Environmental Crime
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Environmental crime is an illegal act which directly harms the environment. These illegal activities involve the environment, wildlife,
biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...
, and
natural resource Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. ...
s. International bodies such as, G7,
Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...
,
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
, United Nations Environment Program, United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute, have recognized the following environmental crimes: * Wild life crime: Illegal wildlife trade in
endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...
in contravention to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES); *Illegal mining:
Smuggling Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, soc ...
of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) in contravention to the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer; * Pollution crimes: Dumping and illicit trade in
hazardous waste Hazardous waste is waste that must be handled properly to avoid damaging human health or the environment. Waste can be hazardous because it is Toxicity, toxic, Chemical reaction, reacts violently with other chemicals, or is Corrosion, corrosive, ...
in contravention of the 1989 Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Other Wastes and their Disposal; *
Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) is an issue around the world. Fishing industry observers believe IUU occurs in most fisheries, and accounts for up to 30% of total catches in some important fisheries. Illegal fishing takes p ...
in contravention to controls imposed by various regional
fisheries management The management of fisheries is broadly defined as the set of tasks which guide vested parties and managers in the optimal use of aquatic renewable resources, primarily fish. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation ...
organization's; *
Illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a p ...
and the associated trade in stolen timber in violation of national laws. Environmental crime makes up almost a third of crimes committed by organizations such as;
corporation A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...
s,
partnership A partnership is an agreement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments or combinations. Organizations ...
s, unions, trusts,
pension fund A pension fund, also known as a superannuation fund in some countries, is any program, fund, or scheme which provides pension, retirement income. The U.S. Government's Social Security Trust Fund, which oversees $2.57 trillion in assets, is the ...
s, and non-profits. It is the fourth largest criminal activity in the world and it is increasing by five to seven percent every year. These crimes are liable for
prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...
.
Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...
facilitates international police cooperation and assists its member countries in the effective enforcement of national and international environmental laws and treaties. Interpol began fighting environmental crime in 1992.


Costs

International criminal gangs
and militant groups profit from the plunder of
natural resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. ...
and these illegal profits are soaring.
Terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
and eve
civil wars
are consequences of environmental crime. According to
UNEP The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the Declaration of the United Nati ...
and
Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...
, in June 2016 the value of environmental crime is 26 per cent larger than previous estimates, at US$91–258 billion, compared to US$70–213 billion in 2014, outstripping illegal trade in small arms. More than half of this amount can be attributed to
illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a p ...
and
deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...
.


Prosecution by ICC

In September 2016 it was announced that the
International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...
(ICC) located in
The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
will prosecute
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
and individuals for environmental crimes. According to the Case Selection Criteria announced in Policy Paper on Case Selection and Prioritization by ICC on 15 September 2016, the Office will give particular consideration to prosecuting
Rome Statute The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome, Italy on 17 July 1998Michael P. Scharf (August 1998)''Results of the R ...
crimes that are committed by means of, or that result in, "inter alia, the destruction of the environment, the illegal
exploitation of natural resources The exploitation of natural resources describes using natural resources, often non-renewable or limited, for economic growth or development. Environmental degradation, human insecurity, and social conflict frequently accompany natural resource ex ...
or the illegal dispossession of land".


Environmental crime in the European Union

Within the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
, the road to an effective enforcement of Environmental Crime legislation has been anything but straightforward. A major role is played by the Environmental Crime Directive, a 2008 instrument aimed at protecting the environment through the use of
criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal l ...
. Even though some studies show that there has been a decline in non-compliance with environmental policy by Member States, after over a
decade A decade (from , , ) is a period of 10 years. Decades may describe any 10-year period, such as those of a person's life, or refer to specific groupings of calendar years. Usage Any period of ten years is a "decade". For example, the statement ...
from the
publication To publish is to make content available to the general public.Berne Convention, articl ...
of the first Directive, as part of the European Green Deal,the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
submitted
proposal
for a new Directive with the aim of strengthening the enforcement and
prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...
of environmental crimes through the use of clearer definitions and sanctions other than the typical fines and
imprisonment Imprisonment or incarceration is the restraint of a person's liberty for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is considered " false imprisonment". Impri ...
.


