International Perspectives on Preventing Wildlife Crime
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PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE International Perspectives on Preventing Wildlife Crime 23-25 November 2018 Athens, Greece UNIVERSITY OF CRETE Editing: Christos Georgiadis, Eleni Nteka, Michalis Probonas, Kalliopi Baxevani Coordination of edition: Michalis Probonas, UoC-NHMC Proof editor/Translations in English: Ben Petre Graphic design: Yiannis Charkoutsis, UoC-NHMC Citation: Georgiadis, Ch., Nteka, E., Probonas, M. & Baxevani, K. (Eds). 2020. Proceedings of the International Conference on “International Perspectives on Preventing Wildlife Crime”. 23-25 November 2018, Athens, Greece. University of Crete-Natural History Museum of Crete, Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature, 72 pages. For more information: University of Crete-Natural History Museum of Crete (UoC-NHMC) Knossos Avenue Premises, GR-71409 Heraklion, Crete, Greece Tel.: +30 2810 393265, Fax: +30 2810 393294 E-mail: [email protected] Url: www.lifethemis.eu Printing: TYPOKRETA HERAKLION 2020 PUBLICATION FREE OF CHARGE © University of Crete - Natural History Museum of Crete, Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature ISBN: 978-960-367-047-6, 978-960-7197-32-0 This book may not reproduced in whole or part, used commercially or reissued without permission from the University of Crete - Natural History Museum of Crete and the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature. FOREWORD Since October 2015 the Natural History Museum of Crete (University of Crete) has been implementing a LIFE project titled Promoting awareness of wildlife crime prosecution and liability for biodiversity damage in NATURA 2000 areas in Crete (LIFE14 GIE/GR/000026 – LIFE Natura Themis), with 60% of co-funding coming from the LIFE Environmental Governance and Information funding instrument administered by the European Commission/ Executive Agency for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (EASME). The project is further co-financed by the Green Fund, together with funds from all the project beneficiaries. LIFE Natura Themis will run for five years (01/10/2015 – 30/09/2020), with the island of Crete as its pilot implementation area. The Natural History Museum of Crete (University of Crete) is the Coordinating Beneficiary, with the Heraklion Bar Association (HB), the Chania Bar Association (CB), the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature (HSPN) and the Hellenic Ministry of Environment and Energy’s Coordination Office for the Implementation of Environmental Liability (MEEN-COIEL) as Associated Beneficiaries. The project’s objectives are: to map environmental offending in the Region of Crete; provide in-depth information to the island’s lawyers, judges, as wellas and investigating and regional authorities on all aspects of environmental crime; raise awareness on the prosecution of wildlife crimes; increase knowledge about environmental liability for restoring damage and, in the long term, reduce and prevent environmental offending by informing local societies and raising their awareness of the issue. As part of the LIFE Natura Themis project, an International Conference titled “International Perspectives on Preventing Wildlife Crime” was held in Athens from 23 to 25 November 2018, with the participation of leading environmental lawyers and scientists, working on the political and legal aspects of wildlife conservation in and beyond Greece. The Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature organised what was generally acclaimed as an impeccably organized congress. Over 140 attendants were informed of developments in European and national environmental legislation, implementation of the Environmental Liability Directive (ELD) and emerging threats to flora and fauna, as well as possible future tools for tackling the loss of biodiversity and European natural heritage. The conference programme included twenty-six presentations offering comprehensive coverage of issues including: a) wildlife crime legislation and its implementation; b) illegal flora and fauna trafficking; c) cross-sectoral issues in wildlife crime and biodiversity conservation; d) the role and contribution of the LIFE Natura Themis project in tackling environmental crime; e) environmental crimes against wildlife in Europe. Leading figures in the European legal community working in Environmental Law, experts and representatives of public services and/or agencies charged with implementing environmental legislation, officials from environmental NGOs on the front line of the battle against biodiversity loss, and specialist consultants and scientists working in ecology and conservation analysed a wide range of issues. These included the process of national and European law making; acquired rights and problems in implementing legislation, its effectiveness and conflicts arising in relation to European Union financial and social policies; the legal, financial and technological instruments at the disposal of European judges and prosecutors in implementing Environmental Law; deficiencies in Environmental Law in Europe and proposals for improving it. This Volume of Proceedings contains the entire text of most of the papers presented at the congress. In cases where full texts were not submitted, we have included summaries. Only one presentation does not appear in either full or summary form, at the presenter’s request. Lastly, the volume includes brief biographies of all the contributors. We hope you find all the papers useful, and that they can prompt better, more effective implementation of Environmental Law in Greece. Dr Michalis Probonas University of Crete – Natural History Museum of Crete (UoC – NHMC) Co-ordinator, LIFE14 GIE/GR/000026 – LIFE Natura Themis CONTENTS Page Programme of the International Conference ................................................................................................. 6 Opening Biodiverσιty of Greece. Nikos Petrou ........................................................................................................................... 9 The LIFE Programme. George Protopapas ................................................................................................................. 13 The LIFE Natura Themis project. Michalis Probonas ................................................................................................ 14 SESSION I: Wildlife Crime Legislation and Implementation ............................................................................ 19 Wildlife crimes and the protection of biodiversity: economic, social and environmental interactions. Joseph van der Stegen ................................................................................................................................................. 19 EU legislation relating to wildlife crimes. Ludwig Krämer ........................................................................................ 20 Overview of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) case law on wildlife crimes. Valerie Fogleman ........................................................................................................................................................... 23 SESSION II: Focus on Wildlife Trafficking .......................................................................................................... 25 Enforcement of EU wildlife protection and implementation by domestic judges. Matthias Keller .................... 25 IMPEL’s contribution to implementing the EU Action Plan against wildlife trafficking. John Visbeen .............. 26 SESSION III: Cross-cutting Issues on Wildlife Crime and Biodiversity Protection ................................... 29 Sanctions for wildlife crimes: A thorny problem. Georgios Almpouras ................................................................. 29 Combating biodiversity loss and wildlife crime through environmental liability. Stavroula Pouli ....................... 30 Economic instruments as a complement to biodiversity protection. Angeliki Kallia-Antoniou ......................... 35 SESSION IV: The LIFE Natura Themis Project – its Role and Added Value ............................................... 37 Illegal killing, trapping and trade in wild birds: out of sight, out of mind? Konstantina Ntemiri ......................... 37 Beyond Themis. Capitalizing experience in combating environmental crime. Dr Georgios Sbokos .................. 39 Page Accessing environmental information in Greece: just how easy is it? Maria Maniadaki ..................................... 41 LIFE Natura Themis: Preventing wildlife crime by using IT tools. The LIFE Natura Themis Application. Christos Georgiadis ...................................................................................................................................................... 46 SESSION V: Panel Discussion on National Experiences .................................................................................. 47 Wildlife Crime in EU Landscapes .............................................................................................................................. 47 EcoLex Life project. Slovenia, Lea Tomažič ............................................................................................................... 47 Environmental crime. A kind of crime that affects us all. Malta, Antaia Christou ................................................ 48 Review of the wildlife crime situation in Cyprus. Cyprus, Nikolaos Kassinis ........................................................ 51 Illegal raptor poisonings in Hungary: experiences of the Helicon and PannonEagle LIFE projects.