News Page Back to News headlines UNEP Information Note. For use as information. Not an official record.
Environmental crimes do have victims.
The cumulative costs in environmental damage and the long-range toll in illness, injury, death and extinction of biodiversity and continued depletion of the ozone layer may be considerable. Support for the workshop, responding to an important component of the United Nations Environment Programme, comes from the G-8 Environmental Ministers' Meeting, held in April 1998 and an initiative and generous financial contribution from the Government of the United Kingdom which has also worked tirelessly in the planning and organization of the workshop. The Governments of Canada and Germany are also providing financial support to ensure success of the workshop. Second, deliberate evasion of environmental laws and regulations by individuals and companies. UNEP is pleased that the fight against international environmental crime received a substantial boost after the environment ministers from the G-8 countries announced a range of measures designed to deter and apprehend traders in banned products, materials and substances throughout the world, said Klaus Toepfer, UNEP's Executive Director.