Crimes against the environment increased in 2019: 34,648 were ascertained, at an average of 4 per hour, with an increase of + 23.1% compared to 2018. The cement cycle ranks first among eco-criminal activities, with 11,484 cases reported (+ 74.6% compared to 2018).
The waste cycle follows, with 9,527 cases (+ 10.9% compared to 2018).
Campania is, as always, at the top of the rankings, with 5,549 crimes against the environment, followed in 2019 by Puglia, Sicily and Calabria.
In these four regions, 44.4% of ascertained environmental crimes are concentrated.
This is the photograph taken by Legambiente's 2020 Ecomafia Report, presented this morning.
Also noteworthy is the surge in crimes against fauna, 8,088, (+ 10.9% compared to 2018) and those connected to forest fires, with 3,916 offenses (+ 92.5% compared to 2018).
Lombardy, alone, with 88 pre-trial detention orders, collects more arrests for environmental crimes than Campania, Puglia, Calabria and Sicily combined, which stop at 86.
The total potential business of the ecomafia is estimated at 19.9 billion euros for 2019 alone, and which from 1995 to date has reached 419.2 billion.
Sharing the cake, together with colluding entrepreneurs, officials and public administrators, were 371 clans (3 more than the year before), active in all supply chains: from the cement cycle to the waste cycle, from animal trafficking to the exploitation of renewable energies and the distortion of the circular economy.