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Transnational environmental crime threatens sustainable development

Nature Sustainability volume 2, pages 784–786 (2019)Cite this article

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Transnational environmental crime has become the largest financial driver of social conflict, with severe implications for peace and security. Sustainable-development frameworks need to overtly recognize and mitigate the risks posed by transnational environmental crime to environmental security.

Healthy ecosystems with intact biodiversity and the ability of human communities to sustainably access natural resources embody the concept of environmental security. TEC refers to criminal natural-resource-related activities that cross national borders and harm the environment, such as wildlife trafficking; illegal fishing; electronic-waste dumping; water theft; illicit markets in ozone-depleting substances; illegal logging and mining; and other acts. In some instances, TEC is highly structured and perpetrated by organized crime syndicates, corporations and complicit governments; in other cases, the persons involved are subsistence offenders (for example, using trees for fuel) and others are part of informal networks of varying size. The estimated global economic value of TEC is between US$91 and $259 billion per year4; it accounts for 64% of illicit and organized crime finance, or between US$22 billion and $34 billion of the criminalized economy in fragile states in or near conflict areas5.

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Acknowledgements

The development of this Comment arose from discussions held during the Biosecurity Symposium hosted by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research in Toronto, January 2019. The views expressed in this Comment are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of their professional or personal affiliations.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Fisheries & Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Meredith L. Gore

  2. Department of Geography & Planning, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Patrick Braszak

  3. Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Ontario, Canada

    James Brown & Peter Stoett

  4. Center for Applied Conservation Science, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Phillip Cassey

  5. Department of Politics, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Rosaleen Duffy & Francis Massé

  6. Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

    Judith Fisher

  7. JG Global Advisory, LLC, Washington, DC, USA

    Jessica Graham

  8. Department of Public Policy, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Ronit Justo-Hanani

  9. Faculty of Science, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Ontario, Canada

    Andrea E. Kirkwood

  10. Department of Geography, York University, Ontario, Canada

    Elizabeth Lunstrum

  11. EcoHealth Alliance, New York, NY, USA

    Catherine Machalaba

  12. Climate Law and Governance Initiative, United Nations Environment, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Maria Manguiat

  13. Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Delon Omrow

  14. Department of Social Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Tanya Wyatt

  15. School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania, Tasmania, Australia

    Rob White

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  1. Meredith L. Gore
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Correspondence to Meredith L. Gore.

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Gore, M.L., Braszak, P., Brown, J. et al. Transnational environmental crime threatens sustainable development. Nat Sustain 2, 784–786 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0363-6

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