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Crimes Against Nature: Illegal Industries and the Global Environment
This comprehensive analysis of garbage trafficking, wildlife trafficking, illegal fishing, and illegal logging highlights the difficulty in balancing human interests and environmental responsibility.
The alarming consequences of eco-crime go far beyond the widespread degradation of the natural world; important societal institutions are undermined and negative social and economic impacts also result from garbage trafficking, wildlife trafficking, illegal fishing, and illegal logging. In order to successfully combat these problems, a consistent, international response will be necessary.
Crimes Against Illegal Industries and the Global Environment addresses an important topic that is largely unknown and rarely documented other than in reports published by environmental NGOs and a limited number of academic articles and journalistic accounts. A comprehensive and up-to-date description of each illicit industry is provided, emphasizing the damages caused, the transnational nature of these activities, the roles played by organized crime and public and private elites, and the range of possible solutions. The author addresses the complexity of balancing human concerns with environmental interests and concludes with information regarding promising recent developments.
The alarming consequences of eco-crime go far beyond the widespread degradation of the natural world; important societal institutions are undermined and negative social and economic impacts also result from garbage trafficking, wildlife trafficking, illegal fishing, and illegal logging. In order to successfully combat these problems, a consistent, international response will be necessary.
Crimes Against Illegal Industries and the Global Environment addresses an important topic that is largely unknown and rarely documented other than in reports published by environmental NGOs and a limited number of academic articles and journalistic accounts. A comprehensive and up-to-date description of each illicit industry is provided, emphasizing the damages caused, the transnational nature of these activities, the roles played by organized crime and public and private elites, and the range of possible solutions. The author addresses the complexity of balancing human concerns with environmental interests and concludes with information regarding promising recent developments.
312 pages, Hardcover
First published February 18, 2011
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March 7, 2020
Liddick is a criminologist who studied under Alan Block. Therefore, I expect his work to have some focus on organized crime. It appears that Liddick is combining his training with a concern for the environment. The result is an engaging book that provides an overview of different forms of environmental crime without bogging it down in academic theory or writing. It is easy to read. Although more than half of the book is occupied by three primary sources documents. Maybe they were hard to find in 2011; but by 2020 they have their own website including updates.
Garbage, wildlife, fishing, and logging are discussed in this book. Literature on toxic waste has been around at least since the 1970s. I am a little surprised at how little detail Liddick included in this chapter. Instead, the book reads much like a portfolio of news articles with transitions. The source material has a focus on currency, so media reports and non-government agencies are used extensively. There are additional sources; but aside from the Lacey Act in the appendix, there is a surprising dearth of government documents. It is more surprising considering how much time government agencies, including Congress, have devoted to illegal waste disposal.
There is less abundant literature on wildlife trafficking. However, again, much of the book appears to be like a teaser with only bits and pieces offered to the reader. Liddick is pushing the reader to do additional research. While that is not necessarily bad, I picked up the book to get more information than a passing overview.
Until I read this book, I had no knowledge of illegal fishing or logging. In these chapters, Liddick goes into more depth of the who, where, why, and how. Maybe because I am so unknowledgeable about the material, I was impressed with these sections. They retain the hallmark news reports and NGO reports; but it is a complicated issue. As Liddick points out, gangsters cannot smuggle logs across borders. Corruption must run into the upper reaches of the government. At that point, one has to ask how illegal is it? Liddick rarely mentions specific laws, so it is difficult to see line between legal and illegal. Overproduction appears to be accurate than illegal logging or harvesting.
Liddick does make an impressive presentation when discussing fishing. Again, he does not go into specific laws; but he does discuss how fishermen are harvesting too much fish and concealing their identities behind false flags and using outright violence. Under these circumstances, I am more willing to accept vague concepts of crimes where elsewhere in the book, I am less convinced.
Using 2/3 of the book to reproduce the Basel Convention, the CITES Convention, and the Lacey Act, Liddick makes a good presentation for showing how these treaties can improve these disturbing trends. Both conventions lack law enforcement power, include a host of loopholes to exploit, and rely on member commitment. However, they do publicize and study the situations. They provide experts in narrow fields. They have the ability to influence other nations and politicians. Liddick's bland support for these books suggests an optimism in a field of depressing statistics and anecdotes.
Overall, I learned quite a bit from this book. The writing is more emotional than I care to read. Liddick includes way too many anecdotes and too little evidence for my tastes. I have the distinct impression that he wrote this book as a textbook for his students. The combination of brevity in material and the primary documents tells me that this book was designed for a course. I do appreciate that he spared his readers the academic framework or outright calls for action. Although I do get the distinct impression that he seeks to influence consumer behavior. I am happy to recommend this book for casual readers. Because so much of the book is bland legal documents, the actual content is a brief 120 pages.
Garbage, wildlife, fishing, and logging are discussed in this book. Literature on toxic waste has been around at least since the 1970s. I am a little surprised at how little detail Liddick included in this chapter. Instead, the book reads much like a portfolio of news articles with transitions. The source material has a focus on currency, so media reports and non-government agencies are used extensively. There are additional sources; but aside from the Lacey Act in the appendix, there is a surprising dearth of government documents. It is more surprising considering how much time government agencies, including Congress, have devoted to illegal waste disposal.
There is less abundant literature on wildlife trafficking. However, again, much of the book appears to be like a teaser with only bits and pieces offered to the reader. Liddick is pushing the reader to do additional research. While that is not necessarily bad, I picked up the book to get more information than a passing overview.
Until I read this book, I had no knowledge of illegal fishing or logging. In these chapters, Liddick goes into more depth of the who, where, why, and how. Maybe because I am so unknowledgeable about the material, I was impressed with these sections. They retain the hallmark news reports and NGO reports; but it is a complicated issue. As Liddick points out, gangsters cannot smuggle logs across borders. Corruption must run into the upper reaches of the government. At that point, one has to ask how illegal is it? Liddick rarely mentions specific laws, so it is difficult to see line between legal and illegal. Overproduction appears to be accurate than illegal logging or harvesting.
Liddick does make an impressive presentation when discussing fishing. Again, he does not go into specific laws; but he does discuss how fishermen are harvesting too much fish and concealing their identities behind false flags and using outright violence. Under these circumstances, I am more willing to accept vague concepts of crimes where elsewhere in the book, I am less convinced.
Using 2/3 of the book to reproduce the Basel Convention, the CITES Convention, and the Lacey Act, Liddick makes a good presentation for showing how these treaties can improve these disturbing trends. Both conventions lack law enforcement power, include a host of loopholes to exploit, and rely on member commitment. However, they do publicize and study the situations. They provide experts in narrow fields. They have the ability to influence other nations and politicians. Liddick's bland support for these books suggests an optimism in a field of depressing statistics and anecdotes.
Overall, I learned quite a bit from this book. The writing is more emotional than I care to read. Liddick includes way too many anecdotes and too little evidence for my tastes. I have the distinct impression that he wrote this book as a textbook for his students. The combination of brevity in material and the primary documents tells me that this book was designed for a course. I do appreciate that he spared his readers the academic framework or outright calls for action. Although I do get the distinct impression that he seeks to influence consumer behavior. I am happy to recommend this book for casual readers. Because so much of the book is bland legal documents, the actual content is a brief 120 pages.
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