By Charles Victor Barber, Karen Winfield, and Rachael Petersen

The Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA), with the support of Meridian Institute, is exploring the integration of climate and land use with justice, equity, health, and economic recovery through Climate and Forests 2030: Resources for Funders. This focus is intended to inspire innovation and investment in integrated work on forests, rights, and sustainable land use and will inform a new strategic plan for CLUA for the period 2021 to 2030. To inform the thinking, CLUA commissioned a series of “thought pieces” to provide diverse inputs into developing a more integrated approach for forests and land use. These are meant to stimulate discussion and debate

Nature crime occurs when individuals or criminal networks illegally exploit natural ecosystems to extract natural resources. Nature crimes include illegal logging, illegal mining, illegal fishing, illegal wildlife trade, and the illegal conversion of forests and wetlands for agriculture or other uses. These crimes are often associated with financial crime of various types, as well as labor and human violations and official corruption. The prevalence of nature crime and associated corruption and criminal behavior constitutes a serious barrier to progress in tackling climate change, slowing biodiversity loss, reducing the risk of future zoonotic pandemics, and achieving sustainable, peaceful, and equitable human development. The scale of the nature crime economy is immense. It is variably estimated to be the third- or fourth-largest illicit economy in the world (after drug trafficking and trade in counterfeit goods) with an annual value of as much as $281 billion, but this figure underestimates its indirect impacts: governments are deprived annually of some $7-12 billion in timber and fisheries revenues, while the indirect costs of undermining ecosystem services may be as high as $1-2 trillion per year,

San Francisco?:Climate and Forests 2030, 2021. 30p.

By Mark Burnett, Natalia Dronova, Maren Esmark, Steve Nelson, Asle Rønning, and Vassily Spiridonov

The high northern latitudes support rich biological diversity, including expansive fish stocks, large colonies of seabirds, benthic communities, and a wide variety of marine mammals. Arctic biodiversity and biological productivity is of great international economic importance. About 70 per cent of the world’s total white fish supply comes from arctic waters. This marine resource is also extremely significant to arctic regional and coastal communities. Illegal fishing for Atlantic cod and Alaska pollock in the Arctic threatens the health of these globally important fisheries and their resilience to climate change. It undermines all efforts to build sustainable fisheries management regimes – a pressing objective in the Arctic, where temperatures are rising at twice the global average. Extensive data for the Barents Sea contrasts with the limited information available about estimated illegal fishing in the Russian Far East. As well as providing alarming illustrations of how widespread IUU fishing can become when adequate measures are not taken, the Arctic also gives encouraging examples of how IUU fishing can be greatly reduced. In the Barents Sea region, Norway and Russia have cooperated on fisheries management for several decades. Experience working together has resulted in concrete measures to control, regulate and monitor fishing. These measures have borne fruit recently with the reduction in illegal fishing in the Barents Sea. This achievement shows how coordinated efforts among governments, industry and non-governmental organisations can make a real difference in stopping criminal fishing activities. The current challenge is to keep up the momentum, learn from positive experiences, and leverage our commitment and knowledge to expand the fight against illegal fishing.

Oslo, Norway: World Wildlife Fund, International Arctic Programme, 2008. 52p

Edited by Christian Nellemann

This report Green Carbon, Black Trade by UNEP and INTERPOL focuses on illegal logging and its impacts on the lives and livelihoods of often some of the poorest people in the world set aside the environmental damage. It underlines how criminals are combining old fashioned methods such as bribes with high tech methods such as computer hacking of government web sites to obtain transportation and other permits. The report spotlights the increasingly sophisticated tactics being deployed to launder illegal logs through a web of palm oil plantations, road networks and saw mills.

Nairobi, Kenya: Arendal, Norway: United Nations Environment Program, GRID-Arendal.; 2012. 72p.

By Dave Currey, Faith Doherty, Sam Lawson, Julian Newman, and A. Ruwindrijarto

A report into illegal logging in Indonesia and South-East Asia, and the international consumption of illegally sourced timber. For the past two decades, the international community has been aware of rampant logging of tropical forests and vanishing biodiversity. Yet even if you could track an illegally cut tree to a port in a timber consuming country, and supply conclusive evidence that it was illegally cut, none of them have legislation in place that would allow their enforcement authorities to seize the shipment.

London; Washington, Environment Protection Agency; Bogor, Indonesia: Telapak, 2001. 36p.

By The Environmental Protection Agency

EIA’s first Forests report, arising from investigations conducted jointly by ourselves and Indonesian partner NGO Telapak into illegal logging in Indonesia’s Tanjung Puting National Park.

In the remote and supposedly protected park in Kalimantan, we found previously pristine rainforest in a state of violent chaos, effectively under siege from logging gangs targeting valuable ramin trees – despite the fact that it was vital habitat for endangered orangutans.

