National Environmental Security Task Force to create law enforcement, customs, environmental and other specialist agencies; of relevance to the refrigeration industry

INTERPOL has announced officially launching its National Environmental Security Task Force (NEST) initiative at the 21st INTERPOL Asian Regional Conference held in Amman, Jordan, before 150 officials from 40 countries. It was reportedly launched by David Higgins, Manager of the INTERPOL Environmental Crime Programme.

The initiative aims to establish a common platform for national compliance and enforcement responses, so as to enhance both national and international efforts on ensuring current and future environmental security, the announcement highlighted.

In this respect, the initiative will see INTERPOL call upon its 190 member countries to structure and equip themselves with the necessary tools in a multi-agency manner by working towards the establishment of NEST’s law enforcement, customs, environmental agencies, prosecutors and other specialist agencies, the agency said.

According to the announcement, following the launch of the initiative, the Chinese delegation attending the conference invited Higgins to China in October to take part in the country’s first National Environmental Security Seminar – the first crucial step to the eventual formation of NEST.

As a follow-up, INTERPOL has invited all stakeholders to visit its Web site for further information, as well as to have a first look at the newly released guide on forming such task forces.

The agency said that the guide for sustaining NEST was made possible mainly with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), the World Bank’s Global Tiger Initiative (GTI) and the United Kingdom Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (UK DEFRA).

“The role of INTERPOL’s National Central Bureau in the NEST is vital for international outreach, as NCBs provide a global and mandated enforcement communications channel through INTERPOL’s I-24/7 system, as well as access to an international network of 190 member countries,” said Higgins. He added that the threat to environmental security represented a genuine threat to national security, undermining political, economic and community stability, since the environment, biodiversity and natural resources were the very things countries need to protect, and that criminals are depleting, exploiting and destroying it. “We must ensure our environmental security now and into the future,” he concluded.