in Central America, Europe, South and Southeast Asia. Participants also agreed to a roadmap for the implementation of the Action Plan, which includes the submission of the Action Plan for formal endorsement at the next meeting of the Council of Ministers of COMIFAC.

Press Release

Compliance and Enforcement Summit

The 1st International Chiefs of Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (ICECE) Summit brought together national leaders of environment, biodiversity and natural resource agencies and departments with law enforcement responsibilities to develop a global strategy for addressing environmental concerns. Over three days, the 230 delegates from nearly 70 States attended thematic sessions on Investigative Assistance and Operational Support, Information Management, Capacity Building Standards, and Effective Networks, as well as commodity specific side-meetings covering fisheries, forestry, pollution, and wildlife. Particular concern was expressed from many delegates on the scale of environmental crime and the connection with organized transnational crime, including issues of smuggling, corruption, fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, and murder.

Report

Further information

ICCWC and Tigers

The International Consortium to Combat Wildlife Crime recently convened the Heads of Police and Customs Seminar on Tiger Crime.

Further Information

Tiger Conservation Initiative

During its 80th Assembly, Interpol along with the World Bank and other partners launched Project Predator, an initiative to protect and save the world’s last surviving wild tigers by uniting the efforts of police, customs and wildlife officials in the 13 states in Asia. The program will commence with a meeting of senior police and customs officials from tiger range states, scheduled to be held in Bangkok (Thailand) from 13-14 February 2012.

CBD: Bushmeat Report

Key recommendations from a report prepared for the CBD Bushmeat Liaison Group include:
- implementation of community wildlife management and other improved wildlife-management approaches, such as game-ranching and hunting tourism;
- increase of raising of “mini-livestock'”(wild animals such as cane rats raised in small farms); and
- support of sustainable harvesting of non-timber forest products, such as bee-keeping.
The report also recognizes the need to clarify and define land-tenure and access rights, improve monitoring of bushmeat harvesting and trade, and enhance bushmeat-related law enforcement .

New Global Network Established

The Global Network of Prosecutors and General Attorneys was recently launched during the 9th International Conference on Environmental Compliance and Enforcement from 20-24 June in British Columbia (Canada). This initiative is an outcome of the workplan developed by the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law (IUCN-CEL) Specialist Group for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement and is being carried out in cooperation with the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE).

The Network will emphasize activities that ensure compliance with legal protections for flora and fauna, marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and habitats. Potential specific areas of focus include fish, forest and wetlands. The Network is to be formed from prosecutors and attorneys general that are educated on environmental compliance and enforcement issues and possess the skills and tools, relative to their legal system and culture, to successfully prosecute environmental crimes.

USA: Oils Spills and Criminal vs. Civil Violations

In the wake of a number of recent onshore oil spills in the United States and the fact that the number of crude and refined oil pipelines continues to expand in the US, an article titled: If polluting was a criminal offense, would it happen as much? recently appeared in High Country News. Citing US Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood's current proposal for the "Pipeline Safety Action Plan" and the Environmental Crimes Enforcement Act of 2011 (S. 350) pending before Congress; the author concludes that there is need for guidance and further legislation to be developed to determine when it is appropriate to use criminal enforcement to deter offenders.

OECD: Paper on Enforcement

This research paper titled “Environmental Enforcement in Decentralised Governance Systems: Toward a Nationwide Level Playing Field” focuses on methods to promote consistency in the implementation of environmental law. In particular, it analyzes approaches to managing environmental compliance monitoring and enforcement in several countries with decentralized systems of environmental governance, including Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the US.