In a world market, the key to combating illegal e-waste exports lies in developing an intelligence-based approach and increasing the exchange of information across boundaries.
This is according to the head of the UK's Environment Agency, Lord Chris Smith, speaking at the International Conference on Environmental Crime hosted by Interpol last week.
He said with opportunities for criminal activities against the environment being many and varied, successful progress depends on a proactive rather than reactive enforcement effort. These should be based on partnerships between law enforcement worldwide, non-governmental agencies, public and private industry, regulatory authorities, and civil society, Smith added.
He was pointing to the role of the Interpol Global E-waste Crime Group in this respect.
The mission of this international group is to have an intelligence-led global operation to investigate the links between organised crime and the illegal export of e-waste, providing sustainable solutions for intelligence, enforcement and prevention.
High on the conference agenda was the need to develop greater international and cross-sector collaboration against the increasing prevalence of organised crime networks behind environmental crime.
According to Interpol, the intelligence team will be the main driver to allow the group to make informed decisions about intelligence, enforcement and prevention. This has not been done before on this scale with environmental crime.
This conference provided “a platform for countries to align themselves strategically and combine their efforts in ensuring environmental laws are effectively enforced,” Interpol says.
Earlier this year, the United Nations Environment Programme report said global e-waste generation is growing by about 40 million tonnes a year and the most affected countries are developing nations in Asia and Africa.
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