PERIVALLON and EMERITUS join forces with EMPACT in the wake of the new Environmental Crime Directive

EMPACT

The European Union recognises environmental crime as a serious form of organised crime that is undeniably on the rise. This illicit activity takes many forms, from the disposal of hazardous waste to the illegal trade of environmentally sensitive materials, posing a significant threat to the environment, human health, and the pursuit of sustainable development. Addressing this multifaceted threat is challenging and requires advanced solutions and specialised knowledge. In this sense, the new Environmental Crime Directive implements a new legal instrument providing Members States with obligations in different areas such as the establishment of new offences and penalties. In terms of the effectiveness of the enforcement, it includes a set of provisions for sufficient technical and technological resources, specialised training, as well as coordination and cooperation mechanisms within and between Member States to be completed by sound national strategies.

 

PERIVALLON and EMERITUS, two EU-funded projects dedicated to combating environmental crime, will deliver results and develop tools that will lead to more effective detection and enforcement of such offences, thus assisting Member States in the implementation of the Directive. Aiming at maximum impact, the projects join forces with EMPACT, the EU flagship instrument for multidisciplinary and multiagency operational cooperation to combat organised crime at European level. This partnership aims to foster collaboration, enhance efforts and consolidate resources to fight against a wide range of environmental crimes.

 

A shared commitment to fight environmental crime

 EMPACT

Regarding environmental crime, EMPACT is focused on disrupting criminal networks involved in all forms of this crime, with a specific focus on waste and wildlife trafficking, as well as on criminal networks and individual criminal entrepreneurs who are able to infiltrate legitimate business structures at a high level or to set up own companies to facilitate and conceal their crimes.

 

PERIVALLON

PERIVALLON aims to provide an improved and comprehensive intelligence picture of organised environmental crime. This includes developing innovative tools and solutions for preventing, detecting and investigating such types of criminal activities and for assessing their environmental impact. As a result, enhanced investigation processes and methodologies will be derived through the capabilities provided by the developed tools and solutions, and the insights obtained though the proposed Environmental Crime Observatory. Police Authorities, Border Guards and National/Regional Authorities, as end users, will benefit from an innovative training curriculum to tackle these criminal activities more effectively. Improved international cooperation will be facilitated through improved data sharing enabled by blockchain technologies, while improved regulation shaping and tuning will be supported through relevant policy recommendations.

 

EMERITUS

EMERITUS aims to develop a protocol for the effective investigation of environmental crimes, integrating the use in operations of innovative surveillance and analysis technologies. In order to enable the actual use of such technologies, a complementary training programme will be undertaken during the project to foster the intelligence and investigation capabilities of the authorities responsible for enforcing environmental regulations and prosecuting related crimes, combining theoretical aspects and practical simulations. This is intended to support Law Enforcement Authorities (LEAs) and Border Guards (BGs) in the effective investigation of environmental crime at national and cross-border levels, facilitating collaborative operations and networking in this domain.

 

Key areas of collaboration

The partnership will focus on several key areas of collaboration:

  • PERIVALLON and EMERITUS will participate in two EMPACT operational actions: Waste
  • Trafficking action and Cyber Patrolling action.
  • Information sharing: The projects will share their open datasets and algorithms with the EMPACT network, supporting the access of Member States to new tools and technologies. In this sense, PERIVALLON shares the first public dataset for illegal waste disposal sites detection: https://zenodo.org/records/7991872
  • Capacity building: The projects will invite members of the EMPACT network to the training sessions developed, enhancing their capacity to combat environmental crime by means of innovative tools and procedures. Both projects have already started the delivery of their training programme in June 2024 and will proceed with more activities in Athens (Greece) during September and October, and in Linköping (Sweden) in October.

 

This partnership marks an additional step towards the fight against environmental crime. EMPACT, PERIVALLON and EMERITUS remain committed to one goal: safeguarding the environment for the generations to come.

 

Learn more

EMPACT: https://www.europol.europa.eu/crime-areas-and-statistics/empact

PERIVALLON: https://perivallon-he.eu/

EMERITUS: https://emeritusproject.eu/