Environmental crime
News & Blog
16 Jul 2021
NewsIllegal waste trade: what’s driving this multi-billion dollar transnational crime and what could stop it?
Anti-Money Laundering, Green Corruption
21 Jan 2021
News27 January: OECD-Basel Institute webinar on illicit trade and natural resources
Green Corruption
13 Jan 2021
NewsAnti-corruption approaches to protect biodiversity: launch of new Green Corruption collaboration with the TNRC project
Green Corruption
Publications
Determinants and drivers of wildlife trafficking: A qualitative analysis in Uganda
The article analyses drivers and determinants of illicit wildlife trade (IWT), targeting those factors that support the participation of individuals in poaching and transportation of wildlife goods.
These factors are often explained in economic and institutional terms. Recently, scholars have started to recognise the importance of socio-cultural and behavioural drivers in influencing the individual propensity to engage in wildlife trafficking. The goal is clarifying how behavioural drivers may spur individuals to engage in these phenomena. The research provides further understanding on why wildlife trafficking happens by focusing on the role of the socio-economic context, the broader governance environment, and behavioural drivers associated with sociality and stereotypes in spurring participation in IWT.
The research is based on fieldwork in Uganda, specifically on 47 interviews with Ugandan-based and international anti-IWT experts and eight focus group discussions with wildlife conservation and anti-corruption experts in Kampala, members of reformed poachers’ networks in Western Uganda, and individuals living around a wildlife habitat in northern Uganda.
The findings highlight that illicit wildlife trade is spurred by the wish for financial resources (economic factors) and weak governance (quality of governance), and it is justified by mental models, that is, the behavioural drivers such as socio-contextual and normative mechanisms. The research shows the importance of reflecting on the role that behavioural drivers, including sociality and shared understandings of IWT, play in influencing the propensity of individuals to engage in poaching and the early stages of wildlife trafficking.
Acknowledgement and citation
This publication arose out of a collaboration between the Basel Institute’s Public Governance and Green Corruption teams. The research presented in this publication forms part of a two-year project aimed at stopping corruption from fuelling illegal wildlife trade between East Africa and Southeast Asia.
This research was funded by PMI IMPACT, a grant award initiative of Philip Morris International (PMI). In the performance of their research, the authors maintained full independence from PMI. The views and opinions expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of PMI. Neither PMI, nor any of its affiliates, nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained herein.
Citation: Saba Kassa, Claudia Baez-Camargo, Jacopo Costa & Robert Lugolobi (2022) Determinants and Drivers of Wildlife Trafficking: A Qualitative Analysis in Uganda, Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy, DOI: 10.1080/13880292.2021.2019381
Targeting Profit: Non-Conviction Based Forfeiture in Environmental Crime
Environmental criminals and their corrupt facilitators get rich by destroying our planet and its natural resources. This publication for the Targeting Natural Resource Corruption (TNRC) project explains how and why to confiscate their illicit assets – with or without a criminal conviction.
The introductory overview of asset recovery tools to tackle environmental crime was a collaboration between the Basel Institute’s Green Corruption programme and International Centre for Asset Recovery. It is part of a wider research collaboration between the Basel Institute and the TNRC project consortium.
Takeaways
- Using legal powers to confiscate assets can be an important element of enforcement against environmental crime because it targets the profit motive for environmental crime and disrupts the financing of further criminal activity.
- Confiscating illicit assets does not require an individual to be convicted. Many countries have judicial procedures to confiscate assets derived from criminal activity without the need for a specific criminal conviction.
- This procedure, referred to as non-conviction based forfeiture (NCBF), can be an effective way to target the profits from environmental crimes, where corruption and money laundering are frequently significant components.
- Understanding and applying anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws in their country is vital for enforcement practitioners to be able to pursue criminals’ assets more effectively. Early coordination with anti-corruption and financial intelligence authorities will assist in this.
