Progress

1. More training and better coordination efforts.

Specialised training for more than 1,500 law enforcement officers from Spain, Portugal and other European Union bodies, as well as for other professionals and experts in the fields of law and nature conservation. In addition, technical material has been developed to improve the understanding and investigation of crimes.

LIFE Nature Guardians has contributed to a better training of players involved in the fight against illegal environmental crimes and to a better coordination between them. To this end, the following actions have been carried out:

• 25 training courses for officers and professionals from Spanish police forces (forestry and environmental rangers, Guardia Civil, autonomous and municipal police forces), as well as from other countries, e.g. the training provided to all units of the National Republican Guard in Portugal and the National Gendarmerie in France. The courses have addressed the investigation of biodiversity crimes, environmental cybercrime, OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) and the investigation of the economic profit of environmental criminals, among other topics. Most of the courses have been provided by experts from the Autonomous Government of Andalusia, a partner of the project, as well as from the Guardia Civil, and have contributed to the coordination and cooperation between different police forces. In addition, training has been provided to other professionals such as lawyers, judges and prosecutors, as in Portugal as part of the Centro Estudos Judiciais.

• The first Police Investigation Manual of Crimes and Infractions against Biodiversity, published in Spanish, English and Greek, has been created by the Autonomous Government of Andalusia and SEO/BirdLife together with Europol. This publication was developed out of the need to provide environmental police officers within Europe and beyond its borders with a basic conceptual tool that covers the most important aspects of the investigation of crimes committed against biodiversity.

• Workshop on Environmental Crime Investigation (WECI). An international working group bringing together the environmental police agencies from 27 countries to share knowledge and agree on joint solutions together with the EU police network EnvicrimeNet and Europol.

• A guide to practical lessons learned on legal action in criminal proceedings for environmental crimes. This guide, intended for legal professionals, seeks to address the legal issues and dilemmas that arise at different stages, from the commission of a criminal act to the completion of the legal proceedings to which it may give rise. It brings together SEO/BirdLife’s experience of years of legal action before public authorities and the courts.

2. Effective police investigations using innovative resources.

110 % increase in detections of environmental crimes and offences. The creation and use of ambient intelligence and the use of specialised equipment by the Guardia Civil have contributed to this.

• The first EU ambient intelligence unit is created: National Central Bureau (OCN, in its Spanish acronym). SEPRONA has created the OCN to analyse information and to improve the coordination and communication of actions at national level concerning the conservation and protection of nature and the environment. Within the OCN, several BIMAs (Ambient Intelligence Bulletins) have been drafted, containing analyses of various crimes to be used by police units in the prevention and investigation of these crimes.

• New technical material for police investigation. The Guardia Civil’s SEPRONA has been equipped with technical material for surveillance tasks, location of illegal activities, crime scene investigation in different scenarios, field studies and identification and tracking of suspects. The materials include five drones, several radio beacons, video recording equipment, computer equipment and a mobile laboratory unit for fire investigation.

3. Better law enforcement and reduced impunity.

34.5% increase in legal proceedings instituted for crimes against flora and fauna. The increased participation in legal proceedings, a higher number of citizen complaints and the better detection of crimes have led to greater prosecution levels and less impunity for this type of crime.

• 31 legal proceedings and convictions against environmental non-compliance. SEO/BirdLife and SPEA have taken civil action in legal proceedings dealing with offences such as illegal hunting, corrupt administrative practices, electrocution of birdlife and destruction of habitats, and in administrative litigation proceedings, e.g. the denunciation of energy installations in protected areas, the declaration of protection zones to prevent the electrocution of birdlife and the granting of permits for the destruction of nests of the common house martin (Delichon urbica) or the control of the great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo). In some of the many proceedings opened in Spain, landmark rulings have been handed down, such as the one condemning the practice of “pardeleo” – hunting of Scopoli’s shearwater (Calonectris diomedea) – in the Canary Islands, the illegal change of land use to transform unauthorised farmland in Natura 2000 Network spaces and the recognition of the competence of the Autonomous Government of Castilla and Leon to establish protection zones against the electrocution and collision of birdlife in the region.With regard to the legal actions undertaken by SPEA in Portugal, it is worth highlighting the civil action against the authorisation of the construction of the future Lisbon airport in a Natura 2000 Network area and other cases affecting this network of protected areas, such as those denounced in Paúl do Taipal and Madeira. In addition, criminal cases have been filed for illegal bird killing and wildlife poisoning. Regarding the latter, an Antidote Protocol has been developed for the investigation of these crimes together with the Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas (ICNF).

