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.

Features

• Develops an innovative approach to understanding how organized crime groups diversify into the illegal trade in natural resources
• Illustrates the urgency of the proliferation of organized environmental crime by describing the global destruction of ancient rainforests; the mass extinction of species; the pollution of the atmosphere, land, and water; and the far-reaching impacts and threats to social security and safety
• Offers insights that will be crucial to developing inventive solutions to address the increasing involvement of organized crime in environmental crimes