Cape Town - The Green scorpions’ sting is now much sharper.
Increasing environmental crimes in the Western Cape has prompted Anton Bredell, the Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC to triple their manpower and boost their enforcement capacity.
Bredell welcomed 13 new members to the elite environmental law enforcers unit on Tuesday, after they completed the environmental management inspectors training course.
Along with the six existing members, the new ones will have similar powers to those of the police.
An inspector may act in terms of all environmental legislation for which he or she has been designated, such as the Waste, Air Quality and National Water acts.
Dr Eshaam Palmer, the provincial head of the Green Scorpions, said the top threats they faced were the illegal clearing of indigenous vegetation and the destruction of endangered ecosystems; illegal dumping of waste; and illegal developments along the coast.
In the past financial year, the Green Scorpions conducted approximately 240 inspections, Palmer said.
Cross-border crime had been increasing with rhino poaching and cycad theft, prompting them to develop a team that could work across the province and to join up with other law enforcement teams from the city and CapeNature.
The local increase in environmental crime is seen across the continent.
“Environmental crime is a cross-border crime,” Palmer said. “Weak borders allowed many developed European countries to dump millions of tons of waste in Africa.”
According to Interpol, environmental crime is the fourth largest criminal enterprise in the world, after the arms trade, drug trade and human trafficking.
Environmental crime globally is estimated at around R250-billion.
“Interpol has asked that we work in a more co-ordinated way because criminals don’t know borders,” said Palmer.
There are now 60 inspectors in the province, mostly doing compliance monitoring. They have the power to arrest and do on-site investigations. They can enter any property without a warrant, and can seize any equipment (including vehicles, boats, tractors or aeroplanes) involved in a crime.
“They can now be more proactive,” Palmer said. “This allows them, in conjunction with organisations like Interpol, to investigate more serious and larger crimes, syndicate crimes.”
Palmer said the investigative unit had yet to make any arrests.
“It’s a new field for us. The two things we like to do is develop co-operation with other stakeholders – because you need ears and eyes on the ground to report these things – and to educate people. Because if you have no environment you have no future.”
Cape Argus