An Analytical Study of Organized Environmental Crime and Illegal Natural Resource Exploitation

Abstract

The deterioration of the environment is no longer a matter of regulation; it is the result of conscious, profitable and criminal activities. This paper looks at organized environmental crime and illegal natural-resource exploitation as a new legal issue that falls under the umbrella of environment, criminal and financial crime law enforcement. It questions whether there are existing statutory and institutional structures (both international and Indian) that can be used to target the organizers, financiers and the corporate beneficiaries of resource plunder, instead of just the extractor at the field level. This study uses a doctrinal, analytical and comparative approach and examines statutes, constitutional provisions, judicial cases, treaties and institutional reports. It concludes that environmental crimes are under-criminalized as organized crime that the sanctions for these crimes are not commensurate with the benefits gained, and that financial-investigation tools are not widely used to investigate resource crime. The analysis claims that a policy approach focused on the “ordinary” nature of an environmental violation will systematically underestimate the transnational and networked nature of environmental crime. The paper proposes that the categories of aggravated offences be defined for organized environmental crime, asset confiscation mechanisms and proceeds-of-crime be integrated, specialized investigation units be established, and UNTOC and UNCAC be better operationalized against resource-linked criminality.

Keywords: organized environmental crime; illegal natural-resource exploitation; transnational crime; environmental criminal liability; asset confiscation.