• A complaints web portal has been created, where more than 1,196 citizen enquiries have been received and analysed since 2020, resulting in the processing and reporting of 681 written complaints to public authorities for various types of environmental violations.

• Specific Guardia Civil operations against environmental crime. Nine specific operations have been carried out against environmental crimes in connection with the use of poison baits, trafficking in species and waste, illegal water extraction, electrocution of birdlife and the release of invasive species, among others. As a result, since the start of the project, more than 600 websites on species trafficking have been investigated, 11,610 violation reports have been issued in relation to provisions on fauna, flora and protected areas, and 47,977 violation reports have been issued in relation to waste. With regard to environmental criminal offences, 22,541 crimes have been detected, of which 18,365 have been solved, and 13,936 individuals have been arrested or investigated.

4. Awareness in society.

In Spain, 70.8% of the population consider environmental crimes to be as important as other crimes (an increase of 6.4% compared to 2018, when the project was launched).

• In Spain, 21.3% of the population consider that authorities give sufficient importance to environmental problems (an increase of 4,6% compared to 2018, when the project was launched).

• A public awareness campaign has highlighted the importance of article 45 of the Spanish Constitution, which governs the right of all individuals to enjoy a healthy environment and the obligation to protect it. Within this campaign, the following measures have been implemented:

• A permanent exhibition at the Spanish National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN) on article 45 of the Spanish Constitution. This exhibition has so far been visited by some 300,000 people and shows a work by artist Julio Falagán and a video featuring high-ranking Spanish authorities.

• A flag advocating the fundamental right to a healthy environment on board the training ship Juan Sebastián Elcano. As part of an agreement with the Spanish Navy, the flagship Elcano carries a banner on its voyage around the world with the aim of raising awareness among citizens and authorities in other countries about the right and duty to conserve the environment.

• Murals against environmental crimes. In the main black spots where crimes against wildlife are committed, awareness-raising workshops with a psychosocial approach have been carried out for the younger population. As part of them, 8 murals have been painted in different secondary schools in Spain, each one focusing on a species and a crime. They deal with several topics, ranging from the illegal hunting of the Scopoli’s shearwater in the Canary Islands to the illegal poisoning of the red kite, the illegal trafficking of the peregrine falcon, the illegal capture of the European goldfinch and other song birds, the destruction of nests of protected species, such as the common house martin, the human-caused fires affecting Egyptian vultures and the oil spills and their impact on the common shag. In total, more than 650 students and 25 teachers have participated first-hand in these actions, which will last in time for the more than 3500 people who can see and read these murals and the information they contain on a daily basis.

• Awareness-raising campaigns by SPEA about wildlife crimes in Portugal. Nine awareness-raising classes have been held in schools for more than 700 students and 40 teachers.

5. Greater awareness about environmental crimes and offences.

LIFE Nature Guardians has implemented actions that increase awareness about the impact of environmental crime, its causes and motivations, and will contribute to the collection and centralisation of available data on these matters.

• Database on wildlife mortality. SEO/BirdLife and SPEA, together with the European project LIFE Against Bird Crimes, have developed a methodology for the collection and monitoring of cases of non-natural mortality of wildlife due to intentional and unintentional causes. This action aims to implement a common system for managing this information in Spain, Portugal and other EU countries. Based on this document, the Information System on Accidental Captures and Killings (SICMA in Spanish), the tool designed to collect all this data in Spain, was developed in collaboration with the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge.

• Methodology for the economic valuation of wildlife affected by illegal actions. SEO/BirdLife has proposed a new system for the economic quantification of damages and penalties for illegal actions against wildlife, which meets a need identified by several experts and organisations involved in the investigation and prosecution of environmental crimes. This system should solve the problem of the current existence of different valuation methods depending on the autonomous community, which means that a specimen is valuated differently depending on where it was shot or caught. This situation also applies to the whole of the EU, where there is no single model for the economic valuation of wildlife. This proposal is explained and justified in a detailed report.

