Environmental Crimes and Globalisation

This article discusses the impact of globalisation on environmental crimes such as deforestation, oil spills, and chemical hazards. It explores the concept of green criminology and the measures to prevent these crimes. The article draws attention to the harmful practices of large oil, chemical, and mineral industries and their impact on the environment. It also provides insights into the issue of ecological justice and environmental harm. The article is based on the works of Van Solinge, Ruggiero and South, and White.

Running head: CRIME DEVIANCE AND SOCIETY
Crime Deviance and Society
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Van Solinge, T.B., 2013. Equatorial deforestation as a harmful practice and a
criminological issue. In Global Environmental Harm (pp. 38-54). Willan
Tim Boekhout van Solinge, in this article discussed the violent fight that broke out
between the Amazon tribal groups and the police in Northern Peru on the jungle highway.
The tribal started their protest against the two decrees which was passed as a part of free-
trade agreement to allow the exploitation of the Peruvian rainforest like gas and oil
concessions. Much of this part was an indigenous land, and the tribal believed that the
decrees can be a threat to their way of living and their ancestral land.
In the modern trend of globalisation, deforestation for mining, residence, tropical
hardwood, land conversion or transformation of rainforest into an agricultural land has
become a growing issue. Deforestation is not only a cause of problem to the people who lives
in the forest, it has its effect on all over the mankind, plant and animal species and mostly on
the bio diverse ecosystem. It poses a threat to many of the species which survives in the wild.
Tropical deforestation causes a harmful effect on the humans, the other living beings and on
the ecosystem. The rainforest in Amazon contains almost 30 percent of the living known
species. The rainforest of Amazon contains almost 20 percent of the river water of the planet.
Approximately 5 percent of the rainforest is flooded, which creates a new ecosystem. It has
been observed that one hector of this rainforest contains a variety of trees more than that can
be found in the Europe.
Tropical rainforest deforestation is illegal. It should be considered as criminal.
Amazon is not only a home to the tribal but also to most of the living species in the world. A
deforestation of Amazon rainforest shall be harmful to the humans and other non-human
livings. Deforestation address the issue of ecological justice as well as the environmental
harm. Criminologists should pay more attention to the issue of illegal tropical deforestation as

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it has an overall impact of the future generation. The conflict that happened between the
habitants and the administration included the infringement of human rights of the forest
tribal. The person willing to exploit and develop the rainforest area received a thrash back
from the inhabitants. The Government was blamed for using its violence. The deadly fight
turned into a riot breaking the legal system.
The journal was full of quality information and helped in providing various useful
sights for the topic to relate the globalisation and neo-liberalism with the environmental
crime.
Ruggiero, V. and South, N., 2013. Toxic state–corporate crimes, neo-liberalism and
green criminology: The hazards and legacies of the oil, chemical and mineral
industries. International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, 2(2), pp.12-26.
It can be said that environmentalism is a counterforce to neo-liberalism, which stands
for institutional practices and ideological commitments. In the modern neo-liberal
environment new issues are emerging. In this article the authors draw the attention towards
the issue of the practices used by the large oil, chemical and asbestos industries and the
illegal destruction of the environment made by them and their impact on the living beings.
Despoliation has been described by the authors as plundering the valuables or deprivation of
others from the valuables by force or deprivation from the benefit of choice of the others
about the action affecting them. This article explain the concept of green criminology and
further talks about the measures to prevent them.
The oil industry commits various environmental crimes in different ways. The
principle offence that the oil industry commits is the direct harms to the environment by
causing pollution. As per McHugh, illicit crude oil trading happens with the help of
smuggling, mingling and bunkering. In the absence of proper protection, the oil trading cause