Causes of environmental crime

Causes of environmental crime include economic incentives, regulatory factors, and social/cultural factors. * Illegal activities are driven by regulations creating cost differentials between legal and illegal products, compliance costs in different countries, demand for scarce products, and lack of concern for the environment. * Illegal activities result from a lack of appropriate regulation, including failures to determine and/or protect property rights. * Illegal activities exist due to problems with enforcement, including suitability of regulation/enforcement methodology, costs of compliance, regulatory capture, lack of resources and infrastructure, political will and/or expertise, corruption, and political and economic disruption. *


Environmental crime by country


United States

Abandoned or little used areas are common dumping places in
America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
-especially railroads. Over $10 million a year are used to remove illegal dumping from polluting towns and the environment. A small
organization An organization or organisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences) is an legal entity, entity—such as ...
, CSXT Police Environment Crimes Unit, has been started to stop
railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
dumping specifically. Ever since the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Criminal Enforcement was founded in 1982, there has been a steady increase in prosecuted environmental crimes. This includes the prosecution of companies that have illegally dumped or caused
oil spills An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...
. On a federal level, while the EPA oversees the investigations, the prosecutions are typically brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, through its Environmental Crimes Section, and/or through one of the 94 U.S. Attorney's Office across the country. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is part of the Treasury Department which oversees the movement of money involving environmental crimes in the United States. This includes crimes such as illegal logging, fishing, and mining. In a 2004 case study, a 30-pound cylinder of CFC-12 could be purchased in China for US$40 and illegally sold in the US for US$600. In 2000, California real estate developer Eric Diesel was sentenced to 6 months in jail and ordered to pay a $300,000 fine for grading an illegal road in the
Santa Cruz Mountains The Santa Cruz Mountains ( Mutsun Ohlone: Mak-sah-re-jah, "Sharp Ridged Mountain of the Eagle" or "People of the Eagle Mountain") are a mountain range in central and Northern California, United States, constituting a part of the Pacific Coast R ...
. In 2023, eBay is accused by the Justice Department of violating environmental laws. The lawsuit states that eBay sold illegal equipment that override pollution controls on motorized vehicles, strictly forbidden products containing banned chemicals, and illegitimate pesticides. eBay Inc. faces legal action from the Justice Department for facilitating the sale and delivery of hundreds of thousands of items without authorization, in violation of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), and the Clean Air Act (CAA). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) filed the complaint in federal court in Brooklyn, NY. In 2024, A California Man Was Arrested for Importing Hazardous Greenhouse Gases Into the United States. In defiance of laws meant to limit the use of greenhouse gases and prevent climate change, Michael Hart of San Diego was taken into custody on charges of smuggling greenhouse gasses into the U.S. from Mexico and then retailing them for a profit. Charges pertaining to th
American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020 (AIM Act)
are being brought in this case for the first time in US history. '' Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)'' are widely utilized as refrigerants. The AIM Act forbids their importation unless the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants permission. ;Guam In 2024, Agreement between the United States and the Guam Waterworks Authority requires infrastructure investment in the sewer system. The Settlement Will Handle Notoriety Overflows and Illegal Untreated Sewage Discharges Into Coastal Waters. Today, the Guam Waterworks Authority (GWA) and the United States reached a consent decree to enhance the condition of the GWA's sewer system. The project is expected to cost $400 million and address issues such as untreated sewage spills and other violations of the Clean Water Act. Another party to the deal is the Guam government.


Italy

An example of Ecomafia was Naples
waste management Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment, and disposal of waste, together with monitor ...
where there was illegal dumping in the 1980s.


Nigeria

In Nigeria, the establishment of environmental agencies began in 1988 after an incident of dumping of toxic materials in the country by international waste traders (the infamous Koko incident). Presently, agencies such as the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (Nigeria) are empowered by Nigerian law to regulate the environment sector. This agency works with other organs of the government such as customs, police,
military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis List of intelligence gathering disciplines, approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist Commanding officer, commanders in decision making pr ...
, etc., and has successfully seized illegally trafficked wildlife products and prosecuted a number persons, including non-nationals.


Singapore/Southeast Asia

As a trading hub, Singapore is susceptible to unnoticed contraband. Charles W. Schmidt explains how
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
sells illegal CFC-12 to the United States through Singapore due to the lack of inspections and confidentiality of private businesses in Singapore. In Southeast Asia there is an international environmental crime group named Xayzavang Network. They are known to hunt down wildlife including elephant for products such as ivory.


