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Harnessing Third Parties for Transnational Environmental Crime Prevention

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 September 2013

Julie Ayling
Julie Ayling*
Affiliation:
Regulatory Institutions Network (RegNet), Australian National University, Canberra (Australia). Email: julie.ayling@anu.edu.au.
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Abstract

Because transnational environmental crime (TEC) can result in the demise of an environmental resource or irreversible damage to the environment and has implications for national and global security, its prevention is a critical issue. Deterrence through law enforcement can go only a limited distance towards preventing TEC. However, there is a huge potential for third parties to be active participants, alongside governmental authorities, in crafting and implementing strategies for TEC prevention. This article explores the ways in which states can catalyze third parties – non-state, non-offending actors – to contribute their own capacities towards the pursuit of preventive outcomes. It draws together concepts and theories from policing studies, criminology and regulatory studies to highlight changing relationships between the state and non-state actors with respect to crime control, and applies them to TEC. Examples and illustrations used in the article relate mainly to efforts to combat the illegal wildlife trade. The article concludes that a more systematic approach to TEC prevention involving third parties is needed, and that this requires dedicated strategic analysis and planning on the part of states, working individually and together.

Keywords

Transnational Environmental CrimeNon-State ActorsCrime PreventionPolicingRegulationIllegal Wildlife Trade
Type
Articles
Information
Transnational Environmental Law , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , October 2013 , pp. 339 - 362
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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References

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16 The role of third parties and how they can be harnessed by the state for crime control has been considered in relation to other areas of illegal activity, such as the trafficking of illicit synthetic drugs. See, e.g., Cherney, A., O’Reilly, J. & Grabosky, P., ‘Networks and Meta-Regulation: Strategies Aimed at Governing Illicit Synthetic Drugs’ (2006) 16(4) Policing and Society, pp. 370–85.Google Scholar

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28 See, e.g., ASEAN Chiefs of Police Conference (ASEANAPOL) and its partnership with INTERPOL, available at: http://www.interpol.int/News-and-media/News-media-releases/2011/PR047.

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53 See http://www.interpol.int/News-and-media/News-media-releases/2013/PR060.

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69 Since Dec. 2012, Kruger National Park in South Africa has been using a Seeker II unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone, loaned to the SANParks by its South African manufacturer, to patrol for poachers, particularly of rhinoceros. The Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya used an internet campaign to raise money for its own drone and currently has the parts on order: see Kariuki, J., ‘Ol Pejeta Deploys Drone against Rhino Poachers’, Business Daily, 23 Jan. 2013, available at: http://www.businessdailyafrica.com.Google Scholar

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78 Vogel, n. 73 above, at pp. 76–8.

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84 See http://www.fatf-gafi.org/pages/aboutus/whatwedo.

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86 Grabosky, n. 44 above, at p. 538.

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90 Ibid., pp. 228–54.

91 Trust is not essential for criminal cooperation, which can occur in the absence of initial trust or in the presence of outright mistrust: von Lampe, K. & Johansen, P.O., ‘Organized Crime and Trust: On the Conceptualization and Empirical Relevance of Trust in the Context of Criminal Networks’ (2003) 6(2) Global Crime, pp. 159–84, at 177–80.Google Scholar

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