This important new text introduces conservation criminology as the interdisciplinary study of environmental exploitation and risks at the intersection of human and natural systems. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Conservation Criminology enhances understanding of the various human and organisational behaviours that pose risks to the environment, humans, and drive conservation crime. As human population growth, global market economies, climate change, deforestation, and illegal exploitation of natural resources continue to increase, academic research from numerous disciplines is needed to address these challenges.
Conservation Criminology promotes thinking about how unsustainable natural resources exploitation is a cause and a consequence of social conflict. Case studies profiled in the book demonstrate this cause and effect type situation, as well as innovative approaches for reducing risks to people and the environment. This text encourages readers to consider how humans behave in response to environmental risks and the various mechanisms that constitute effective and ineffective approaches to enforcement of wildlife crimes, including environmental and conservation policy. Case studies from the USA, Latin America, Africa, and Asia highlight corruption in conservation, global trade in electronic waste, illegal fishing, illegal logging, human-wildlife conflict, technology and space, water insecurity, wildlife disease, and wildlife poaching. Taken together, chapters expand the reader's perspective and employ tools to understand and address environmental crimes and risks, and to provide novel empirical evidence for positive change. With established contributors providing interdisciplinary and global perspectives, Conservation Criminology establishes a foundation for the emerging field of conservation criminology.
Notes on Contributors xiii
Preface xxi
Acknowledgments xxiii
1 Global Risks, Conservation, and Criminology 1
Part I Conceptual Advancements in Conservation Criminology
2 Conservation Crime Science 27
3 Deterrence, Legitimacy, and Wildlife Crime in Protected Areas 45
Part II Case Studies and Examples
4 Governance for Conservation Risks and Crime 61
5 Gaining Compliance and Cooperation with Regulated Wildlife Harvest 77
6 Corruption and Organized Crime in Conservation 97
7 Problem –Oriented Policing for Natural Resource Conservation 115
8 Exploring the Sociology of Wildlife Tourism, Global Risks, and Crime 133
Part III Models and Innovations
9 Technological Innovations Supporting Wildlife Crime Detection, Deterrence, and Enforcement 157
10 PAWS: Game Theory Based Protection Assistant for Wildlife Security 179
11 Estimating Poaching Opportunity and Potential 197
References 212
Index 217
Meredith L. Gore is a conservation social scientist whose interdisciplinary research explores relationships between human behaviour and the environment. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Fisheries & Wildlife and School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University (MSU) and Jefferson Science Fellow with the US Department of State. Dr Gore is a MSU Global Research Fellow and President of the Society for Conservation Biology's Social Science Working Group.