• Study on the Motivation of Environmental Crime. The motivations for environmental crime are multiple, complex and in many cases intertwined. This study covers psychological, sociological, environmental and criminological aspects of crimes including illegal trafficking in waste, human-caused forest fires, illegal logging, illegal hunting and fishing, animal and plant smuggling, possession of protected species, trade in wildlife products and the release of invasive alien species. It includes an analysis of the perception of environmental crime by society, based on surveys of the Spanish and Portuguese population and of various professionals, providing recommendations for psychosocial action to tackle the different criminal motivations.As a result of this study, an international course was organised in which more than a thousand professionals and students of psychology and criminology from Spain, Portugal and 13 Latin American countries received training on the motivation of environmental crime. Delivered by SEO/BirdLife together with the Autonomous Government of Andalusia, the Rural Agents Corps of Catalonia, the Guardia Civil and EUROPOL, the course was aimed at understanding the origin and motivation of this type of crime.

• What do wildlife species die from? – A study on the causes of non-natural mortality. Another important milestone for LIFE Nature Guardians was a study on the causes of non-natural mortality of wildlife. This work was based on more than 270,000 records of birds that were admitted to wildlife recovery centres in Spain from 2000 to 2018.

6. Improving the conservation of species and habitats.

62,2% reduction in wildlife mortality caused by illegal acts. Since 2018, fewer animal deaths due to illegal acts have been registered, which is the main objective of all actions designed by LIFE Nature Guardians.

All of these actions had the ultimate goal of conserving biodiversity and contributing to the recovery of populations of protected species affected by illegal acts.

A project for better environmental governance at national and EU level

LIFE Nature Guardians has contributed to guaranteeing the right to a healthy environment and improving environmental governance. The public and private sectors have collaborated with the project to ensure that political institutions and authorities have an adequate regulatory framework and mechanisms that contribute to its application and the protection of natural heritage.

Some of the improvements that have been achieved in relation to the environmental regulatory framework include:

• Full implementation of Spanish regulations for the protection of bird species from electrocution and collision on power lines. With the collaboration and encouragement of the Spanish Ombudsman, and following a complaint by SEO/BirdLife, all the Spanish autonomous communities have established protection zones against the electrocution of birds and drawn up lists of dangerous power lines for their improvement.

• Upgrade of the derogations system under Article 9 of the Birds Directive. Following a report drawn up by SEO/BirdLife, an analysis has been made of the system of exemptions to the general protection framework of the Directive, providing recommendations for improvement for all Spanish authorities.

• Provisions for an appropriate protection and cataloguing of birds. Following an analysis of the main piece of legislation on natural heritage and biodiversity in Spain, shortcomings have been detected in the transposition of the Birds Directive and in the legal protection scheme for bird species in Spain and the need to improve the system for cataloguing them has been highlighted.

All of the above results, both in terms of nature conservation and environmental governance, have been instrumental for Spain and Portugal to comply with the European Biodiversity Strategy for 2020, the European Environmental Compliance Assurance Action Plan, the National and European Plans against Illegal Trafficking in Species, the European Agenda on Security and the EU Criminal Justice Programme, as well as with the implementation of national and EU environmental regulations.

The initiative of LIFE Nature Guardians has highlighted the importance of the role that non-governmental organisations play when working together with public administrations, environmental police forces and civil society for the common good of conserving the environment and applying the EU provisions that protect it. It has been a useful contribution that ensures that all people can enjoy a healthy environment, as enshrined in the Spanish and Portuguese Constitutions and as recognised by the United Nations.

Looking ahead

All project beneficiaries will continue to work actively to understand and minimise environmental crime, raise public awareness regarding the value of the conservation of nature and biodiversity and ensure the implementation of EU and national environmental legislation. The results obtained will contribute to strengthening the positions held by these organisations and all those that have benefited from the actions implemented, both nationally and internationally.

Many of the results implemented will last over time and will serve as a practical demonstration for other projects and initiatives. Thus, the OCN, the specialised knowledge obtained in training by more than 1500 agents, the equipment available to the Guardia Civil, the methodology for the economic valuation of wildlife, the SICMA database that will centralise environmental information in Spain, the permanent exhibition on Article 45 of the Constitution in the MNCN and the murals against environmental crime will continue to protect nature.