SYDNEY, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Australia's National Environmental Protection Agency (National EPA) said on Monday that targeted compliance and enforcement activities over the past 12 months had delivered significant results in tackling environmental violations, including illegal wildlife trade and unlawful land clearing.
In a report reviewing progress against the government's environmental compliance and enforcement priorities, the agency said nearly 500 live wildlife specimens had been seized, while operations targeting illegal wildlife exports had disrupted more than 3 million Australian dollars (about 2.1 million U.S. dollars) in potential black market value.
The report showed that authorities had completed 59 compliance audits, assessed more than 900 environmental approval conditions and detected over 370 land-use changes through remote sensing and other monitoring activities.
Enforcement measures included a 55-million-Australian-dollar undertaking to address alleged land-clearing violations, as well as infringement penalties totaling more than 530,000 Australian dollars for breaches of environmental approval conditions and failures related to environmental offsets.
The agency also provided compliance guidance to more than 1,200 recycling businesses to help prevent unlawful waste exports.
National EPA Chief Executive Officer John Bradley said the results highlighted the importance of combining early engagement and education with intelligence-led compliance activities and strong enforcement action.
He said the agency would strengthen its capacity to detect environmental harm earlier, improve regulatory oversight and focus enforcement efforts on activities posing the greatest environmental risks.
The National EPA said it would also expand the use of advanced monitoring technologies and cooperation with partner agencies over the coming year to combat environmental crime and improve compliance with national environmental laws. ■
