Nature´s Guardians: enhancing effectiveness and efficiency of response to environmental crime

About the finalist 

Overview 

The Nature Guardians project, funded by the EU LIFE programme (LIFE+ Nature Guardians), strives to reduce offenses due to ineffective environmental law implementation. The issues addressed by the project include a range of environmental crimes from pollution, man-made fires, illegal killing of protected species, to the destruction of natural habitats resulting from inadequately assessed development projects.  

Guided by a holistic intervention logic, Nature Guardians transformed the judicial systems in Spain and Portugal, catalysing changes along the whole chain, from reporting cases of violations of environmental legislation, through prosecution, to the penalty phase. In addition, the project built capacity within the statutory policing and prosecution agencies and armed them with tools for detection and documenting environmental crimes. These tools include:  

• A unified economic valuation system for wildlife and habitat crimes which provides robust evidence that cannot be easily contested.  

• A uniform methodology for registering offenses, and the creation of a national online database in Spain for reporting environmental crimes (SICMA). The database has been integrated into the Guardia Civil’s operational processes. Registering violations in a unified database also allows the increased visibility of investment / development plans and facilitates Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) / Appropriate Assessment (AA) processes. 

• Tangible contibutions towards the establishment of the EU Environmental Intelligence Unit (engaging police intelligence and coordinating response of various agencies), including training over 1,500 law enforcement agents. 

• An environmental crimes investigation protocol developed in collaboration with EUROPOL (published in a multilingual manual). 

The carefully planned intervention strategy was implemented in two Natura 2000 sites in Spain (Vegas del Ruecas, Cubilar y Moheda Alta) and Portugal (Estuário do Tejo), by a consortium led by BirdLife Spain, and involving the Portuguese BirdLife partner, the Spanish Guardia Civil, and the Andalusian Ministry of Environment.  

The initiative has led to an improved conservation of species and habitats, many of which are within Natura 2000 areas. Notably, there has been a 62% reduction in wildlife mortality caused by illegal acts in Spain. Other noteworthy results include:  

1) Enhanced police investigations and improved coordination: Nature Guardians facilitated a 110% increase in the detection of environmental offenses in Spain and an 87% increase in Portugal.  

2) Strengthened law enforcement and reduced impunity: notably, there has been a 34.5% increase in legal proceedings initiated for crimes against flora, fauna and Natura 2000 sites.  

3) Raised awareness of the scale and motives behind environmental crime. 

The Nature Guardians project results have already been transmitted to other EU countries (e.g. Bulgaria and Greece) and will have a multiplier effect in other Member and non-member States. The project represents a tangible step forward in the environmental crime detection and prosecution, thus setting a benchmark in the EU.  

Pictures from the finalist

Video from the finalist: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH9sI672ZD0