Governance of the Illegal Trade in E-Waste and Tropical Timber

Case Studies on Transnational Environmental Crime

Lieselot Bisschop

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317125853
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Criminal Law
• Index: Law

This book responds to the call for more research on transnational environmental crime and its governance by investigating the illegal trade in electronic waste (e-waste) and tropical timber, major forms of transnational environmental crime. The book is based on a qualitative multi-method research combining document analysis, interviews with key informants and field visits. Bisschop focuses on the flows that pass through the research setting of the Port of Antwerp (Belgium) and those between Europe and West and Central Africa. The study examines the emergence and social organization of these transnational environmental flows, illustrating that although profit or lure play a very important role, a range of factors on individual, organizational and societal levels together provide the motivations and opportunities. Building on these insights, the book addresses the governance of these two cases. The responsive regulatory pyramid and networked governance are used as theoretical frameworks for this analysis. This book is essential reading for scholars and academics interested in transnational environmental crime and corporate crime, as well as governance studies.

Chapter 1
Introduction

Today, scientists and global leaders agree that the world faces serious environmental problems. Although interpretations of and responses to the state of the ecology might differ, the international community has generally acknowledged the importance of addressing these issues.¹ These environmental problems are a result of human activity through consumption and production of which the actual harm as well as the potential endangerment is often hard to assess. Environmental harm does not stop at borders and through its global interconnections it has potential – and often unpredictable – worldwide consequences. The big issue is, then, how these ecological harms can be managed.

Given the societal importance of the environment and its association with transnational environmental crime, it is remarkable that criminology has given relatively little attention to transnational environmental issues. Both the transnational and the environmental character of them require additional attention from criminologists. The transnational dimension refers to crimes that involve a movement of perpetrators, victims or the crime itself across geographic space, inherently linked to the globalization of the world economy (White 2011). It is disconnected from the nation state frame of reference which defines what is legal or illegal (Passas 2003). The cross-nation character of transnational crime makes it difficult to track the movement and to understand its occurrence, causes, let alone responses to it (Aas 2007). The transnational nature of crimes requires additional attention from criminologists in order to grasp the complexity that is inherent to them (Sheptycki and Wardak 2005).

Criminological research on the characteristics of specific types of environmental crime is also needed. Although recent decades have witnessed an increased interest in studying environmental crime, empirical investigations remain rare (Gibbs, Gore, et al. 2010; Gibbs, McGarrell and Axelrod 2010; Lynch and Stretesky 2003; White 2013; Ruggiero and South 2013). This fits within a broader critical development in criminology which looks beyond strict definitions of crime to include legally ambiguous behaviours that cause social harm (Hillyard et al. 2004). In contrast to the traditional criminological focus on criminal law, green criminology focuses on the importance of non-criminal law and even on the idea that ecological harm is not sufficiently defined by laws or regulations. In other words, there is more to transnational environmental harm than that which has been criminalized or regulated, highlighting the importance of a continued discussion on how to address ecological harm (Lynch 1990; Beirne and South 2007).

Another issue criminologists, green criminologists included, have yet to address is the effect of new forms of environmental regulation on ecological harm. In response to the ecological challenges the world faces, many multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and national environmental regulations have been drafted. These new regulations attribute a focal role to the state and corresponded to the so-called command and control regulatory structure (Holley, Gunningham and Shearing 2012). Over the years, corporate actors, encouraged by the reorganization of government policies on the social control of environmental crime, have also developed environmental self-regulation, which sometimes goes beyond the requirements set in legislation (Stretesky 2006; Bartley 2007; Gunningham, Kagan and Thornton 2003). Besides corporate actors, civil society actors such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can play a role in the management of environmental harm. Taken together, these various institutional responses to ecological harms have created a regulatory hybrid where responses to (transnational) environmental issues can be found within government institutions such as the criminal justice system, but also involve regulatory initiatives in interaction with corporate and civil society (Braithwaite 2008; Shearing and Johnston 2010). The regulatory actors² and initiatives are also increasingly reaching across the geographical boundaries of states and have shifted upwards to transnational levels. These new governance models have yet to be examined sufficiently in the criminological literature. There is a need to study the involvement of government, business and civil society in controlling and preventing transnational environmental crime.

In this book, the term governance is used to refer to the engagement of a variety of actors in the prevention and control of environmental harm. Exactly because it is not limited to nation state institutions, it is distinguished from the term government (Holley, Gunningham and Shearing 2012; Parker and Braithwaite 2003). ‘Governance refers to the emergence and recognition of principles, norms, rules, and procedures that both provide standards of acceptable public behavior, and that are followed sufficiently to produce behavioral regularities’ (Keohane and Nye 2000, p. 10). Social interactions are governed by social and political units like corporations, international organizations and NGOs. It is not a reference to the general governance of economic flows or trade.

