Crimes against nature are the fourth most profitable criminal activity in the world: preceded only by drug trafficking, counterfeiting and arms smuggling: they generate revenues of 280 billion dollars a year and constitute a growing crime sector.
The data emerged in Rome on the first day of a WWF workshop on crimes against nature.
Italy is a fundamental crossroads for the trafficking of protected species and, in general, for crimes against wildlife.
The sanctions imposed by the Carabinieri amounted to over 5 and a half million euros in 2018 (over 1 million in 2020).
Between 2016 and 2019, the Region in which the most offenses were reported was Lombardy with 5,256 reports, followed by Veneto with 2,526 and Tuscany, with 2,247 reports.
From north to south of our country there is no region that is not free from crimes of nature: poachers focus on passerines, eagles and hawks, ungulates, ducks, shorebirds, dormice, eels, wolves, bears.
In the sea, people buy sea urchins, dates, undersized swordfish, sharks, sea cucumbers, corals, whitebait and sea turtles.
Not even protected plant species are spared, such as the roots of gentian lutea, sought after to make liqueurs.
In Italy between 41 and 46% of offenses are archived before the trial, and between 38-50% are time-barred.
Only 27% of natural offenses lead to conviction.
There is no centralized database on nature crimes.
Anyone who kills a protected species can clear their crime from their criminal record for just €1,000, and the penalties for crimes against wild animals are very low.
Two-thirds of the officers tasked with overseeing these crimes are volunteers.