By David Kamweti, Deborah Osiro and Donald A. Mwiturubani

An environmental crime can be defined as a grave act against the environment that results in the infringement of the right of citizens to a clean and healthy environment. For such an act to constitute a crime, it must contravene laid-down legislation in the various sectors of the environment, such as forestry, water and wildlife. Environmental offences have, for a long time, been treated as misdemeanours, and not felonies. Environmental crime is a serious and growing concern, leading to the near extinction of valuable wildlife species, and significantly impacting on the biological integrity of the planet. It contributes to environmental degradation, which in turn affects the quality and quantity of environmental resources. By doing so, it leads to unhealthy competition for these scarce resources, and subsequently to volatile situations and even resource-use conflicts. As such, environmental crime impacts on human livelihoods.

Pretoria, South Africa: Institute for Security Studies, 2009. 96p.