The significance of environmental enforcement, whether civil or criminal, cannot be overemphasized. For, as the statement by the experienced environmental enforcement official shows, without such enforcement, most animal and plant species would become non-existent due to extinction. The enforcement of environmental laws as done by such agencies as the Environmental Protection Agency is important in not only protecting the environment from wanton destruction or pollution but also helps in conserving and preserving the environment.
The criminal and civil enforcement of environmental laws, policies, and regulations also preserve flora and fauna species by ensuring strict compliance by governments, individuals, and corporations. For, without such enforcement, the environment would be exposed to illegal activities such as illegal logging, unregulated, unreported, or illegal fishing, illegal wildlife trade, illicit trade in or dumping of hazardous waste, and the smuggling of ozone-depleting substances. All these illicit activities have detrimental impacts on the environment as they destroy habitats or make them inhabitable and hence leading to death and extinction of animal and plant species. The enforcement of environmental laws also assists in detecting, prosecuting, and punishing environmental crimes or the violation of environmental policies and regulations.
Furthermore, in the context of criminal environmental enforcement, this statement underscore the value of ensuring that appropriate criminal or civil sanctions and penalties are imposed on individuals or corporations that contribute to environmental pollution. The civil enforcement, when combined with criminal enforcement of environmental laws, ensures that the polluter pays principle is put into practice. According to Watson (2005), criminal and administrative environmental enforcement helps to prevent illegal activities such as animal trafficking, habitat destruction, trade in animal parts, commercial fly-tipping, and fly-posting by criminal gangs and business companies. The author also observes that such enforcement is an appropriate strategy that enables governments and authorities to protect the environment from the reckless or intentional environmental damage or to endanger of protected animal and plant species.
Reference
Watson, M. (2005). The enforcement of environmental law: civil or criminal penalties? Environmental Law and Management, 17 (1), 3-6
