DOTCOM waste project (2016-2017)
“Development Of Tools to Counter illegal Management and trade of Waste”.
DOTCOMWASTE URL: http://www.dotcomwaste.eu/
Background:
The DOTCOM Waste Project – Development Of Tools to COunter illegal Management and trade of Waste – is a response to the need to address the negative consequences of illegal management and trade of waste. Illegal management and trade of waste causes significant damage to the environment, undermines the health of people and distorts fair competition. Dealing with these negative consequences require cost-effective ways to detect, investigate and prosecute waste crime activities. Waste crime is a challenging issue to combat because of its cross-border nature. But, lack of international collaboration hinders concerted efforts to detect, investigate and prosecute waste crimes.
Aim:
The DOTCOM Waste project seeks to increase the capabilities of a broad range of government agencies and authorities – especially police, customs, port authorities, environmental agencies and prosecutors – to fight cross-border waste crime more cost-effectively. To achieve this objective, the project aims to increase the stakeholders’ understanding of current waste crime trends and to identify and share good practices for detecting, investigating and prosecuting waste crime activities. The project will translate this knowledge into training material and tools and will promote training sessions to help key stakeholders integrate good practices into their day-to-day operations. The project’s underlying objective is to intensify international collaboration through development and implementation of new mechanisms for information exchange, technology transfer and operational coordination.
Main activities and expected outcomes:
- DOTCOM starts with data gathering and analyses of trade patterns and management practices that characterise the current illegal waste management and trading in Europe and in selected destination countries and regions (in particular in China and West Africa). The analysis will reveal the riskiest aspects of waste trading and management that call for further government attention most urgently. The project will also deliver a Compendium of Good Practices, a suite of solutions designed to help authorities detect, investigate and prosecute waste-related crimes.
- The project will assess training needs and operational requirements of government agencies that play a role in the fight against illegal management and trade of waste. Identification of the needs and requirements allows the project to produce relevant new training material and operational tools.
- The DOTCOM Waste project will also support international collaboration and capacity building. Two multidisciplinary four-days-long training sessions will be organised, one in Europe and one in China, on specific aspects of illegal waste-related activities along the EU-West Africa and EU-China routes. In parallel, e-learning and online seminars will be made available on the project website. Capacity building activities will be targeted to law enforcement agencies, customs and port authorities, environmental agencies and prosecutors. Training of trainers will ensure the wider use and dissemination of the tools and materials developed.
- The consortium will actively promote the DOTCOM Waste project in order to ensure wide visibility and uptake of the project’s findings and outcomes. The promotion and dissemination of the results will be achieved through different channels, especially through the project website, social media advertising campaign, newsletters, and the final conference.
Project partners:
- United Nations University (UNU) (Project Coordinator) – Germany
- Cross-Border Research Association (CBRA) – Switzerland
- Compliance and Risks (C&R) – Ireland
- TECOMS – Italy
- Ports Environmental Network-Africa (PENAf) – Ghana
- Basel Convention Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific (BCRC China) – China
- Basel Convention Regional Centre for West Africa (BCRC West Africa) – Nigeria
- Public Prosecutor Office of Bari (project associate) – Italy
Project duration:
2 years, from January 2016 to December 2017
More information at:
This project has been funded by the European Commission Directorate-General
Migration and Home Affairs under Grant Agreement Number HOME/2014/ISFP/AG/EFCE/7205
