Who commits eco-crimes?

WRITTEN BY Kristiina Kangaspunta

A Greek-owned tanker flying a Panamanian flag and leased by the London branch of a Swiss trading corporation whose fiscal headquarters are in the Netherlands, dumped more than 500 tons of highly toxic industrial waste in the middle of a West African urban area. As a result, 100,000 residents had to seek medical help, 69 were hospitalized and 17 died.

NO TIME to Put Climate Science on Ice

WRITTEN BY Achim Steiner

Nairobi, 5 February 2010 - The science of climate change has been on the defensive in recent weeks, owing to an error that dramatically overstated the rate at which the Himalayan glaciers could disappear. Some in the media, and those who are skeptical about climate change, are currently having a field day, parsing every comma and cough in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) 2007 assessment. Some strident voices are even dismissing climate change as a hoax on a par with the Y2K computer bug. As a result, the public has become increasingly bewildered as the unremitting questioning of the IPCC and its chair assumes almost witch-hunting proportions in some quarters.

An international response to a crime without borders

WRITTEN BY David Higgins

Environmental crime is an expanding crime area and a growing international problem. The significance of this kind of crime cannot be under-estimated when it has a direct impact on the economic, environmental and cultural lives of communities worldwide with serious impacts on human health, biodiversity and the environment.

Understanding state capture

WRITTEN BY Lugon-Moulin

In the common understanding, corruption is often referred to either as bribery practice or as major embezzlement/plundering of public monies. The former type of bribery is usually called administrative or petty corruption, and the latter is grand corruption (which also includes bribes paid at higher level within public tender, for example).

Giant African Pouched Rats Find Landmines and much more

WRITTEN BY members of APOPO’s management team

Landmines have been used as weapons of war since 1277, when the Song Dynasty Chinese used them against Mongols who were besieging a city. Concerted efforts to put an end to their use are underway, galvanized by humanitarians such as Jody Williams and Rae McGrath, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for founding The International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

Humankind: the real victim of eco-crimes and lack of political will

WRITTEN BY Vincenzo Ruggiero

The relationship between mankind and the environment has always alternated between a profound respect for nature’s harmonious balance and the struggle for survival of mankind against the elements. The Industrial Revolution, along with positivism, sanctioned the domain of the latter conception in western culture: human needs had to be fulfilled by subduing nature and the environment, whose only true value would be decided on the market.

Applying Restorative Justice to the Genocide in Rwanda

WRITTEN BY Lisa Rea

A JRP INTERVIEW with Dan Van Ness

Dan Van Ness is Executive Director of the Centre for Justice and Reconciliation, (www.restorativejusticeonline.org), a programme of Prison Fellowship International, PFI, (www.pfi.org),based in Virginia (USA). PFI is an association of national NGOS from 116 countries working in prisons and communities to reduce the damage caused by crime. Beginning in 2001, Mr. Van Ness assisted Prison Fellowship Rwanda in preparing genocide perpetrators to confront their victims, survivors and communities.

Dirty Collar Crime in Naples

WRITTEN BY Vincenzo Ruggiero

It is true that “green criminology” should be grounded in the principles of environmental justice and help with the production of relevant legislative tools for the defence of the earth. However, there are conducts which violate even the limited and inconsistent existing norms. A variety of such conducts can be detected in the “rubbish crisis” experienced in Naples two years ago.

How serious is Wildlife Crime?

WRITTEN BY John Sellar

The involvement of organized crime

Whilst there is little specific data demonstrating the involvement of organized crime groups in wildlife crime (i.e. known members of such groups who have been convicted of wildlife crime offences), there is a considerable number of indicators of such involvement.

Ecocide in the Iraqi Marshes

WRITTEN BY Daniel Ruiz

At the end of the first Gulf war, the Iraqi Government caused three major environmental disasters: the burning of the Kuwaiti oil fields, the deliberate spilling of oil into the Persian Gulf, and the destruction of the Southern Iraqi Marshes. The former two, which resulted in the imposition of compensation for the damages caused, have been widely studied. The fate of the Marsh Arabs or Maadan (which took place inside Iraqi territory and was not reported as much as the Kurdish issue in the North) is less renown.

Environmental Destruction and Human Rights in the Niger Delta

WRITTEN BY Anja Roth

The Nigerian Delta states are blessed with rich resources in natural oil and gas. A blessing that can sometimes turns into a curse, especially when looking at the oil extractions in the Niger Delta from a human rights perspective. (1)

Climate Change and Access to Justice

WRITTEN BY Adriaan Grijns

This article provides an introduction to the importance of climate change as a humanitarian and development issue, and an overview of current responses to climate change. It goes on to identify the potential of “access to justice” in addressing the perceived gap in these responses. It finds in particular that empowering the poor and disadvantaged in developing countries to adapt to climate change effects can help in delivering “climate justice.”