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a huge harm to the environment effecting the ecosystem. It is a crime against the right of
humans and non-humans to live in a sustainable environment. The oil spill in Ecuadorean
Amazon spread through the Brazil and Peru. It was reported that almost 1.6 m litres of crude
oil had been discharged in the local rivers, which contaminated the Coca supply in Ecuador.
Traces of oil were found in the Amazon region of Peru. Ecuador suffered from the activities
of the oil industry which led the Court of the Country to impose a compensation amounting to
$8.6 billion for dumping almost 7 billion litres of waste over the decades by the US firm
Chevron. This is not the single incident, rather the leaks, spills and the ecological damage is
being reported on a regular basis all over the world. The chemical hazards coming in the
touch of the environment, causes chemical injury. It is considered as a chemical crime for its
long-term effects. Chemicals are not properly tested for their effect on brain, immune system
and cancer before they are being disposed into the river. This chemical crimes occur not only
while trading the oil, it occur at the time of production, storage, distribution, use. This article
also points out the case of Dow and Agent Orange to explain the effect of globalisation on the
environment. At the time of World War II, herbicides for military involved Dow chemical.
As a tactic of war, this products were transported by orange-striped barrels, and about 20
million gallons were sprayed in the fields and forest in the Cambodia and Vietnam. A test
was conducted later and it was found that the chemicals had an effect to cause birth defects in
the laboratory animals. This state-corporate environmental crime was followed-up with an
action that imposed a compensation of $44 million to US.
This article provided useful insight in relation to the issue of environmental crimes
resulting from the neo-liberalism. It also has evidences of how the green-criminology has
been introduced in modern world by the globalisation.
White, R. ed., 2013. Global environmental harm: Criminological perspectives. Routledge.

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Rob White in his study, identified that globalisation has left environment exposed to
hazardous transformation. It has caused pollution to the rivers with the industrial outfalls, left
the animals homeless by deforestation. This has resulted in a change in the biodiversity and
ecological systems. This book has helped in providing an explanation of different kinds of
environmental crimes. However, he has maintained that not all environmental transformation
are deemed to be negative and illegal. There are few factors which is to be considered while
determining environmental harm, such as, the victims, the site of the harm and the time
within which the harm can be detected. This book has focused on analysing globalisation to
be a process to cause harm across the world. Its effect can be traced in various different
locales. Globalisation is not only viewed as the cross-border relations among the countries. It
is the process of modernisation, deterritorialisation and liberalisation.
The book has also presented the scenario of various countries to further discuss the
environmental issue. In New Zealand the overuse of pesticides has become a major concern,
while in Canada the impact of oil tar-sands project has become a serious issue. As
globalisation has connected the countries, environmental harm to one country can have its
impact on the environment of another country. The major issues like climate change,
extinction of some plant and animal species, waste disposal are nothing new to the world.
Rob White, in his book, mentioned the ruling Supreme Court of USA, which imposed a duty
of care to the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure the protection of human, animal
and environment from the effect of the emission of greenhouse gases. Carbon emission, as
well as the water use, water theft have also been criminalised. The author also has made some
recommendations in his work to deal with the environmental crime which is the result of
globalisation. He has suggested the creation of protection agencies to investigate and
prosecute this crimes. Identifying the issue to be an ecological criminology, the author has

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marked that with the new developing trends, the environment is exposed to more harms. To
address the present harms, new measures of social control is required.
This book contains relevant information which were proved to be helpful for the
chosen topic. The current environmental condition can be analysed from this. This book also
relates the issue with neo-liberalism and globalisation and the approaches provided in this
study is helpful to obtain an idea of the effect of this issue over the environment and some
preventive methods.

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References:
Ruggiero, V. and South, N., 2013. Toxic state–corporate crimes, neo-liberalism and green
criminology: The hazards and legacies of the oil, chemical and mineral
industries. International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, 2(2), pp.12-26.
Van Solinge, T.B., 2013. Equatorial deforestation as a harmful practice and a criminological
issue. In Global Environmental Harm (pp. 38-54). Willan
White, R. ed., 2013. Global environmental harm: Criminological perspectives. Routledge.