| Green Scorpions to sharpen their sting |
| Monday, 24 May 2010 20:38 |
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By Vivian Warby Cape Town - Table Mountain's "Green Scorpions" have been presented with a new legal guide that is set to sharpen their stings - the Guide to Environmental Prosecutors. Environmental Management Inspectors (EMIs), popularly known as the Green Scorpions work with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), whose prosecutors pursue cases of environmental transgressions, highlighted by the EMIs. At a graduation ceremony Thursday, of 20 Table Mountain National Park EMIs, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus Van Schalkwyk said the production of the guide was culmination of a very lengthy process. "For some time our department has been working to provide support to these prosecutors, and today I'm proud to introduce this guide. It was prepared from experience gained in environmental prosecutions across the country," said Minister Van Schalkwyk. The new guide for these prosecutors consists of: * an overview of the constitutional and international law context to environmental crime; * a detailed discussion of environmental legislation, specifically looking at criminal offences, and the powers of environmental enforcement officers to do search and seize evidence; * guidance on conducting court trials in environmental criminal cases, including the drafting of charge sheets, expert scientific witnesses as well as guidance on issues of sentencing and the recovery of costs that are unique to environmental transgressions. The 20 inspectors who were graduating at the Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) are the first at Grade 5 in SANParks to attend the Marine and Protected Areas Training for Field Ranger EMIs. South Africa has 858 EMIs, dubbed Green Scorpions, across the country monitoring compliance with, and enforcing environmental legislation - of these, 630 are in SANParks where they manage and protect all the parks. Minister Van Schalkwyk said the guide will be made available to the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions and all its offices countrywide. The EMI Inspectorate is an established unit with inspectors in SANParks (including those EMIs recognised today), the Greater St Lucia Wetlands Park, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, all nine provincial environment departments and all provincial park authorities. These EMIs cooperate on issues of training, standard operating procedures and interaction with other key stakeholders, such as the NPA. In June 2005, Minister Van Schalkwyk announced the designation of the first EMIs in the country and a couple of years after that, the Inspectorate reported nearly 900 arrests and 134 convictions for environmental crimes across the country. There were 235 directives issued in that same period. The Inspectorate believes that they are still under-reporting results, and that their 2007-2008 report will be a better reflection of what they are truly achieving, he said. In the TMNP, the EMIs are enforcing both the Protected Areas Act and the Marine Living Resources Act. "Since the TMNP Marine Protected Area's inception in 2004, EMIs have arrested 291 transgressors," said the minister The SANParks Environmental Management Inspectors that were recognised today are "playing a crucial role in protecting the natural resources in this World Heritage Area from environmental criminals". South Africa has eight world heritage sites including the Cape Floral Region which comprises eight protected areas stretching from the Cape Peninsula to the Eastern Cape. - BuaNews Source: http://www.buanews.gov.za/view.php?ID=07081615451001&coll=buanew07 |
