Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Deputy Minister Narend Singh has launched the 2023/24 National Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Report (NECER), which highlights improvements in proactive compliance monitoring.

The launch occurred at the tenth National Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Lekgotla, being held this week at the Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg World Heritage Site, in KwaZulu-Natal.

This multistakeholder event brings together the Environmental Management Inspectorate, also known as the Green Scorpions, which comprises national, provincial and local authorities and other critical role-players.

With 5 643 facilities inspected across various sectors in 2023/24, the NECER reflects a 30% increase in inspections over the previous year, particularly for reactive inspections when responding to complaints.

The NECER shows a decrease in criminal enforcement actions, with registered criminal dockets dropping from 885 to 634, and the total value of admission of guilt fines declining by 15% compared with the previous year.

However, higher sentences for criminal convictions is said to demonstrate a shift towards impactful enforcement.

While the report highlights some of the Green Scorpions’ progress, challenges remain, particularly when it comes to in attending to pollution, which impacts air quality, illegal waste disposal and land degradation resulting from the proliferation of invasive plant species.

While strides are being made in environmental compliance, significant work is needed to address pervasive issues like untreated sewage discharge to land, freshwater and coastal areas, the department points out.

Environmental threats such as climate change, biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation currently rank high on the global risk index, underscoring the importance of countering environmental crimes, globally and locally.

In the first week of this month, South Africa also hosted a series of events focused on collaborative strategies for combating and preventing environmental crimes, in particular wildlife crime.

During these events, the country welcomed representatives from law enforcement, judicial institutions, private sectors, environmental ministries, international organisations, and non-governmental organisations for the United for Wildlife Global Summit 2024, the Wildlife Inter-Regional Enforcement Forum (hosted by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment), and the thirty-fifth INTERPOL Wildlife Crime Working Group.

These events focused on building partnerships and sharing emerging enforcement capabilities to strengthen global wildlife crime enforcement.

Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment Minister Dr Dion George emphasised during the events that wildlife crime is a global challenge which requires an integrated, international response.

He affirmed South Africa’s commitment, as the country continues to implement its national strategy, to break and disrupt the illicit value chain of wildlife trafficking both locally and internationally.