Special judiciary on environmental crimes established in Peru

On April 1 the first specialized court on environmental issues was launched in Madre de Dios, Peru. The region currently has the highest number of complaints of environmental crimes in the entire country, Julio César Guzmán Mendoza, the public prosecutor specialized in environmental crimes, told Mongabay. “As of February 20, 2018, we have 2,983 active environmental complaints in the judicial district of Madre de Dios,” Guzmán explained. “Of the approximately 20,000 cases in all of Peru almost 3,000 correspond to this region.” Complaints to the prosecutor’s office and related investigations include cases from 2009 through February 2018. Reports of illegal mining is one of the most common environmental crimes in Madre de Dios. Photo by Rhett Butler/Mongabay. Most of the environmental crimes that occur in the region are related to illegal mining and logging, said Guzmán. But we must also add related crimes such as environmental pollution and deforestation. Illegal mining and damage to forests Of the 64 cases presented so far this year, 15 complaints correspond specifically to illegal mining crimes and 38 refer to crimes against forests. The other 11 are linked to illicit trafficking of chemical inputs and use of machinery in illegal mining, environmental pollution, degradation of protected flora and fauna, and illegal trafficking of forest products. In 2017, of the 491 current cases, 97 are specifically related to illegal mining and 211 for deforestation, that is, 62 percent or 308 of the cases, correspond to these two environmental problems in the region: mining and illegal logging.…

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