Virtual symposium on species protection law

Species protection law, as it applies e.g. to national poaching incidents or international smuggling attempts or illegal marketing of protected species, is complex - relevant prohibition norms are often found only in ancillary criminal laws such as the BNatSchG, the BJagdG, the TierSchG.
Few lawyers and other members of the law enforcement chain specialize in this area, and there are few precedents for investigating or convicting poachers or smugglers of protected species. At the same time, illegal acts against animal and plant species, both domestic and foreign, pose a serious threat to the species involved and to the conservation of biodiversity as a whole.
Across Europe, there are similar difficulties in preventing and prosecuting crimes against protected species: In particular, a lack of knowledge about the scale and impact of criminal cases, a low level of routine and a lack of education and training on EU environmental law and, as a result, a very low rate of successfully prosecuted crimes.
Note: Individual presentations can be selected directly from the agenda here.
00:00:00 "Small" crime big impact: classification of wildlife crime
in Germany and worldwide
(Katharina Hennemuth- WWF)
00:17:00 Species protection law and its challenges
(Prof. Dr. Sönke Gerhold - University of Bremen)
00:40:00 Practical challenges in law enforcement
(David Gehrmeyer - Federal Agency for Nature Conservation)
00:57:00 Discussion
01:11:00 Practical example I: Experiences of the former staff unit for
Environmental Crime in North Rhine-Westphalia
(Jürgen Hintzmann - Ministry for Environment, Agriculture,
Nature and Consumer Protection of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia)
01:35:00 Practical example II: Forensic methods in the investigation of
Wildlife Crime
(Dr. Stefan Prost - Natural History Museum Vienna, Vetmeduni Vienna)
01:57:00 Discussion and needs analysis: how can law enforcement in the
Species protection in Germany improve?
02:40:00 Conclusion