Henrik Forssblad is from Sweden and is a police officer fighting environmental crime. He has been working at EUPOL COPPS (the European Union Police and Rule of Law Mission for the Palestinian Territory) as the Environmental Crime Adviser since March 2020.

“Whether you are in Palestine or Sweden, or indeed anywhere else, environmental crimes have a big impact on people’s lives,” the Swedish expert says. “In many cases, environmental crimes are a threat to coming generations. That’s a motivation for us to do better”.

Specialised police officers and units dedicated to fighting environmental crime are a relatively new development in most jurisdictions. It is an area that is also rather new for the Palestinian Civil Police (PCP), which is trying to boost its capacity in this field, including with the help of international partners such as EUPOL COPPS.

“In Palestine, like in other countries, you have problems with illegal dumping of waste, sometimes hazardous waste in different areas. This creates threats to water sources and health hazards to nearby citizens. You also have wastewater leakage into public and private facilities, discharged randomly and against Palestinian law. There is the issue of abandoned cars, tyres and damaged vehicle parts that are dumped in a way that leads to leakage and threats to human health. You also have quarries which pollute their surroundings. Another problem is the burning of hazardous waste – this can lead to serious health complications”.

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EUPOL COPPS website