Knowledge about the governance of transnational environmental harm is a first step in knowing whether the governance framework can contribute to managing ecological harm. Therefore, the objective of this research³ is to provide insights into the empirical reality of governing transnational environmental crime. By analysing the case of illegal transports of e-waste and tropical timber in a European trade hub, this research responds to the call for more empirical knowledge about transnational environmental crime. It addresses this question: what are the governance consequences of controlling and preventing transnational environmental crime flows? In this way, this study aims to contribute to theories about transnational environmental crime and environmental governance by further grounding these theories in empirical findings. The results could also prove useful for practitioners who govern transnational environmental crime.

Due to the disparity and specificity of transnational environmental crime, this research was limited to two particular phenomena: the trade⁴ in tropical timber and the trade in waste from electronic and electrical equipment (e-waste⁵). The focus is on the trade flows that pass through the research setting of the Port of Antwerp (Belgium) and especially on those trade flows between Europe and West and Central Africa. A detailed explanation for choosing these cases and this research setting can be found in the methodological chapter. Both cases have been the topic of international and national policy-making, but they differ in the extent to which they have been criminalized. Both cases are also of an opposite transnational dimension. For both the illegal trade in electronic waste (e-waste) and tropical timber, it is possible to determine what is legal and illegal because these commodities are subject to international conventions. Defining what is ecologically harmful in the trade of tropical timber and e-waste is not necessarily equal to these legal definitions. The question is how this ambiguity of trade on a thin line between the legal and illegal affects the governance framework.

Before considering the governance of transnational environmental crime, it is relevant to consider its etiology. In fact, several theories about the etiology of crime can be connected to transnational environmental crime. The involvement of corporate actors connects it with theories on white-collar crime, corporate crime and other crimes of the powerful (Croall 2009; Heine 2006; Nelken 2002). In turn, the connection with organized crime makes those theoretical assumptions apparent (Ruggiero 1996; Szasz 1986) as does the inherent transnational frame of reference (Aas 2007). This implies that the scope of the trade flows will be examined together with their impact and which actors and processes shape them. In other words, this study will examine the social organization of transnational environmental crime by means of a case study on e-waste and tropical timber. It may prove difficult to draw a line between legal and illegal actors and their practices, but nevertheless this study aims to gain a more accurate view of the network of actors and their interrelations (Passas 2002). A wide range of possible actors are considered, beyond white-collar crime, organized crime or state crime conceptualizations. In the analysis, attention is paid to the push, pull and facilitating factors that shape these transnational environmental crime flows (Coleman 1987; Antonopoulos and Winterdyk 2006). To begin to understand the consequences of governing green crime, this study also examines how the international community treats green crime, using the example of the trade in e-waste and tropical timber. An important dimension of this effort is describing the rationale nations and transnational organizations refer to in order to regulate or ignore a green crime. The first question this research aims to answer is therefore: What elements characterize the social organization and emergence of illegal transports of e-waste and tropical timber?

Building on the findings about the social organization and emergence of transnational environmental crime, the second research question addresses the governance of illegal transports of e-waste and tropical timber. This part of the study aims to map the governance actors – government, corporate as well as civil society actors – in these transnational trade flows. It pays attention to their interactions, potentially different finalities and to gaps and limitations in their governance. This empirical reality is compared with theoretical models that exist on the governance and regulation of corporate and environmental crime (Braithwaite 2008; Holley, Gunningham and Shearing 2012). The second question this study aims to answer is: What elements characterize the governance of illegal transports of e-waste and tropical timber?

The above-mentioned research questions are answered by means of a theoretical analysis in the literature review and a comparative case study into the social organization, emergence and governance of illegal trade in e-waste and tropical timber that passes through the research setting of the Port of Antwerp (Belgium) and especially on those trade flows between Europe and West and Central Africa. The comparative case study has a qualitative multi-method research design combining a document analysis, 81 interviews with key informants and field visits.

Outline of the Book

This book continues with a methodological chapter (Chapter 2) that explains the case selection, research setting, research phases, data gathering and analysis, scope and limitations of the research.

Chapter 3 clarifies the theoretical perspectives that are at the basis of the first research question of this study on the social organization and emergence of transnational environmental crime. The first part of this chapter conceptualizes transnational environmental crime and green/environmental criminology and clarifies the sensitizing – and sometimes rather heavily debated – concepts inherent to this research field. The second part gives an overview of the etiology of transnational environmental crime, in which the ‘classical’ elements of motivation, opportunity and neutralization serve as a guideline. This refers to the theory of legal-illegal interfaces for the social organization of transnational environmental crime. This is illustrated by means of two cases: waste and natural resources.

Chapter 4 draws upon theory and research into different dimensions of transnational environmental crime to argue that environmental governance is multi-stakeholder, multi-sector and multilevel and that it is often unclear how different actors and approaches interact. This chapter argues that it is important to study the governance of transnational environmental crime and gain insights into its characteristics. It discusses the governance of corporate, environmental and transnational crime and also explains the theoretical framework that informed the empirical research: the theories of the responsive regulatory pyramid and networked governance for the governance of transnational environmental crime. Similar to the previous theoretical chapter, this is then illustrated by means of the two case waste and natural resources.