Russia

Violations of Russia's environmental protection laws cost the country more than $187 million in 2018. Out of nearly 23.9 thousand environmental crimes registered in Russia in 2018, the overwhelming majority were related to; the illegal cutting of forest plantations, amounting approximately to 13.8 thousand cases, and Illegal hunting, with over 1.9 thousand cases observed.


Netherlands

In the Netherlands, the Dutch are part of the North Sea which is one of the busiest seas in the world and also one of the most polluted seas. Boats in the North Sea will often illegally dump waste because it saves them time and money.


Other

The Islamic States Often known as ISIS, The Islamic State has been previously known to have large sources of revenue come from environmental crime, usually the illegal trade of oil.


Enforcement

The effective
enforcement Enforcement is the proper execution of the process of ensuring compliance with laws, regulations, rules, standards, and social norms. Governments attempt to effectuate successful implementation of policies by enforcing laws and regulations. En ...
of
environmental law Environmental laws are laws that protect the environment. The term "environmental law" encompasses treaties, statutes, regulations, conventions, and policies designed to protect the natural environment and manage the impact of human activitie ...
s is vital to any protection regimes that are designed to protect the environment. In the early days of environmental legislation, violations carried largely insignificant civil fines and penalties. Initial environmental laws and regulations had little or no deterrent effect on corporations, individuals, or governments to comply with environmental laws. Indeed, a major source of failure of US environmental protection legislation was the civil character of federal enforcement actions. Their chief sanction was fines, which many corporations took in stride as a cost of doing business. Environmental criminal law covers a narrower ground. Its core consists of the criminal provisions of eight federal statutes passed mainly in the 1970s and amended in the last two decades. The following are some of the ways that the EPA's criminal enforcement program goes after corporate and individual defendants who have committed major environmental crimes: * Equipped with the necessary proof to pursue environmental offenses, federal, state, and local prosecutors * Technical assessments and environmental forensic analyses for both civil and criminal enforcement * Computerized evidence evaluation and retrieval * Professional legal assistance and recommendations to the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorneys, and the EPA Congress gave the EPA's criminal enforcement program broad law enforcement authority in 1988 after it was founded in 1982. Special agents, detectives, forensic scientists, technicians, attorneys, and support personnel are all employed by the program today. In many cases, particularly corporations found it more cost-effective to continue to pollute more than the law allowed and simply pay any associate fines if indeed the corporation was actually found and convicted of violating environmental laws or regulations. Kevin Tomkins believes corporations had a disincentive to comply with environmental laws or regulations as compliance generally raised their operational costs. This was interpreted as many corporations obeying the environmental laws, whether out of a sense of legal duty or public obligation, were disadvantaged and lost a competitive edge and consequently suffered in the marketplace to competitors who disregarded environmental laws and regulations. As a result of weak environmental legislation and continued adverse public opinion regarding the management of the environment, many governments established various environmental enforcement regimes that dramatically increased the legal powers of environmental investigators. The inclusion of criminal sanctions, significant increases in fines coupled with possible imprisonment of corporate officers changed the face of environmental law enforcement. For example, between 1983 and 1990 the
US Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equ ...
secured $57,358,404.00 in criminal penalties and obtained sentences of imprisonment for 55% of defendants charged with environmental offences.Tomkins, Kevin. Police, Law Enforcement and the Environment nline Current Issues in Criminal Justice; Volume 16, Issue 3; March 2005; 294–306 Many environmental agencies like the State Park Peace Officers and State Troopers, and more, play important roles in reducing environmental damage and protecting the environment through environmental laws and regulations. These agencies operate at varying levels from international, regional, national, state to local level keeping one agency working at one level. Various enforcement methods are employed by these agencies to warrant compliance with environmental laws and regulations. In some case's enforcement agencies use what is called "Command and Control" which are traditional regulatory approaches. In other cases, they may use economic incentive and hybrid-based approaches, which there are two. Moreover, it has increased the need for cooperation between different policing institutions. Environmental law enforcement agencies and police services do not operate in a vacuum; the legislative instruments that
political system In political science, a political system means the form of Political organisation, political organization that can be observed, recognised or otherwise declared by a society or state (polity), state. It defines the process for making official gov ...
s implement govern their activities and responsibilities within society. However, ostensibly it is the legislative instruments implemented by governments that determine many of the strategies utilized by police services in protecting the environment. Generally these International, Regional, National and State legislative instruments are designed to ensure industries,
individual An individual is one that exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of living as an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) as a person unique from other people and possessing one's own needs or g ...
s, and governments comply with the various environmental obligations embedded in national statutes and laws. There are also international legal instruments and treaties that also affect the way that sovereign states deal with environmental issues .