- NCBF is no different to the process of criminal investigation and prosecution, in that it depends on the degree to which good governance, strong and accountable institutions, and a well-functioning justice system are present in a country. Prior to engaging NCBF for environmental corruption cases, risks should be assessed in a similar manner to the risks of existing law enforcement and prosecution practices in a given country.
About the TNRC project
The TNRC project seeks to improve biodiversity conservation outcomes by helping practitioners to address the threats posed by corruption to wildlife, fisheries and forests. TNRC harnesses existing knowledge, generates new evidence, and supports innovative policy and practice for more effective anti-corruption programming on the ground.
A USAID-funded project, TNRC is implemented by a consortium of leading organizations in anti-corruption, natural resource management, and conservation: World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre at the Chr. Michelsen Institute, TRAFFIC, and the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC) at George Mason University.
Structures, functions and flows of IWT: deconstructing a criminal network between East Africa and Southeast Asia
The paper investigates the role of criminal networks in fostering illegal wildlife trade (IWT), and how these relational structures interact with transnational organized crime. The paper frames these topics within the debate around the opportunistic or organized nature of IWT. The aim is to understand how chaotic behaviors can transform into an ordered and organized strategy.
Social network analysis (SNA) and network ethnography were conducted to explore the crime network surrounding a wildlife trafficker based in East Africa. The empirical results suggest that criminal networks operate as “machine of order” that transform opportunistic behaviors at the micro level into ordered strategies at the macro level.
Empirical results also suggest that organized crime has an important role in making the process of transforming opportunistic into organized behaviours more efficient and more effective.
Acknowledgement and citation
This publication arose out of a collaboration between the Basel Institute’s Public Governance and Green Corruption teams. The research presented in this publication forms part of a two-year project aimed at stopping corruption from fuelling illegal wildlife trade between East Africa and Southeast Asia.
This research was funded by PMI IMPACT, a grant award initiative of Philip Morris International (PMI). In the performance of their research, the authors maintained full independence from PMI. The views and opinions expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of PMI. Neither PMI, nor any of its affiliates, nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained herein.
Citation: Costa, J. Structures, functions and flows of IWT: deconstructing a criminal network between East Africa and Southeast Asia. Crime Law Soc Change (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-021-10009-8
Corrupting the Environment: insights on corruption, the environment and illicit trade
This collection of insights on corruption, the environment and illicit trade emerges from the monthly Corrupting the Environment webinar series between December 2020 and August 2021.
A joint initiative of the Basel Institute on Governance and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the series brought together leading voices from the public and private sectors, academia and civil society. In lively panel discussions, they explored critical trends and shared recommendations for addressing the corruption that is destroying our planet and people’s opportunities for sustainable development.
The publications below are adapted from summaries published on the Basel Institute following each event.
Hout Bay and the illegal lobster trade: a case study in recovering illicit proceeds of IUU fishing and wildlife trafficking
Published under our Green Corruption programme, this is a case study about a South African fishing company, Hout Bay Fishing Industries, that overfished lobster and other protected fish in deliberate breach of government-established quotas. The case study contains numerous important lessons for those seeking to follow the money in large wildlife trafficking cases.
The extent of unlawful overfishing was such that environmental experts have claimed that lobster numbers in South Africa were in free fall and that the terminal decline was only halted when a criminal investigation commenced, thereby bringing the illicit activities to an abrupt halt. Until then, large quantities of illegally caught lobster and fish in South Africa were exported to the USA and there sold for vast profit.
Despite successful prosecutions in both South Africa (of the fishing company) and the USA (of the principals of the fishing company), there were significant forensic difficulties in tracing profits that were placed in complex offshore trust and company structures. The result was that although there is some evidence that the profits from this enterprise were at least USD 60 million, the total sums recovered by confiscation orders were around USD 20 million.
Permissions and citation
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Please cite Dutot, Caroline. 2021. Hout Bay and the illegal lobster trade: a case study in recovering illicit proceeds of IUU fishing and wildlife trafficking. Basel Institute on Governance (Green Corruption Case Study 01), www.baselgovernance.org/publications/GC1