We pieced together the evidence on the ground to discover who was behind the huge theft and found it pointed to illegal logging kingpin Abdul Rasyid and his company Tanjung Lingga.

London; Washington, Environmental Protection Agency; Bogor, Indonesia: Telapak, 1999. 44p.

By The Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

Environmental crime covers a wide range of activities, from illegal extraction and trade of forestry and minerals to illegal land clearance and waste trafficking. Actors involved in these crimes vary from large organized crime groups to multinational companies and individuals. Perpetrators of environmental crime rely on both the financial and non-financial sector to launder their proceeds. The ‘low risk, high reward’ nature of environmental crime makes for a lucrative and safe source of revenue for criminals. This is partly due to a regulatory and legal environment that is not always consistent globally and does not fully address the financial aspects and money laundering (ML) risks of these crimes. The FATF conducted this study to strengthen awareness of the scale and nature of criminal gains and laundering techniques for environmental crimes. This study builds on the FATF’s 2020 report on financial flows from the illegal wildlife trade. It brings together expertise from across the FATF’s Global Network to identify good practices that governments and the private sector can take to disrupt the profitability of environmental crimes. The findings for this report are based on case studies and good practices provided by over 40 countries, alongside expertise from civil society and the private sector.

Paris: FATF, 2021. 70p.

By Santiago Montenegro and Álvaro Pedraza

This paper tries to explain why kidnapping has fallen so dramatically in Colombia during the period 2000-2008. The widely held belief is that the falling kidnapping rates can basically be explained as a consequence of the success of President Alvaro Uribe's democratic security policy. Without providing conclusive alternative explanations, some academic papers have expressed doubts about Uribe' security policy being the main cause of this phenomenon. While we consider the democratic security policy as constituting a necessary condition behind Colombia's falling kidnapping rates, we argue in this paper that a complementary condition underlying this phenomenon has been the significant increase during this period in the speed and quality of communications between potential victims and public security forces. In this sense, the expansion of the mobile phone industry in Colombia implies that there has been a substantial reduction in information asymmetries between kidnappers and targeted citizens. This has led to a higher level of deterrence as well as to higher costs for perpetrating this type of crime. This has resulted in a virtuous circle: improved security allows higher investments in telecommunications around the country, which in turn lead to faster communications between citizens and security forces, which consequently leads to greater security. We introduce a Becker-Ehrlich type supply and demand model for kidnappings. Using regional and departmental data on kidnapping, the police and mobile phones, we show that mobile phone network expansion has expanded the effective coverage of public protection; this, in turn, has led to a spectacular reduction in kidnapping rates.

Bogotá, Colombia: Universidad de los Andes–Facultad de Economía–CEDE, 2009. 30p

By Fabio Sánchez, Jairo Nunez, and Francois Bourguignon

Inequality has always been taken as a major explanatory factor of the rate of crime. Yet, the evidence in favor of that hypothesis is weak. Pure cross-sectional analyses show significant positive effects but do not control for fixed effects. Time series and panel data point to a variety of results, but few turn out being significant. The hypothesis maintained in this paper is that it is a specific part of the distribution, rather than the overall distribution as summarized by conventional inequality measures, that is most likely to influence the rate of (property) crime in a given society. Using a simple theoretical model and panel data in 7 Colombian cities over a 20 year period, we design a method that permits identifying the precise segment of the population whose relative income best explains time changes in crime.

Bogotá, Colombia: Universidad de los Andes–Facultad de Economía–CEDE, 2003. 23p.

By Jorge Cuartas, Arturo Harker, and Andrés Moya

During early childhood, children develop cognitive and socioemotional skills that predict success in multiple socioeconomic dimensions. A large part of the development of these skills depends on the child’s context during the first years of life and, in particular, on the quality of parental care. Grounded on recent literature in psychology and behavioral economics, we discuss a theoretical framework for understanding why some children receive adequate care, while others do not. Within this framework, we identify a determinant of the quality of parenting that has not yet been explored in-depth: the availability of parents’ mental resources, which are depleted by the subjective feeling of scarcity and the stress generated by adversities. Using cross-sectional data from a household survey in Colombia and administrative data on crime and violence, we find that a greater subjective feeling of scarcity (β=0.45, IC95%:[0.082, 0.979]) and greater exposure to violence (β =0.09, IC90%:[0.004, 0.182]) are associated with a lower likelihood that parents engage in stimulating activities with their children. At the same time, the results show that receiving information on childrearing is correlated with better parental practices (β =-0.48, IC95%:[-0.822, -0.136]).

Bogotá, Colombia: Universidad de los Andes–Facultad de Economía–CEDE , 2016. 35p.

