Environmental theft and trafficking

This chapter examines a selection of prominent transnational environmental crimes that involve theft and/or trafficking of vulnerable resources including illegal, unregulated and unauthorised fishing, illegal logging and the traffic in protected species. It begins by discussing the definitions and nature of transnational environmental crime, and the ways in which these are reflected in various international legal instruments. This is followed by discussion of environmental law enforcement as this pertains to these types of transnational crimes, and the varied organisations and agencies involved in translating legal prescription and proscription into grounded practice. The final section reviews issues relating to environmental crime and courts, and the potential for new legal concepts that might inform the prosecution of transnational environmental crime in the future.