Enforcement and Compliance News

National leaders of environmental, biodiversity and natural resources agencies, and departments with law enforcement responsibility, have gathered for the first time to design a global compliance and enforcement strategy to address environmental security.

In this issue we announce and highlight our unprecedented event of the year, the International Chiefs of Environmental Compliance and Enforcement where environmental enforcement leaders from around the world will come together to develop an international strategy for environmental security.

Feel free to forward the newsletter on to other interested parties and please note that the newsletter can also be downloaded by visiting http://www.interpol.int/Crime-areas/Environmental-crime/Resources.

A report released today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that the benefits of reducing fine particle and ground level ozone pollution under the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments will reach approximately $2 trillion in 2020 while saving 230,000 people from early death in that year alone. The report studied the effects of the Clean Air Act updates on the economy, public health and the environment between 1990 and 2020.

Indonesia has asked the UK to take back 1,800 tonnes of suspected contaminated waste, the Environment Agency has revealed.

On 29 February, a facilitated online discussion that INECE initiated on strategies and best practices for enforcing the requirements of environmental impact assessments (EIAs), was concluded. This dialogue was a follow-up to a successful workshop during the INECE conference in Canada in 2011. It elicited the views and insights of leaders in the EIA field from around the world, covered a wide range of issues concerning all stages of the EIA process and involved many types of participants and stakeholders.

The National Environmental Management Act, read together with the Criminal Procedure Act, provides for individuals to institute private criminal prosecutions for the protection of the environment. This is a risk for companies which have reached an accommodation with the authorities regarding environmental laws, only to be faced with a private prosecution. While the act facilitates such proceedings, there are limitations.

Read full story: http://www.internationallawoffice.com/Newsletters/Detail.aspx?g=2cd62443...

The legal effects of contravening the legislative provisions on the export of waste for disposal or recovery to developing countries can be substantial. The Norwegian Climate and Pollution Agency recently proposed an increase in the criminal penalties for illegal export of waste.

Read full story: http://www.internationallawoffice.com/Newsletters/Detail.aspx?g=266f0d5b...

The Appeal Court has upheld a lower court's ruling ordering Lead Concentrates Co to pay 36 million baht in compensation to Karen villagers suffering from lead contamination. The court said yesterday it agreed with the Kanchanaburi Provincial Court which ruled in 2010 that the lead-mining firm was responsible for polluting the Klity Creek in Lower Klity village in Thong Pha Phum district. Altogether 151 villagers, including Jisa Nasuansuwan, 64, who died of cancer in 2008, were exposed to toxic substances in the creek, the sole water supply for the village for 14 years.

Fourteen air pollution control measures, if implemented today, could not only slow the pace of global warming, according to an intensive study by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), but also improve health and boost agricultural productivity. All regions of the world would benefit as a result, NASA found, but the biggest health and agricultural gains would be realized in Asia and the Middle East as a result of greenhouse (GHG) emissions reductions.

The Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness adopted a declaration titled the "Busan Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation." The Forum reviewed global progress on aid effectiveness, including a review of targets set in the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, shared experiences in delivering the best results, and developed new commitments toward effectiveness of aid in reducing poverty, achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and supporting development beyond 2015.