It is indeed a pleasure to welcome you to the Fifth Interpol Environmental Crimes Symposium. I want to thank Secretary General Ron Noble for all of his support and direction to our efforts. This symposium is a demonstration to the worldwide commitment to the interdiction of environmental crime. It is the largest assembly of environmental criminal law enforcement officers we have had to date. There are more than one hundred representatives here today from 46 countries who have traveled from every inhabited continent in the world.

The first question that has to be asked is whether the conditions of our natural world have changed since we met here last. The picture is not a pretty one.

• This past August, the World Health Organization concluded that by a target date in 2015, 2.4 billion people will likely face the risk of needless disease and death because of bad sanitation as a result of a lack of access to safe drinking water.

• In Brazil alone, the Brazilian National Network Against the Trafficking of Wild Animals reported that poachers are taking an estimated 38 million birds, reptiles and mammals from the wild each year.

• Illicit hazardous waste shipments easily pass through borders regularly because they are fraudulently identified as recyclable materials. According to the Basel Action Network, an estimated 99% of all waste shipped to the developing world is allegedly slated for recycling.

• Canada estimates that it endures an amount of oil illegally discharged from ships off its Atlantic Coast every year that is equivalent to all the oil discharged from the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

• Communities in China are being poisoned by computer and electronic recycling activities. Shipments enter China illegally in spite of that country’s ban on such imports.

• According to the director of the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation, the government agency in the Democratic Republic of Congo, more than 100 wildlife officers were killed in the line of duty during a twelve month period in 2004.

• Italy has determined that waste transport is the second most profitable form of illegal trafficking, next only to drugs.

• A US government study concluded that environmental crime is one of the fastest growing areas of criminal activity. It garners an estimated $22-31 billion US/year to criminal syndicates around the world.

These disheartening conditions are not being ignored by the world’s population. Wherever public opinion polls have been taken on the subject, the environment always receives widespread support.

• According to public opinion polls cited by the International Environment Monitor a few years ago, two-thirds or more people in countries such as China, Japan, France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Chile, Argentina, and South Korea say environmental laws as currently applied in their country 'don’t go far enough', while six of every 10 people felt that way in Russia, Brazil, Germany, and the U.S. and elsewhere.

• Last month in Russia, citizens were asked to rank the greatest threats facing their country. Out of twenty specified threats, environmental catastrophe was fourth, right behind the sharp decrease in the standard of living and hunger, but greater than civil conflict and depletion of oil, gas and natural resources.

• Here in France, Corrine Lepage, former Environment Minister, declared that environmental crime must be elevated to the status of a crime against humanity.

Countries around the world have responded to the new and increasing threats against the environment.

• Australia is deploying armed surveillance ships to deter fish poachers in the Southern Ocean, mainly to protect the Patagonian Toothfish.

• Two months ago, India’s prime minister approved the creation of a multi-agency enforcement unit to combat wildlife crime, and save the remaining tiger population. There are fewer than 5000 wild tigers left in the world, and half are found in India.

• Last year, Wangari Maathai, Kenya’s Assistant Minister for the Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In presenting the award to Ms. Maathai, the Norwegian Nobel Committee declared that 'peace on earth depends on our ability to secure our living environment.'

• In the Philippines, Antonio Oposa shut down local illegal blast fishing and cyanide fishing operations that destroy endangered coral reefs.

• Justice Adel Omar Sherif of Egypt works to establish a global center to train judges to understand the environmental challenges we face.

• In South Africa, just last week, the government prosecuted a man for burying drums of hazardous waste.

• Also last week, officials in Chile arrested Mayor Nelson Schwerter of Fresia and seven others for their role in an illegal logging ring.

• Earlier this year, the Kenya Wildlife Service arrested five people for possessing 36 KG of elephant and rhino ivory.

• Brazil is reported to have greatly accelerated the development of its wildlife crime fighting capacity.

• Also this year, Canadian and US wildlife officers prosecuted a criminal enterprise involved in trafficking 786 bear gall bladders. Members of the criminal syndicate were from Canada, the US, Vietnam and South Korea.

• Australia launched the Australasian Environmental Law Enforcement Network to coordinate efforts better in that region concerning environmental enforcement.

• Recently, a judge in New Zealand sent the first person to prison for violating pollution laws in that country.

• Last week, Italian officials arrested ten people, including 3 lab chemists, involved in an illegal waste dumping ring.

• And, Bill Clark is still flying planes from Israel to Africa to provide great assistance in the surveillance of illegal poaching.

I could go on.

During the intervening years since our last symposium, Interpol has rightfully focused its attention on security from terrorism. I assure you, however, that Interpol’s Environmental Crimes Committee did not fold up its tent and disappear. We’ve had to work even harder to remain viable and dynamic. So what have we done?

• We have a new desk officer here at Interpol responsible for coordinating efforts concerning pollution crime. Mark Measer brings many years of field experience in the investigation of complex cases of environmental crime.

• Through fundraising efforts spearheaded by Bill Clark, Interpol will be hiring a full time desk officer dedicated to wildlife crime. Pascal Tagni has been handling this role, among many other responsibilities.

• Both the Wildlife Crimes Working Group and the Pollution Crimes Working Group have prepared strategic plans which provide important foundations for our work and map out our future course.

• Through coordinated efforts with the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement, Interpol’s Environmental Crimes Committee has started a campaign to increase greatly the number of Eco messages sent to Interpol. This is our data base of international environmental crime. An expanded data base allows for greater criminal analyses.

• Interpol’s highly regarded Environmental Crimes Train-the-Trainer Program has been given successfully to law enforcement officers to teach them to recognize environmental crime and provide first response and investigation. It was last given this past September to police, prosecutors, customs officials, and environmental inspectors.

• I hold monthly conference call with representatives of both working groups to ensure timely progress on all projects.

• We’ve added a link to Interpol’s website on environmental crime. In fact, if you type 'international environmental crime' as an internet search, the first hit you will get is Interpol’s Environmental Crimes Committee. I’ve been pleased and surprised by the number of times people have mentioned to me that they’ve looked at this website. In fact, both working groups are committed to using this website to post your country’s environmental enforcement accomplishments for the world to see. Simply, send them by email to Mark Measer, here at Interpol.

• You will hear more about the Pollution Crimes Working Group and the Wildlife Crimes Working Group when the respective chairmen give their reports to you on the meetings that have taken place the previous two days and the important projects they are working on.

We have provided you with a set of recommendations which are directed to both Interpol and this committee. I want you to look at these recommendations carefully. We will have open discussion on these recommendations and make any modifications you deem fit. Tomorrow, they will be put to a vote and will serve as a useful guide for our future.

In conclusion, I am convinced that we work in one of the most challenging areas of law enforcement. Combined with these daunting challenges is the reality that the success of our mission means the protection of the world as we know it and its preservation for future generations.

Thank you.