The criminal protection of the environment: special reference to the flora as an element of biodiversity

Abstract

This article focuses on the importance of environmental protection, taking as reference the flora as an element of biodiversity. Therefore, it is understood the entry of Criminal Law as a protective instrument when the other legal spheres “do not arrive” to fulfill their objective, articulating from blank criminal regulations, defending the environment as a human right along the following lines, and the need to deploy the due care to sustain biodiversity in a healthy way. As an element of biodiversity, the framing of the protection of flora in the Penal Code is detailed. To conclude, three problem areas and the answers provided by Criminal Law are shown, without losing sight of the preventive objective and, where appropriate, the repair of environmental damage.