By Daniel Mejía Pascual Restrepo

This paper proposes a new identification strategy to estimate the causal impact of illicit drug markets on violence using a panel of Colombian municipalities covering the period 1994-2008. Using a UNODC survey of Colombian rural households involved in coca cultivation, we estimate the determinants of land suitability for coca cultivation. With these results we create a suitability index that depends on the altitude, erosion, soil aptitude, and precipitation of a municipality. Our exogenous suitability index predicts the presence of coca crops cross sectionally and its expansion between 1994-2000. We show that following an increase in the demand for Colombian cocaine, coca cultivation increases disproportionately in municipalities with a high suitability index. This provides an exogenous source of variation in the extent of coca cultivation within municipalities that we use as an instrument to uncover the causal effect of illegal cocaine markets on violence. We find that a 10% increase in the value of coca cultivation in a municipality increases homicides by about 1.25%, forced displacement by about 3%, attacks by insurgent groups by about 2%, and incidents involving the explosion of land mines by about 1%. Our evidence is consistent with the view suggesting that prohibition creates rents for suppliers in illegal markets, and these rents cause violence as different armed groups fight each other, the government and the civil population for their control and extraction.

Bogotá, Colombia: Universidad de los Andes–Facultad de Economía–CEDE , 2012. 56p.

By Chile Eboe-Osuji

Sexual violence is a particular brand of evil that women have endured—more than men—during armed conflicts, through the ages. It is a menace that has continued to challenge the conscience of humanity—especially in our times. At the international level, basic laws aimed at preventing it are not in short supply. What is needed is a more conscious determination to enforce existing laws. This book explores ways of doing just that; thereby shoring up international legal protection of women from sexual violence in armed conflicts.

Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2012. 374p.

By Environmental Investigation Agency

One of the poorest countries in Latin America, Honduras is losing up to $18 million a year in lost stumpage fees and other forest-based revenue. Yet this is only the tip of the iceberg of a massive, nationwide, resource rip-off by major timber and wood product producers and their high level political backers. An estimated 80% of mahogany and up to 50% of pine — Honduras’ main timber export — is produced in violation of government regulations.

Washington, DC: Environmental Investigation Agency, 2005. 48p.

By Saskia Ozinga and Janet Meissner Pritchard

This report explores how trade in agricultural commodities undermines important EU timber trade reforms. It recommends a course of action that extends Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade-like mechanisms to agricultural commodities, including clearly incorporating conversion timber in new Voluntary Partnership Agreements and developing a broader EU Action Plan on Deforestation and Forest Degadation.

Brussels: FERN, 2015. 20p.

By Judith Neyer and Jade Saunders

Exporting Destruction is the conclusion of research that included fieldwork in China, desk studies, and a new financial review, all commissioned to shine a light on the role that export credit agencies (ECAs) play in financing global deforestation. Through detailed case studies and historical research, FERN has been able to produce a set of policy recommendations that would, if implemented effectively, bring export credits in line with other publicly-funded institutions and reduce their potential for negative social and environmental impacts. The paper suggests that while the primary, if not sole, remit of ECAs is to promote their country’s domestic industries in competitive and risky environments, particularly in poor emerging markets, the huge amounts of money involved mean that they also have an important effect on policies and actions in the countries in which they support projects. To put their size in context, ECAs underwrite around US$100 billion annually in medium and long-term credits and guarantees, compared with, for example, multilateral development banks, which have a combined total of US$60 billion in loans per year.

Brussels: FERN, 2008. 41p.

By Chantal Marijnissen, Saskia Ozinga, Beatrix Richards and Sebastien Risso

By mid-2004, the European Commission is due to report back to the Council of the European Union with its proposals for implementing the EU Action Plan on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) that it released in May 2003. FERN, Greenpeace and WWF welcome the Plan and aim, with this report, to provide further recommendations to EU policy makers that will assist their efforts to ensure its successful implementation. Given the stage of development of the FLEGT Action Plan, this report will focus primarily on criminal aspects of the timber industry. However, it is important to remember that much legal logging is also highly destructive – and that ultimately it is the issue of forest sustainability that needs to be addressed. As the environmental NGO community has repeatedly shown, the impacts of illegal logging on wildlife and human welfare are devastating. Illegal logging contributes to deforestation and loss of biodiversity; fuels civil wars and threatens international security through bribery, organised crime and human rights abuses; cuts tax revenue of producer countries; destabilises international markets and undermines both legitimate business and responsible forest management.

Brussels: FERN; Greenpeace European Unit; World Wildlife Fund, 2004. 38p.

