Page 17 - Supplemento 2-2016 (ENG)

Tackling Environmental Crime throUgh standardized Methodologies

Welcome address of Hon. Paolo Gentiloni
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

Thank you. I thank the Commander, General Del Sette and Engineer
Patrone for this wonderful initiative which, in my opinion, also gives confirma-
tion of the great commitment of the Carabinieri to many of the international
issues we deal with. Very often we find ourselves in the most varied, multilateral
contexts and, I do not mean to flatter, in which we feel the significance of the
role that the Carabinieri carry out in many sectors in the international context.
I take pleasure in recalling that they have been committed to environmental
issues and to opposing the illegal trafficking of waste for many years. Yesterday,
my friend, Ermete Realacci, President of Environmental Commission of the
Chamber, reminded me that there are even terms that have entered our voca-
bulary, like eco-crimes and eco-mafia, that were launched for the first time in
1998, in this Officers School, in the reports produced on these issues by the
Carabinieri, in that case with the Legambiente. This is a long-standing commit-
ment which will most certainly be strengthened by the contribution of the out-
standing professionalism of the State Forestry Department.

There is talk of a European initiative on these issues in which, as the acro-
nym itself would show, the Italian imprint is clear, and we should all be proud
of this. It is one of the many fields in which Italy obviously carries out a role
of maximum collaboration with the European Union and diverse European
countries, but also in which it seeks to add its cutting-edge experience. And,
therefore, TECUM (Tackling Environmental Crimes Through Standardised
Methodologies) came into existence, the subject of such a high level, presti-
gious conference. The theme, as you well know, has been at the centre of the
international agenda of governments for some years now and the focus of
public opinion in international matters for decades. Finally, in recent years, we
have seen a greater commitment on the part of diplomacy, with significant
results.

Looking back at 2015, among the many things worth remembering, I
recall three in particular that have marked the agenda on these issues: first the
encyclical, Laudato Si, of the Holy Father, in which Pope Francis affirmed with

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