SCYCLE

Representatives from 12 European and International organizations met on December 5-6, 2018 in The Hague, Netherlands, to launch the WasteForce (Waste Enforcement Forensics and Capacity Building) Project.

WasteForce is funded by the European Commission Directorate-General Migration and Home Affairs and will run for 2 years, until the end of November 2020. Under the coordination of the European Union Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law (IMPEL), the project will bring together 12 partners, including: United Nations University (UNU); United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR); UN Environment (UNEP); General Inspection for Agriculture, Sea, Environment, and Spatial Planning of Portugal; Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia for the Environment and Spatial Planning; the Netherlands Forensic Institute; University of Limerick; and German Police University. The Basel Convention Regional Centre Slovakia, the Environment Agency England, and the District Government of Lower Bavaria will participate in the project as associate partners.

WasteForce aims to boost operational activities and capacities of the authorities involved in the fight against illegal trade and management of waste through: (i) development of new practical tools and methodologies; (ii) implementation of multi-stakeholder capacity-building activities; and (iii) support of operational networking among practitioners in Europe with counterparts in the Asia- Pacific region, one of the main destination regions of illicit waste shipments. To achieve these objectives, the project will provide beneficiaries with hands-on, up-to-date instruments, including strategic information sharing tools and methodologies and forensics tools, to facilitate their everyday work in detecting illegal trade and management of waste along the roads intra-Europe and Europe-Asia-Pacific.

The SCYCLE team is the scientific coordinator of the project and, in addition to supporting IMPEL in the overall management of the project, will coordinate the H-LAB; lead the development of strategies and methodologies to measure policy impacts and environmental damage; the setting up of a clearing house on current and past projects on environmental crime; and lead international operational networking between the EU and the Asia Pacific.

The project will directly benefit authorities involved in waste-related crimes across the enforcement chain, including environmental inspectorates, law enforcement agencies (LEAs), customs and port authorities, and prosecutors, both in Europe and in the Asia-Pacific.

The consortium meeting was followed by a High-Level Advisory Board (H-Lab) meeting, consisting of associate partners and key experts from European and international organizations. The H-LAB members will provide advice on the specific needs of the end-user community, offer technical insight, and assist in the dissemination of project’s results within the relevant stakeholder community.

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Website: www.wasteforceproject.eu