The environmental conventions advance the overall global environmental objectives and policies. In approximately thirty years, our primary focus has been on the development of international environmental law. Our next important task is to advance and enhance the implementation of agreed international norms and policies, to monitor and foster compliance with environmental principles and international agreements. Seen in this context, this workshop is just one of a series that we intend to hold in the future at the global and regional levels to foster compliance with and enforcement of international environmental agreements. Ladies and gentlemen, Environmental crime is a serious global problem, even though the immediate consequences of the offence may not be obvious.
Environmental crimes do have victims.
The cumulative costs in environmental damage and the long-range toll in illness, injury, death and extinction of wildlife species, depletion of the ozone layer, pollution of the environment and distortion of economies may be considerable. And second, deliberate evasion of environmental laws and regulations by individuals and companies. As the international framework of environmental law develops and countries increasingly implement national regulations, there are more and more opportunities for making profits by evasion of these new laws. Another reason could be greater public and governmental awareness which has led to more investigation into the issues. There are of course other factors as well that have contributed to this increasingly occurring phenomenon.