Lemke promotes INTERPOL project
A new initiative aims to fight the networks committing crimes against the environment, from illegal fishing to the trade in wild animals.
Berlin (dpa) - Germany’s Environment Ministry is teaming up with Interpol and the WWF to fight environmental crime. “Around the world, environmental crime has become one of the most harmful fields of criminal activity,” said Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (photo).
The new alliance is targeting international networks whose activities include destroying rainforests or hunting threatened species and exporting their prey to Europe. The alliance will focus on criminality in the areas of fisheries, threats to forests, mining, pollution, and the trade in wild animals. The Environment Ministry is providing 5 million euros over three years to fund the project.
Interpol Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza stressed the importance of coordinating investigations between different countries. It was often far too easy for criminal organisations to cross borders undetected, he said.
The initiative also aims to improve protections for environmental activists who campaign to protect rainforests, drawing on the expertise of the World Wildlife Foundation. Lemke. According to the Global Witness organisation, over 2,100 environmentalists have been killed around the world since 2012.