By FERN

At a time when the space for civil society is shrinking, the need for people to be able to influence the powers that control their lives, and have the freedom to work together to tackle the challenges they face, is more critical than ever. These reports from the frontline of the struggle against deforestation and illegal logging show how it can be done. Written by local journalists from tropical forested countries which have signed (or are negotiating) Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) timber trade deals with the European Union (EU), these stories offer snapshots of the lives of people dependent on forests for their survival, and underline how putting local people in the driving seat of the policies that affect them is key to keeping forests standing.

Brussels; London: FERN, 2002. 40p.

By Duncan Brack, Chantal Marijnissen, and Saskia Ozinga

Around the world, people are waking up to the fact that illegal forestry activities are widespread and have extremely negative consequences. Not only does illegal logging damage the environment, but tax evasion by forestry companies deprives governments of billions of euros in revenues, related corruption and impunity to prosecution undermine the rule of law, and in several countries the proceeds from illegal forestry activities have financed violent conflict. Clearly something must be done. In this paper several of Europe’s most knowledgeable experts about illegal forestry activities have put their heads together to examine what the European Commission and member states can do to address the problem. They focus particularly on trade, finance, and procurement issues, although they briefly discuss efforts to strengthen the capacity of national institutions in developing countries. One by one they go through each of the specific instruments that might be used and analyse their advantages and disadvantages and the practical aspects of their application. They conclude that steps can be taken by using existing legislation and mechanisms if the Commission and member states vigorously pursue those options, but additional legislation is needed.

Brussels; FERN: London: Royal Institute of International Affairs , 2002. 74p.

By Mark Berry

Illegal drug trafficking and retail drug sales constitute the most common activity of organised crime groups in the UK and draw the largest share of resources from the police and prison services, whilst also generating considerable social costs. There are few contemporary studies in the UK on the supply of drugs, its organisation, culture and risk management practices, and even fewer on active dealers themselves. There remains limited ethnographic research into the drug trade, missing important insights that can be gained from observing distributors in a natural setting. A key absence in criminological literature is the voice of offenders who commit serious crimes and how they perceive and mitigate problems related to their activities. This research aims to fill gaps in the knowledge base by investigating the nature of the drug market, the crime risk management practices of drug dealers, and possible reasons for their involvement and patterns of activity. The study examines the criminal careers of offenders who operate in one of Britain’s largest cities, termed here anonymously as Red City. The participants in this study distribute and manufacture a range of illicit substances, both offline and online. They distribute drugs on local, national and international levels (retail, wholesale, import and export). To complement the fieldwork, interviews were conducted with official actors from the criminal justice system, the private sector and the third sector. The thesis seeks to provide a more nuanced and grounded picture of illicit drug dealing and ‘organised crime’, that provides an account that corrects popular stereotypes.

Cardiff, Wales: Cardiff University, 2020. 195p.

By Letizia Paoli

The main aim of this book is to reconstruct the culture, structure, and action of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the Calabrian ’Ndrangheta. Not only are these Italy’s most dangerous criminal organizations, but they have also profoundly influenced the mafia phenomenon in North America. It was from the Sicilian Cosa Nostra’s nineteenth-century forerunners that the Italian American mafia developed, as millions of Italian immigrants settled in the United States, most of them coming from southern Italy. Significantly, the largest and most influential Italian American mafia confederation is called Cosa Nostra as well. The Calabrian ’Ndrangheta also has offshoots in the Anglo-Saxon world. In the early twentieth century, ’Ndrangheta groups were established in both Canada and Australia, and these are still active now, maintaining close contacts with their Calabrian counterparts. In order to depict the culture, structure, and action of these organized crime groups, I consulted numerous sources, ranging from criminal cases to parliamentary hearings, from archival and other standard secondary sources to interviews with law enforcement officials, local politicians, and anti-mafia activists. The portrait given in this book, however, relies most heavily on the confessions and testimonies of former mafia members now cooperating with judicial authorities. As my introduction explains, these statements have not been accepted uncritically but have been taken seriously even when they seem to contradict the evil activities in which most mafiosi engage. Cooperating mafia witnesses are, in fact, the most direct source of information about the mafia, describing the mafia world not only from the outside but also—as one defector put it—from within.

Oxford, UK; New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

By Francesco Calderoni

Just a few months after the entry into force of the EU Framework Decision on the fight against organized crime, this book provides an unprecedented analysis of the national and European legislation on organized crime. The book provides a critical examination of the European policies and legal instruments to promote the harmonization and approximation of criminal law in this field (including the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime). The current level of harmonization among EU Member States and the approximation to the standards of the new Framework Decision are discussed in detail, with the help of tables, graphs and maps.The results highlight the problems surrounding the international legal instruments and the inconsistencies of the national approaches to combating organized crime.

Heidelberg; Dordrecht; London' New York: Springer, 2010. 201p.