(by Andrea Grossi, Cons. of the Green Holding Group) In eight years, criminal proceedings related to alleged environmental crimes have grown exponentially, going from 1000 in 2006 to 13.000 in 2014. The Istat report "I crimes against the environment and landscape: data from public prosecutors. Years 2006-2016 ".
“Over the last few years - notes Istat [1] - the increase in environmental protection regulations and greater attention to environmental issues have found correspondence in a greater number of proceedings at the Public Prosecutors' offices. These went from 4.774 in 2007 (the Consolidated Environmental Act was launched in 2006) to 12.953 in 2014. In 2016 they dropped to 10.320. These data show a greater number of proceedings for environmental violations in the South and in the Islands (47,7% of criminal proceedings in 2016), in the North they are equal to 30%. In 2016, most of the alleged violations concern waste management (8.792 proceedings) and wastewater (1.636). The total number of building violations is decreasing: less than 55,9% between 2006 and 2016 (there are 10.277 cases against known authors for whom the criminal prosecution begins in 2016, they were 23.323 in 2006). The number of proceedings for this type of violation is highest in Campania, Lazio, Sicily, Puglia, Calabria. There are still a high number of crimes relating to forest fires against unknown persons (3.579 in 2015), while the proceedings against known authors are stable over time (500 in 2015). The areas most intensely affected by forest fires in recent years are located around Rome, in the South Pontine area and in areas of Liguria and Puglia ”. I believe that this escalation is one of the consequences of the economic crisis in which on the one hand we have companies perhaps with water in their throats from an economic-financial point of view which therefore struggle to find the resources to be able to dispose of waste, on the other we have improvised operators in the sector who offer those companies competitive prices to encourage them in disposal. The combination of these two factors can partly explain this growth in environmental crimes. We are also talking about a rather media type of crime that often ends up in the newspapers more than others: the risk of leading the investigators together with a regulation that is not always clear help us further to understand some of the reasons that have led to the increase of related criminal proceedings. to the environment.