Types of enforcement actions

The EPA or a state acting on its own power may take civil administrative actions, which are non-judicial enforcement measures. There is no legal court procedure involved in these acts. An administrative action taken by the state or the EPA could take the following forms: a Superfund notice letter or notice of violation, or an order (with or without fines) instructing a person, company, or other entity to take action to clean up a site or comply. Formal lawsuits are known as civil judicial actions. They are brought before the court against individuals or organizations that have not: obey legislative or regulatory requirements, follow administrative directives, reimburse the EPA for Superfund site cleanup expenses, or pledge to undertake the cleanup.


Environmental criminology

Environmental criminology examines the notions of crimes, offences and injurious behaviors against the environment and starts to examine the role that societies including corporations, governments and communities play in generating environmental harms.
Criminology Criminology (from Latin , 'accusation', and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'', 'word, reason') is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behaviou ...
is now starting to recognize the impact of humans on the environment and how law enforcement agencies and the judiciary measure harm to the environment and attribute sanctions to the offenders. Environmental crime does not only affect the land, water, air, it affects the health of children as well. According to an article published in Environmental Health Perspectives in 2016, "The evolution and expansion of children's
environmental health Environmental health is the branch of public health concerned with all aspects of the natural environment, natural and built environment affecting human health. To effectively control factors that may affect health, the requirements for a hea ...
protection over the past two decades has been remarkable. At the U.S. EPA, significant efforts have been made to address the special susceptibility of children, and our work continues to address emerging environmental concerns to ensure that children's environments are free of
hazard A hazard is a potential source of harm. Substances, events, or circumstances can constitute hazards when their nature would potentially allow them to cause damage to health, life, property, or any other interest of value. The probability of that ...
s and support healthy development."


See also

* :Environmental crime *
Construction Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...
,
Construction waste Construction waste or debris is any kind of debris from the construction process. Different government agencies have clear definitions. For example, the United States Environmental Protection Agency EPA defines construction and demolition mate ...
*
Ecocide Ecocide (from Greek 'home' and Latin 'to kill') is the destruction of the natural environment, environment by humans. Ecocide threatens all human populations that are dependent on natural resources for maintaining Ecosystem, ecosystems and ensu ...
*
Ecotax An environmental tax, ecotax (short for ecological taxation), or green tax is a tax levied on activities which are considered to be harmful to the environment and is intended to promote environmentally friendly alternatives via economic incentive ...
*
Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...
* Environmental Crime Prevention Program * Environmental Investigation Agency *
Environmental issue Environmental issues are disruptions in the usual function of ecosystems. Further, these issues can be caused by humans (human impact on the environment) or they can be natural. These issues are considered serious when the ecosystem cannot recov ...
* Environmental killings *
Environmental law Environmental laws are laws that protect the environment. The term "environmental law" encompasses treaties, statutes, regulations, conventions, and policies designed to protect the natural environment and manage the impact of human activitie ...
*
Fossil fuel A fossil fuel is a flammable carbon compound- or hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the buried remains of prehistoric organisms (animals, plants or microplanktons), a process that occurs within geolog ...
*
Illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a p ...
*
Joss paper Joss paper, also known as incense papers, are papercrafts or sheets of paper made into burnt offerings common in Chinese ancestral worship (such as the veneration of the deceased family members and relatives on holidays and special occasions). ...
* List of environmental lawsuits *
Power tool A power tool is a tool that is actuator, actuated by an additional engine, power source and mechanism (engineering), mechanism other than the solely manual labour, manual labor used with hand tools. The most common types of power tools use electric ...
* Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation * Scottish Environment Protection Agency * Wildlife Enforcement Monitoring System *
Wildlife smuggling Wildlife smuggling or wildlife trafficking concerns the illegal gathering and trade of endangered species and protected wildlife, including plants and byproducts or products utilizing a species. Research on wildlife smuggling has increased, howeve ...
*
Poaching Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the huntin ...


References


Further reading

* *


External links


Interpol
- environmental crime page
Environmental Crime-Havocscope Black Markets
-Statistics and data on environmental crime
Wildlife Enforcement Monitoring SystemAustralian Institute of CriminologyMonitoring and Enforcement of Climate Policy
{{US Environmental law Crimes