Chapter 5 discusses the results of the case study about the illegal trade in e-waste. The first part analyses the social organization and emergence of illegal e-waste trade. Given the complexity and global nature of transnational environmental crime, it is difficult to determine which actors are involved. In this regard, a local research setting allows identifying the actors involved in illegal transports of e-waste. It tries to determine whether these actors and their roles can be considered legal or illegal and illustrates the legal-illegal interfaces in e-waste flows. Moreover, this case study analyses the push, pull and facilitating factors. In doing so, it looks at what motivations and opportunities shape the flows of e-waste. The results show that the social organization and emergence is on a thin line between legal and illegal and needs to be contextualized within the global reality of the locations of origin, transit and destination. The second part describes and discusses the governance reality of illegal transports of e-waste. It analyses which actors are involved in this governance framework and provides insights into the facilitating and hindering factors for governance throughout the e-waste flows. Besides analysing the governance actors individually, particular attention is given to their interaction. The frame of analysis used for this is a nodal-networked analysis (Shearing and Johnston, 2010). The theoretical frameworks used are the responsive regulatory pyramid and networked governance. The findings show that the governance reality of illegal transports of e-waste answers to several characteristics of these ideal-typical models. At the same time it is faced with the complexity inherent to governing the illegal trade in e-waste.

Chapter 6 discusses the results of the case study into the illegal transport of tropical timber. The first part provides insights into the social organization of the illegal transports of tropical timber. This focuses on the local research setting of the Port of Antwerp (Belgium) but meanwhile pays attention to elements throughout the flows from locations of origin over transit to destination. It is often difficult to determine which legal and illegal actors are involved in transnational environmental crime. This part sheds light on the legal-illegal interfaces in tropical timber flows connected to this European setting. The results show that the social organization of transnational environmental crime is shaped by the global context of the places of origin, transit and destination. The flows of tropical timber are continuously on a thin line between legal and illegal. The second part discusses the governance reality of illegal transports of tropical timber. The frame of analysis used is a nodal-networked governance analysis, which pays attention to the contextual surroundings that shape the governance framework. It provides insights into the facilitating and hindering factors for governance arrangements. It does so throughout the tropical timber flows, for actors individually and in their interaction. The findings use both the responsive regulatory pyramid and networked governance as ideal-typical models. The results reveal the complexity inherent to governing the illegal trade in tropical timber.

Chapter 7 is a comparative analysis of the cases. This chapter begins with a summary of findings of the separate case studies into the illegal trade in e-waste and tropical timber for both their social organization and their governance. This core of this chapter is a comparison between the two cases, pinpointing similarities and differences in their governance and etiological characteristics. This chapter puts the results into perspective by relating them to previous findings about transnational environmental crime and environmental governance. Informed by the comparative analysis, lessons are drawn for theory and research on environmental governance and transnational environmental crime.

The conclusion, policy recommendations, avenues for future research and a brief concluding summary bring this book is to a close. After that, the references and annexes follow.

1 See for example: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, New York, 9 May 1992 (entered into force 21 March 1994); Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, adopted at the UNCED in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 3–14 June 1992.

2 These actors are sometimes referred to as nodes. These can refer to individuals, groups, organizations and even states. This was used with regard to communication in society (Castells 2000) and applied to governance and security issues (Shearing and Johnston 2010).

3 This research was funded by the Research Fund of University College Ghent (OF-0902).

4 The concepts illegal trade, transports and flows will be used interchangeably in this book.

5 E-waste is waste from electronic and electric equipment, such as television sets, refrigerators, computers, mp3 players, batteries and so on.

Chapter 2
Methodology

Introduction

This study answers to the call for more research about transnational environmental crime by studying the illegal trade in electronic waste (e-waste) and tropical timber. The research questions are answered by means of a theoretical analysis in the literature review and a comparative case study research into the social organization, emergence and governance of illegal transports of e-waste and tropical timber. This section provides more information on the design and strategy of this study. The qualitative case study methodology, case selection, research setting, research phases, data analysis and scope and limitations of the research are explained.

Qualitative Case Study

Having allowed passion, fascination, or indignation to influence the choice of the topic, the researcher then faces a very different kind of task: devising a research strategy. (Geddes 2003, p. 38)

This study has a qualitative research design, namely the case-study method. It looks at phenomena which have received limited attention in previous research. For the Belgian research setting in particular, no criminological studies hav...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Abbreviations
• Preface and Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Methodology
• 3 Explaining Transnational Environmental Crime
• 4 Governing Transnational Environmental Crime
• 5 The Illegal Trade in E-Waste
• 6 Illegal Trade in Tropical Timber
• 7 Comparative Case Analysis
• 8 Conclusion
• Appendix 1: Checklist
• References
• Index