Legal experts from UQ will head to Tanzania in August to investigate the country’s capacity to prosecute and sentence cases of environmental crime and corruption.
Associate Professor Andreas Schloenhardt and Angus Graham from the TC Beirne School of Law will work with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Republic of Tanzania’s Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau, to assess the systems and activities of the country’s judicial, legal, law enforcement and government agencies in investigating and prosecuting those involved in the illegal trade of natural resources.
“Tanzania, like many other countries in Africa, Asia, and the Americas, is home to a vast range of natural resources ranging from timber to fish,” said Associate Professor Schloenhardt.
“Unfortunately, poor management practices and weak law enforcement have resulted in these valuable natural resources becoming threatened by illegal logging, the illicit trade in forest products, illegal fishing and over-hunting.”
Angus Graham, a recent law graduate said the major issues of environmental crime in Tanzania is the involvement of forestry staff in illegal timber trade and the exploitation of major fishing areas.
“Several thousands of hectares of forest are disappearing every year, majority illegally felled,” he said.
“The expansion of the fishing capacity in the last 20 years has created a situation of over fishing in many areas.
“In addition, illegal coral mining, shell collection and pollution have contributed to the degradation of the ecosystem.”
The consultancy will include assessing the capacity to prosecute and sentence environmental crimes; the activities, procedures and functions of the prosecution teams; the code of conduct and transparency of law enforcements officials in accepting bribes and issuing illegal permits; and propose a strategy for preventing and strengthening the activities involved in the investigation and prosecutions of environmental crime.
UQ’s TC Beirne School of Law has a strong and ongoing association with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Vienna, and its Regional Centre for East Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok. Previous projects focused on organised crime and human trafficking. It is anticipated that this new initiative will lead to a larger, global project on trafficking in fauna and flora involving UQ researchers and UNODC experts.