How can we develop an inclusive global strategy against transnational organised crime to prevent environmental damage and protect human rights? One Ocean Hub researcher, Alana Malinde S.N. Lancaster (The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados) explored these questions, as a Keynote Speaker at the First Strategic Expert Dialogue focusing on ‘Priorities for Multilateral Action Against Environmental Crime’ held on 18 July 2024. 

Background  

Environmental crime has been long recognised as a major threat multiplier to an increasingly fractured and vulnerable planet. On the global stage, States have progressed from a comprehensive approach led by the United Nations  (A/Res/44/71,  A/Res/44/72, ECOSOC Resolutions 1989/62, 1992/22, 1993/28, 1994/15 and 1996/10 and Agenda 21) to a more sectoral approach addressing fisheries crime, forestry crime, illegal mining, waste trafficking, wildlife crime, pollution and other crimes which affect the environment. The sectoral approach was spearheaded by international law-enforcement, border-control and criminal justice organisations, the international community, and international inter-agency partnerships, and in 1987, the United Nations Office of Drug and Crime (UNODC) was created to take the lead internationally. The UNODC has honed the sectoral approach by developing a suite of thematic priorities and priority areas of intervention, aimed at preventing and combating crimes which affect the environment. However, over the past five years, the focus on the corruption associated with environmental crimes, has led to a resurgence of the comprehensive approach, which co-exists with, and complements, the sectoral approach.  

The broadening of the spectrum of current challenges, and weaknesses in existing responses against environmental crime, has increasingly commanded the attention of international bodies,  including the UN Summit on Biodiversity (New York, September 2020), IUCN World Conservation Congresses by means of Resolution 70 (Hawaii, 2016) and Resolution 47 (Marseille, 2021), and the Kyoto Declaration (2021). Other multilateral fora, both at the international level, such as the G-7 and G-20, as well as in regional organisations and partnerships such as the European Union, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Council of Europe, the Organisation of American States (OAS), Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation (ACTO), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) and Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe  (OSCE), have led to the conclusion that the issue of environmental crime should be addressed through the multilateral system. 

The Virtual Dialogue on Multilateral Action Against Environmental Crime 

One Ocean Hub researcher, Alana Malinde S.N. Lancaster (The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados) was invited as a Keynote Speaker at the First Strategic Expert Dialogue focusing on ‘Priorities for Multilateral Action Against Environmental Crime’ held on 18 July 2024. The event was organised by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime  (GI-TOC), an independent civil society organisation dedicated to putting in place the building blocks of an inclusive global strategy against transnational organised crime. The Dialogue is part of GI-TOC’s series of strategic international multi-stakeholder dialogues to build impactful action against environmental crimes.  

Alana’s contribution in this Dialogue was grounded in her research on breaking laws on the sea, exploring a definition for destructive fishing, and the linkages between SDG14-SDG16. As a result of these activities, in March, a Paper on the definition of destructive fishing featuring the contributions of Alana and Hub Researchers Senia Febrica and Bolanle T. Erinosho was published, and in November 2023, Alana and Bola attended  an Expert Group Meeting hosted by the by UNODC. The meeting was aimed at developing a Legislative Guide to Combatting Pollution Crime, and its Annex on the Pollution of the Marine Environment.   

Hub Researchers also contributed to a Report published by  UNDP’s Oslo Governance Centre and the German Institute of Development and Sustainability on the synergies between SDG 14 and SDG 16, to advance our understanding of the ocean governance research landscape, foster policy coherence, and maximise synergies between the SDGs. This was complemented by Alana’s research on Wider Caribbean Region, where she was able to draw examples from a recent Report she prepared examining synergies between the Treaty of San José and the Treaty Establishing the Regional Security System. 

The First Strategic Expert Dialogue focusing on ‘Priorities for Multilateral Action Against Environmental Crime’ was the first in a series of security-development dialogues on environmental crime, dedicated to exploring the interplay between organised crime, environmental damage and security, development and human rights and ultimately will address environmental crime as a major threat multiplier to an increasingly fractured and vulnerable planet). Its aim therefore was to provide a unique platform for actors from foreign policy, security, law enforcement, anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, criminal justice, environmental protection, fisheries, and economic developments to join and share perspectives on the complex and evolving challenges posed by environment crime and the current responses. During the discussions, experts weighed in on how the current range of challenges and weaknesses in existing responses against environmental crime should be addressed through the multilateral system. 

