Climate change, together with wildlife crime, illegal exploitation of natural resources and illicit trafficking and dumping of hazardous material, is putting at danger the economic, environmental and cultural lives of communities worldwide.

Environmental crimes encompass a broad list of illicit activities, including illegal trade in wildlife; smuggling of ozone-depleting substances (ODS); illicit trade of hazardous waste; illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing; and illegal logging and trade in timber.

Organized crime organizations, militias and terrorists are destructing natural resources, increasingly benefiting from environmental crimes illicit revenues due to poor governance, law enforcement and corruption. Led by vast financial gains and facilitated by a low risk of detection and scarce conviction rates, criminal networks and organized criminal groups are becoming increasingly interested in such illicit transnational activities. Despite these issues, environmental crimes often fail to prompt the appropriate governmental response. Often perceived as ‘victimless’ and incidental crimes, environmental crimes frequently rank low on the law enforcement priority list, and are commonly punished with administrative sanctions, themselves often unclear and low.

Content

The training module will promote participants' understanding of what environmental crimes are, improving their knowledge on how law enforcement bodies and judicial systems are responding as well. The existing international legal framework will be examined with a view to improve participants’ ability to address the issue in a comprehensive way and promote their role as advocates for an effective change in public policies, strategies and practices.

The following issues will be featured during the course:

Environmental crimes: an overview of the phenomenon and legal framework
Environmental crimes: an organized crime business - special focus on e-waste
International environmental agreements
Status and impact of climate change
Environment and the SDGs
Environmental migrants

The lecturers are scientists and policy makers, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges, and other justice practitioners from national, regional and international organization dealing with environmental crimes, sustainable development and green governance.

The training module will promote transfer of good practices and enhance networking with leading academic institutions, national, regional and international organizations, and research centres.

Course information

The course will be held from 6 to 10 November 2017 at the United Nations Campus in Turin, Italy. The course is designed for university graduates in Law, Political Science, International Relations, Economics, Social Science, Public Policy and other relevant disciplines.

It is also suited to professionals working in governmental institutions, local authorities, international and non-governmental organizations.

Candidates must have a very good working knowledge of English. Upon full completion of the course the UNICRI will grant a Certificate of Participation.