Introduction by mining researcher Roger Moody
“This sends a very strong message to those who seek to rob countries of their natural resources”.
Thus declared John Scanlon, Secretary-General of CITES, following INTERPOL’s presentation of its “Environmental Crime Programme” at its General Assembly in Doha last week.
No it doesn’t!
Scanlon went on:
“[O]rganized criminal networks… often exploiting the poor inhabitants of rural communities and corrupting officials, will [now] face a determined and coordinated opposition, rather than the current situation where, all too often, the risk of detection, and imposition of penalties that match their crimes, are low or absent.”
No they won’t!
– Not if those “networks” are multinational extractive companies, whose destructive activities are backed – or at least connived at, by a local or national administration.
INTERPOL has defined environmental crime in such a fashion that such companies may continue thieving land, water, and minerals at will – just so long as they chuck cash at a tiger protection or anti-poaching task force along the way.
No wonder the sheiks were beaming when this “re-branding” was agreed.
See http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2010/2010-11-16-03.html.