Green watchdog joins global eco-crime task force
Environmental crimes are on the rise around the world but a new international task force that includes a Canadian watch dog is pledging to find new ways to bring the delinquents to justice.
Scott Vaughan, the federal commissioner of environment and sustainable development, is one of nine members of the new initiative, spearheaded by auditors, chief justices and attorneys general from around the world.
In an interview, Vaughan said the goal is to crack down on crimes such as illegal logging and smuggling of banned goods or substances, with a particular focus on helping countries that lack the right enforcement tools and laws.
“Environmental crimes at large are growing in many countries and also environmental prosecutions are increasing,” said Vaughan, who attended a meeting of the new panel last week in Washington.
The members of the panel, the International Advisory Council for the Advancement of Justice, Governance and Law for Environmental Sustainability, are not paid, and the project will be funded through existing budgets at the United Nations Environment Programme, said a UN spokeswoman.
While the panel was not expected to have any binding powers, Vaughan said the initiative would promote information sharing about different practices to help some countries catch up, and others to stay ahead of environmental criminals.
For example, he noted that some countries have adopted special environmental courts to review alleged environmental crimes.
“The law especially builds on referring to precedents and judgments on other jurisdictions when it’s applicable,” Vaughan said. “Some countries are ahead, some countries are behind, (and) some countries have taken a different course.”
But he said all would benefit from the work of the panel that includes justices from courts in Argentina, Brazil, Kenya, Malaysia and the United Kingdom.
While governments might each have their own environmental protection programs and policies, he said the new panel also underscores the need to have effective laws with teeth.