Organized Environmental Crime Black Markets in Gold, Wildlife, and Timber

About this book

Developing an innovative approach to understanding how organized crime groups diversify into the illegal trade in natural resources, this book looks at the convergence between environmental crime and other serious crimes. In Organized Environmental Crime, Daan van Uhm breaks new ground by rejecting the classic image of organized crime as specializing in one kind of criminal activity. Instead, he develops an innovative approach to understanding how organized crime groups diversify into the illegal trade in natural resources by looking at the convergence between environmental crime and other serious crimes.

Personal stories from informants directly involved in organized crime networks offer unique insights into the black markets in gold, wildlife, and timber in three environmental crime hotspots: the Darién Gap, a remote swath of jungle on the Colombia-Panama border in Latin America; the Golden Triangle, a notorious opium epicenter in Southeast Asia; and the eastern edge of the Congo basin, an important conflict area in Central Africa.

The proliferation of organized environmental crime exacerbates the global destruction of ancient rainforests; the mass extinction of species; and the pollution of the atmosphere, land, and water, negatively affecting planet earth. By uncovering its incentives, features, and harms, this book is crucial to understanding organized environmental crime in a rapidly changing world.

Contents

Preface
Introduction
1. Organized Crime and the Environment
2. The Diversification of Organized Crime into Environmental Crime
3. Convergence of Environmental Crime and Other Serious Crimes
4. Colombian Drug Cartels and the Gold Industry in the Darien Gap
5. Chinese Organized Crime and Wildlife Trade in the Golden Triangle
6. Militias and Organized Forest Crimes in the Congo Basin
7. The Future of Organized Environmental Crime
Conclusion

Appendix: Environmental Crime Cases with Links to Other Serious Crimes
Bibliography
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Daan van Uhm, PhD, is a criminologist from Utrecht University, the Netherlands, specializing in green criminology.