Online, Italy

Environmental Crimes

UNICRI and the Italian Society for International Organization (SIOI) are organizing the seventh edition of the Winter School on Environmental Crimes, which will be delivered online, from 20 to 24 November 2023.

The course will provide participants a fundamental understanding of what environmental crimes are and on how law enforcement bodies and judicial systems are responding. The existing international legal framework will be examined with a view to improve participants’ ability to address the issue in a comprehensive way and promote their role as advocates for an effective change in public policies, strategies, and practices. More specifically, the curriculum of the course may focus on:

- Environment and geopolitics
- The concept of environmental protection and its evolution
- Existing international legal frameworks to prevent crimes against the environment
- Links between environmental crimes and COVID-19
- Involvement of organized criminal groups in environmental crimes, with a specific focus on trafficking of natural resources
- Waste trafficking and its impact on human health and security
- Wildlife crimes
- Risk analysis of environmental crimes
- Environmental conflicts and justice
- Individual, corporate and State accountability for environmental crimes

The Winter School offers professional, legal, social, scientific, and academic perspectives through live webinars, group discussions, dynamic case studies, individual readings, and practical exercises. The faculty is composed of leading scholars and academics from leading universities, representatives of the United Nations system, international human rights bodies, and the civil society.

Through a dedicated online platform, participants will have the opportunity to interact with international recognized experts and peers from all over the world, so to build lasting professional relationships. This experience fosters intercultural dialogue and promotes a deeper understanding of some of the world’s most complex and debated issues.



Course Methodology
This course is delivered online. It combines live webinars in our virtual classroom, led by subject matter experts, with self-paced activities and interactive group discussions.
The live webinars are conducted on a dedicated online platform. Participants need a computer (recommended) or a mobile device with audio and video capabilities, a headset with microphone to connect to the audio through the computer or mobile device, as well as a reliable internet connection. We recommend accessing audio through the computer. No special software is required. Upon acceptance to the course, participants will be provided with the information to access the platform.
The live webinars are from 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm Rome-time (8:00am - 11:00am New York-time), from Monday to Friday.


Certificate of participation
Upon attendance of all live webinars and completion of the course activities and assignments, participants will receive a United Nations and SIOI certificate of participation.

Course leader

UNICRI is one of the leading training and research institutes of the UN System, holding a sound expertise in research and training, which is reflected in the organization of several capacity-building activities and specialized postgraduate courses.

Target group

The course is designed for university graduates in Law, Political Science, International Relations, Economics, Social Science, and other relevant disciplines. It is also addressed to young professionals working in governmental institutions, local authorities, international and non-governmental organizations seeking to deepen their understanding of current environmental crimes issues.

Candidates must meet the following minimum requirements:

- Hold a three-year university degree issued by an internationally recognized university in one of the aforementioned areas;
- Have a very good working knowledge of English.

Applications from students who expect to graduate at the end of the 2023/24 academic year will also be considered.

Fee info

EUR 600: Registration fees includes:

- Tuition
- Course material on electronic version

Cancellation and Refunds
In the event of a participant cancellation for any reason registration fees will not be refunded.