This is the first assessment of the Ministry of the Interior in this area.

The statistical service of the ministry (SSMSI) observes that environmental offenses in 2021 are up by 7% compared to 2016, i.e. an increase of 1.3% on average per year.

Acts against animals represent a third of these attacks, 25% are linked to illegal logging or mining and 13% to hunting and fishing regulations, the ministry said on Wednesday.

The French Guiana region has a rate of 42 recorded offenses per 10,000 inhabitants.

A figure nine times higher than the national average (4.5) linked, notes the SSMSI, to “the high concentration of offenses linked” to gold panning, research and artisanal gold mining.

The only other region with an environmental damage rate of more than 10 offenses per 10,000 inhabitants is Corsica (18).

These are more specifically breaches of fire prevention rules (46%) and illegal logging (19%).

Boom in pollution offenses

The Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts concentrate the highest rates of forest-related offenses (illegal logging and non-compliance with fire prevention rules).

By their nature, half of the offenses recorded are committed in rural communes.

For the only environmental offenses recorded in 2021, excluding acts against animals, almost half of the complainants are legal persons, according to the ministry.

Conversely, less than 10% of those questioned by the police and the gendarmerie are legal persons.

The individuals implicated are almost exclusively men (86%) and more than half are between 30 and 59 years old.

Between 2016 and 2021, the nature of environmental damage has evolved differently.

Offenses related to pollution increased sharply (+96% compared to 2016, or +14% on average per year), as well as those related to waste (+63%, +10% on average per year).

Conversely, offenses relating to logging and mining, as well as those related to hunting and fishing, fell by 11% and 18% respectively between 2016 and 2021.

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  • Planet

  • Pollution

  • Environment

  • Animals

  • Forest

  • Ministry of Interior

  • Climate