Ecomafia 2024, in Italy crime continues to do business with the environment

The Legambiente report photographs a country where mafias thrive thanks to environmental crimes, from illegal construction to waste.The South is the most affected.

• Eco-mafias continue to thrive in Italy:in 2023, 35,487 environmental crimes were committed, 97 per day, with a significant increase compared to the previous year.
• Unauthorized construction reigns supreme:over 34 thousand people were reported in one year.But crimes related to waste recycling are growing.
• The southern regions are confirmed as the most susceptible to attack, also due to the presence of historical mafias.
• Legambiente's recommendation to the government:implement the European directive on the criminal protection of the environment as soon as possible.

In Italy, the eco-mafias continue to press on the accelerator and do golden business.The new Legambiente report, Ecomafia 2024. The stories and numbers of environmental crime in Italy, published by Edizioni Ambiente, paints a worrying picture, according to which environmental crimes in 2023 rose to 35.487, with a increase of 15.6 percent compared to 2022, and an average of 97.2 crimes per day, or 4 every hour.Black data, and this time it cannot even be said that the increase in numbers corresponds at least partially to greater effectiveness in controls, which instead have decreased.The crimes are concentrated mainly in the South, particularly in regions with a traditional mafia presence – Campania, Puglia, Sicily and Calabria – which represent 43.5 percent of criminal crimes, with an increase of 3.8 percent compared to the previous year.The illegal market earned eco-mafiosi as much as 8.8 billion euros in 2023.

Illegal construction is the most widespread crime, according to Ecomafia 2024

In 2023, the number of people reported (34,481, +30.6 percent), arrests (319, +43 percent) and seizures (7,152, +19 percent) also increased.Among crimes, the illegal cement cycle continues to rise with 13,008 crimes (+6.5 percent), confirming itself in first place among environmental crimes.Precisely for this reason the Ecomafia 2024 report dedicates a separate focus to illegal construction:in construction the pressure of illegality remains high, even in this case especially in the South, where 48.8 percent of new illegal constructions are concentrated.Too few demolitions have been carried out, although there is no shortage of good news, underlines Ecomafia 2024, such as the demolition of Mangeruca Palace in Torre Melissa (Crotone) and the demolition bulldozers in Staletti (Catanzaro) against illegal villas on state maritime property.In Sicily, the mayor of Carini, Giovi Monteleone, the incessant work of restoring legality continues with the demolition of illegal properties along the coast.

The other most common crimes

Not just irregular construction though.Among the other eco-criminals surveyed by Ecomafia 2024 we find, in order:

• crimes in the waste cycle (9,309 crimes, an increase of 66.1 percent);
• crimes against animals (6,581),
• arson, negligent and general fires (3,691 offences).

Thefts of works of art are also growing (642, +58.9 percent) and crimes in the agri-food supply chains (45,067, +9.1 percent), starting with gangmastering, of which we have had a sad awakening in these days (in the media, not in the fields where the phenomenon has never subsided).378 mafia clans were registered.

The most affected regions are still in the South

The Ecomafia 2024 report unfortunately reiterates the sad stereotype of the South pervaded by mafias, with the Southern regions among the most subject to eco-crimes.There Campania confirms itself in first place with 4,952 crimes, equal to 14 percent of the national total, followed by Sicily (3,922 crimes, +35 percent compared to 2022), Puglia (3,643 crimes, +19.2 percent) e Calabria (2,912 crimes, +31.4).Tuscany rises to fifth place, followed by Lazio.Sardinia jumps to seventh place.Lombardy is the Northern region with the most crimes.At the provincial level, Naples is in the lead with 1,494 crimes, followed by Avellino and Bari.Rome drops to fourth place with 867 offences, followed by Salerno, Palermo, Foggia and Cosenza.Venice is the first province in the North, with 662 crimes.

There law 68/2015 on eco-crimes was applied 600 times in 2023, recording a slight decrease compared to the previous year (637).This drop is due to the decrease in checks, which went from 1,559 to 1,405.The crime of environmental pollution was contested 111 times, leading to 210 complaints and 21 arrests.Currently, there are 19 municipalities under commissionership.

Transpose the directive on the criminal protection of the environment

Legambiente, which drew up the Ecomafia 2024 report with the collaboration of the police forces, the port authorities, theAgency of Customs and Monopolies, of Ispra and of’European Anti-Fraud Office (Olaf) as always includes concrete proposals to the Government in the report.There are six pillars on which to work as a priority, according to the environmental association:

• accept the new European directive on the criminal protection of the environment, approved at the end of March with the aim of improving investigations and prosecutions for the repression of environmental crimes.
• introduce into the penal code i agromafia crimes and against animals,
• give back to the prefects full powers for demolition of illegal properties,
• tighten sanctions against crimes in the waste cycle,
• complete the approval of the implementing decrees of National environmental protection system,
• strengthen the staff of regional agencies.

“In these three decades, the Ecomafia report has become a comprehensive work to analyze the criminal phenomena linked to environmental business,” he said Stefano Ciafani, national president of Legambiente.“From our analysis, it emerges that there is still a lot to do in our country, where important regulations continue to be missing.We expect a signal of discontinuity from the Meloni government to approve as soon as possible the reforms necessary to strengthen prevention and control activities".

“The heaviest voice of illegality linked to the cement cycle is due to the myriad of building abuses carried out in our country.With the 'Save Home' decree there is a risk of fueling new abuses", he adds Enrico Fontana, head of the Environment and Legality Observatory.“The growth of crimes in waste management is also worrying, with illegal practices that threaten the circular economy.We will carefully follow what happens in the collection of WEEE and in the illicit market of F-gas", the fluorinated gases, often used for refrigeration, which are among the main causes of global warming and which the European Union is trying to gradually reduce from 2024 to 2050.