LIFE SWiPE – Successful Wildlife Crime Prosecution in Europe LIFE19 GIE/BG/000846

LIFE SWiPE – Successful Wildlife Crime Prosecution in Europe LIFE19 GIE/BG/000846

Duration of the project:

1.9. 2020. – 31.8. 2023.

Total value:

€ 3.186.175

EU co – financing:

€ 1.740.018

Beneficiary coordinator:

WWF Bulgaria

Partners:

WWF Adria; WWF Adria – Serbia; State Attorney’s Office of the Republic of Croatia (DORH); Fauna & Flora International; Judicial Academy, Croatia; WWF Spain; WWF Hungary; WWF Italy; WWF Poland; WWF Romania; WWF Slovakia; WWF Ukraine.

Web page: LIFE SWiPE

About the project:

SWiPE aims to discourage, and ultimately reduce, wildlife crime through better enforcement of EU environmental regulations and more successfully prosecuted crime, thus helping the recovery of endangered European biodiversity and ecosystem health.

The fight against environmental crime has become a priority in the European Union for the period 2018-2021 as part of the fight against serious international and organized crime. The existence of key documents, such as the EU Action Plan against Wildlife Trafficking (EU WAP), does not ensure a lower crime rate against wild species. Despite the serious negative impact on species conservation, safety and public health, this type of crime is rarely detected, reported, prosecuted and punished. The goal is to increase, by 25%, the number of investigated, reported and prosecuted crimes against wild species thanks to greater expertise, better inter-agency and cross-border cooperation of competent authorities.

Better implementation of the LIFE SWIPE project will be facilitated by cooperation with key European bodies and organizations such as the TRAFFIC Wildlife Monitoring Network, the European Network of Environmental Prosecutors (ENPE), the European Union Judges Forum for the Environment (EUFJE).