THE DESIGN OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT

“Successful Wildlife Crime Prosecution in Europe” (SWiPE) project aims to discourage and ultimately reduce illegally killed European wildlife, supporting the recovery of threatened European biodiversity and the health of ecosystems. The project activity C1.2: Socio-economic assessment aims to assess the impacts of the project on the local economy and population. On the project level, the question that needs to be answered through socio-economic assessment is how to make invisible crime visible and increase detection and prosecution. During project implementation three areas have been detected as relevant for the said question: awareness raising, legislative changes and trainings aimed to increase knowledge and capacity.
The socio-economic assessment of the SWiPE project in Croatia showed that all three areas detected as relevant to make invisible wildlife crime visible have been achieved. The awareness of the both general public and experts has been risen by project activities. The project also led to several legislative changes and wildlife crimes have become part of the Croatian national legislation. Also, activities conducted in the framework of SWiPE project, educations and trainings organised have led to increase knowledge and capacity of Law Enforcement Professionals, prosecutors and judges regarding the wildlife crime. Therefore, it can be concluded that planned indicators have been achieved and that the SWiPE project implementation in Croatia has been successful.