The convergence of environmental crime with other serious crimes: Subtypes within the environmental crime continuum
| Author | Daan P. van Uhm,Rick C.C. Nijman |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1477370820904585 |
| Published date | 01 July 2022 |
| Date | 01 July 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370820904585
European Journal of Criminology
© The Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/1477370820904585
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The convergence of
environmental crime with
other serious crimes: Subtypes
within the environmental
crime continuum
Daan P. van Uhm and Rick C.C. Nijman
Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Abstract
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.
Keywords
Convergence, diversification, environmental crime, green criminology, organized crime
Corresponding author:
Daan P. van Uhm, Willem Pompe Institute for Criminal Law and Criminology, Utrecht University,
Newtonlaan 231, Utrecht, 3584 BH, The Netherlands.
Email: d.p.vanuhm@uu.nl
904585EUC0010.1177/1477370820904585European Journal of Criminologyvan Uhm and Nijman
research-article2020
Article
2022, Vol. 19(4) 542–561
Introduction
Environmental crime has become a significant new form of organized criminal activity,
with disastrous impacts on the environment and costs for future generations (OECD,
2016; Walters, 2014; White, 2011). The rising global scarcity of natural resources
increasingly attracts transnational criminal organizations, which rapidly shift from ‘tra-
ditional’ organized crime activities, such as drug or human trafficking, to the illegal trade
in natural resources (Elliott, 2009; Nellemann et al., 2016). For example, organized
crime syndicates1 diversify into the lucrative business of tropical timber, endangered
species, and natural minerals alongside their traditional activities (Interpol, 2016;
Miklaucic and Brewer, 2013; UNODC, 2012).2
The developing interconnectedness between environmental crime and other serious
crimes shows that traditional lines of separation are no longer appropriate for under-
standing and dealing with the increasing complexities of organized crime (Interpol,
2015; Shelley, 2017). Therefore, the classic image of hierarchical well-structured organ-
ized crime specializing in one kind of criminal activity appears to be too narrow (see
Paoli, 2002). In the context of vanishing borders, improved communication techniques,
advanced transportation methods, and the growth of cyberspace, new collaborations,
alliances, and fluid criminal networks are developed (Aas, 2013; Galeotti, 2014; Morselli,
2009).3 These criminal networks interact, cut across borders, infiltrate illicit markets,
penetrate fragile governments, and threaten security and safety around the world
(Morselli, 2009; Varese, 2011).
The crimes committed by such groups are considerably more complex logistically,4
the groups vary in terms of socioeconomic and ecological opportunity structures, and
the actors have different characteristics and criminal careers (for example, Bovenkerk,
2000; Kleemans and De Poot, 2008). The crime groups may differ in ‘size’, from small
groups of individuals retrieving contraband primarily for their personal or group use,
to groups devoted to generating profit from their criminal activities (Morselli, 2009;
Paoli, 2002), in ‘crime range’, from groups involved in a variety of contraband to
groups solely involved in one particular crime (Shelley, 2017; Siegel and Van de Bunt,
2012), but also in ‘crime combinations’, for instance smuggling both weapons and
gold, or trafficking reptiles and cocaine together (Lichtenwald et al., 2009; Miklaucic
and Brewer, 2013).
Some crime organizations are able to make a ‘career shift’ to new businesses and
‘infiltrate’ new markets in order to adapt to changing socioeconomic and situational
conditions (Kleemans and De Poot, 2008; Von Lampe, 2015), whereas other groups
‘dominate’ new markets completely (Cressey, 1969; Varese, 2011). Furthermore, crime
groups may benefit from existing illegal infrastructures in the areas where they operate
(Albanese and Reichel, 2014; Siegel et al., 2003). For example, ‘access to smuggling
routes’, ‘smuggling methods’ or ‘local corruption’ established for particular crimes may
also facilitate different forms of crime (Naylor, 2004; Van Duyne, 1996). The groups
may also use their legitimate infrastructure to ‘camouflage’ contraband with legitimate
goods; the illegal activities are hidden in plain sight – for instance, cocaine concealed in
timber (Block and Chambliss, 1981; Passas, 2002).5 Instead of money, some use contra-
band such as gold as ‘barter trade’ (for example for drugs or weapons), whereas other
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