Key Messages  

Alana’s Presentation to the Expert Dialogue addressed two important questions:  

“Are the existing the international legal framework and instruments sufficient to prevent and combat crimes that affect the marine and coastal environment, such as fisheries crimes and illegal seabed mining?”  

and  

“How can States enable and ensure effective transboundary law-enforcement and the development of a criminal justice approach, including at regional and international level?” 

Her key messages included: 

•The management of environmental crimes of the marine poses a complex conundrum for States, which must be managed through a systematic approach, since blue economy industries, such as small-scale fisheries, tourism and shipping (commercial and cruise) and mariculture are of critical importance to most coastal and island States. However, the triple planetary crises of biodiversity loss, pollution and climate change are anthropogenic threats to the marine environment which can in turn exacerbate environmental crimes. 

•While UNCLOS implementing agreements – the Straddling Stocks Agreement, the 1994 Agreement in the Area and the recently concluded BBNJ Agreement – provide elements a more robust framework, there is a mutually supportive role for other complementary regimes to comprehensively address environmental crimes in the marine environment.  Multilateral environmental mechanisms need to be complemented by other regimes, such as international human rights law  and those addressing transnational organised crime at sea  (i.e., blue crime). An example which combines these two approaches, is the International Declaration on Transnational Organised Crime in the Global Fishing Industry (the Copenhagen Declaration), which utilises a blue justice theory of change to address transnational organised fisheries crime.  

•Demanding more action from big business and governments are required for the safeguarding of human rights, especially those of marginalised coastal peoples, including women, children, Indigenous Peoples and Afro-descendants (Lancaster, Nurse & Young Marshall, 2024 in press) 

•Given the complex and cross-cutting nature of environmental crimes in the marine environment, synergies and integration which increase efficiency and effectiveness, and reduce the onerous requirements which accompanies multilateral arrangements are paramount for Global South States.  

•Crosscutting issues in environmental crime such as this example may be enhanced by novel approaches and increased synergies utilising regional systems such as the Cartagena Convention which is  Regional Seas Programme (RSP) framework for the Wider Caribbean Region; 

•One of the most important challenges which stymies the effectiveness of global regulatory regimes is cooperation, including sharing of information, transboundary law-enforcement and the development of a criminal justice approach which evolves on a regional or international approach. Such an approach will need to balance the rule of law with respect for the sovereignty of States through judicial cooperation, joint investigations,  and compliance measures (Lancaster, 2024; Lancaster et. al., 2025 forthcoming) 

Outlook 

Inputs at the First Expert Dialogue will assist government and non-governmental stakeholders to develop a collective understanding of priorities for action ahead of important multilateral meetings and negotiations particularly the Twelfth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime, where draft resolutions on crimes that affect the environment may be tabled and negotiated. The first Expert Dialogue also set the scene for a Second Roundtable on how the international community can achieve more coordinated and impactful action against environmental crimes and whether the international legal framework needs to be strengthened in order to prevent and combat crimes that affect the environment more effectively.   

The findings of these Roundtables will ultimately contribute to multilateral action on environmental crimes through a series of upcoming meetings, including the UN General Assembly Summit for the Future (New York, September 2024), the 2024 Conferences of Parties (CoP) to the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (Vienna, October 2024), G20 Summit (Rio de Janeiro, November 2024), the Third United Nations Ocean Conference (Nice, June 2025), the IUCN World Conservation Congress (Abu Dhabi, October 2025), UN Framework Convention on Climate Change CoP30 (Belém, November 2025) and the Fifteenth UN Crime Congress (Abu Dhabi, Spring 2026). 

Work on these themes under the One Ocean Hub will continue, through Alana’s contribution to environmental crime and transnational organised crime at the global level, as well as in the Caribbean and Latin American Regions. Additionally, Hub experiences with transnational fisheries crime across the Caribbean and African regions will be captured a forthcoming book chapter by Alana Malinde S.N. Lancaster, Bolanle T. Erinosho, Tajudeen Sanni and Hashali Hamukuaya in a Vernon Press Publication on Blue Crimes edited by Regina Paulose.