Illegal hunting, illegal use of natural plants and forests, subsoil and minerals, setting wildfires and damaging the soil are considered as crimes against the environment. Crimes against the environment pose a threat to national security and nature. This type of crime accounted for 1.5 percent of all crimes registered in Mongolia in the first three months of 2024, which is an increase of 11.5 percent from the same period last year.
The Sub-Council for Environmental Crime Prevention has organized the joint event “Let’s Protect the Nature” since 2017 in order to involve citizens and enterprises in the improvement of public ecological education and the prevention of crimes against the environment, and to increase their role in nature conservation. This year is the seventh year of implementation in collaboration with the Ecological Police, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and the Sub-Council for Environmental crime prevention. An initiative to establish the Sub-Council for Environmental Crime Prevention in Mongolia was first launched by WWF-Mongolia and its partners. Consequently, the Sub-Council was established with 10 members in 2017.
The Sub-Council members reported about activities that were carried out under the plan at its regular meeting in February. They highlighted the capacity building training for law enforcement agencies. One of the recent trainings organized was training for prosecutors from 21 provinces and Ulaanbaatar City. The training, organized in collaboration with the Prosecutor General’s Office of Mongolia, was attended by over 40 prosecutors. It was informative training because the prosecutors play an important role in final decisions of anti-environmental crimes. Researchers presented their latest analysis, and findings that were elaborated with the concrete cases of the court decisions on anti-environmental crimes. According to the Ecological Police, wildlife poaching in local areas has declined by 23.2 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year. The parties reported the progress has been seen and many other performances due to increased cooperative works. Moreover, every citizen was called upon to join and increase their participation in the joint action “Let’s Protect the Nature” to protect the environment and prevent crimes against the environment.
