The convergence of environmental crime with other serious crimes: Subtypes within the environmental crime continuum

The rising global scarcity of natural resources increasingly attracts transnational criminal organizations. Organized crime syndicates diversify into the lucrative business of tropical timber, endangered species, and natural minerals, alongside their traditional activities. The developing interconnectedness between environmental crime and other serious crimes shows that traditional lines of separation are no longer appropriate for understanding and dealing with the increasing complexities of organized crime. Therefore, this article aims to analyse the nexus between environmental crime and other serious crimes through cluster analyses to identify subtypes of organized crime groups that have diversified into the illegal trade in natural resources. The two-step cluster algorithm found a cluster solution with three distinct clusters of subtypes of criminal groups that diversified into the illegal trade in natural resources in various ways: first, the Green Organized Crime cluster, with a high degree of diversification and domination; second, the Green Opportunistic Crime cluster, with flexible and fluid groups that partially diversify their criminal activities; and, third, the low-level diversifiers of the Green Camouflaged Crime cluster, shadowing their illegal businesses with legitimate companies. The three clusters can be related to specific stages within the environmental crime continuum, albeit with nuances

Uncovering the illegal wildlife trade : Inside the world of poachers, smugglers and traders

This book is based on four years of PhD research on the illegal trade in wildlife by the criminologist Daan van Uhm. In this study the author explores the nature of the illegal wildlife trade. Wildlife confiscations over a ten-year period in the European Union were analysed and presented by graphics and maps to provide an overall picture of the visible illegal trade. The primary research is based upon ethnographic fieldwork in important source countries of the illegal trade, such as Russia, Morocco and China. Conversations with informants directly involved in the illegal business ensure a unique insight into this lively black market. The author reveals the social world behind the illegal activities and how the illegal wildlife business is organized. This is a story about illegal entrepreneurs smuggling tiger bone and rhino horn to be used in Chinese medicine, live monkeys destined for the Western pet industry and caviar for the upper-classes of society. Legal and illegal businesses collide where corrupt officials, legally registered companies, wildlife farms and sophisticated criminal organizations all have a share. The route of the illegal wildlife trade is followed from poor poaching areas to rich business districts as it is smuggled, laundered, stolen, sold, exchanged, manufactured and transformed from animals or eggs into desirable items in the West