Periodic Reporting for period 1 - GREENLAUND (Green Crimes and Joint Crime Ventures: Laundering Natural Resources)
Période du rapport: 2023-09-01 au 2026-02-28
The high value and scarcity of natural resources increasingly attract criminal entrepreneurs operating in the legal economy. The laundering of natural resources is a prime example where illegally obtained natural resources are converted into legal products. Consequently, consumers buy products, such as a gold wedding ring, a hardwood floor, or endangered species, as ‘legitimate’ on the international market and unknowingly become part of a trade with devastating environmental effects. To facilitate ‘green laundering’, crime groups interact with corporations and state actors, as joint crime ventures. The proposed research aims to understand how and why joint crime ventures launder natural resources and what the environmental impact is.
Contemporary developments in environmental crime networks signal the expansion of grey areas of business where the separation between conventional and non-conventional criminals is no longer appropriate for understanding and dealing with the increasing complexities of environmental crime. Therefore, it is essential to develop an innovative approach to fill this theoretical and empirical gap. By analysing coercive, economic, and political interactions between crime groups, corporations, and state actors, this study will build a new line of research and reveal the causes, incentives, and environmental harms of laundering natural resources.
The environmental impact of laundering is illustrated by rapidly disappearing rainforests, large-scale pollution, and the mass extinction of species. Yet, laundering natural resources has been the subject of rather limited study. This research introduces a novel combination of cluster analysis of environmental crime cases, multi-sited field research, and crime script analysis that ensures a unique mixed-method perspective. The insights will be crucial for scientists, policymakers, corporations, NGOs, and law enforcement to develop inventive solutions to prevent and tackle the laundering of natural resources.
Contemporary developments in environmental crime networks signal the expansion of grey areas of business where the separation between conventional and non-conventional criminals is no longer appropriate for understanding and dealing with the increasing complexities of environmental crime. Therefore, it is essential to develop an innovative approach to fill this theoretical and empirical gap. By analysing coercive, economic, and political interactions between crime groups, corporations, and state actors, this study will build a new line of research and reveal the causes, incentives, and environmental harms of laundering natural resources.
The environmental impact of laundering is illustrated by rapidly disappearing rainforests, large-scale pollution, and the mass extinction of species. Yet, laundering natural resources has been the subject of rather limited study. This research introduces a novel combination of cluster analysis of environmental crime cases, multi-sited field research, and crime script analysis that ensures a unique mixed-method perspective. The insights will be crucial for scientists, policymakers, corporations, NGOs, and law enforcement to develop inventive solutions to prevent and tackle the laundering of natural resources.
The project unfolded in several key phases, each marked by distinct research activities and outputs that contributed to both academic knowledge and policy relevance. In the initial stage, a steering committee was established and this was followed by the recruitment of three PhD candidates, who each took responsibility for different aspects of the research project. A comprehensive literature review was undertaken to map existing knowledge on environmental crime, natural resource laundering, and green criminology. The first meetings served to refine the research objectives, methodologies, and case selection.
Subsequently, the project entered its data collection and analysis phase. During the first phase of the project the team collected laundering cases using online databases. The collected data were processed and analyzed to identify characteristics and clusters of laundering natural resources by joint crime ventures. This resulted in different subtypes of laundering practices. This phase also included the organization of the first expert meetings, which brought together scholars and practitioners to discuss preliminary findings and refine the analytical framework.
The second phase of the project aimed to explore the socio-economic, political, and ecological conditions that facilitate the laundering of natural resources. To this end, the research employed a naturalistic qualitative methodology, enabling an in-depth analysis of the interactions between criminal groups, corporate actors, and state institutions in the commission and concealment of environmental crime. This phase involved multi-sited fieldwork conducted in three key regions when it comes to laundering natural resources: Indonesian Borneo, the Surinamese Amazon, and the Greater Kruger Area in South Africa. These sites were selected for their strategic importance in the laundering of natural resources, with a particular focus on timber, gold, and rhino horn.
The fieldwork substantially strengthened the project’s empirical foundation by revealing how the laundering of natural resources is embedded within broader socio-economic and political and ecological conditions. It highlighted the coercive, economic, and political interactions that facilitate green laundering. Moreover, the data illuminated the environmental harms resulting from these practices, demonstrating how such impacts are mediated by local governance structures, economic precarity, and ecological conditions.
To enhance knowledge exchange and promote practical implementation, expert workshops were organized and the research team participated in several conferences where they presented their findings. These engagements facilitated dialogue with scholars, practitioners, and policymakers, contributing to the broader dissemination of the project's insights.
Subsequently, the project entered its data collection and analysis phase. During the first phase of the project the team collected laundering cases using online databases. The collected data were processed and analyzed to identify characteristics and clusters of laundering natural resources by joint crime ventures. This resulted in different subtypes of laundering practices. This phase also included the organization of the first expert meetings, which brought together scholars and practitioners to discuss preliminary findings and refine the analytical framework.
The second phase of the project aimed to explore the socio-economic, political, and ecological conditions that facilitate the laundering of natural resources. To this end, the research employed a naturalistic qualitative methodology, enabling an in-depth analysis of the interactions between criminal groups, corporate actors, and state institutions in the commission and concealment of environmental crime. This phase involved multi-sited fieldwork conducted in three key regions when it comes to laundering natural resources: Indonesian Borneo, the Surinamese Amazon, and the Greater Kruger Area in South Africa. These sites were selected for their strategic importance in the laundering of natural resources, with a particular focus on timber, gold, and rhino horn.
The fieldwork substantially strengthened the project’s empirical foundation by revealing how the laundering of natural resources is embedded within broader socio-economic and political and ecological conditions. It highlighted the coercive, economic, and political interactions that facilitate green laundering. Moreover, the data illuminated the environmental harms resulting from these practices, demonstrating how such impacts are mediated by local governance structures, economic precarity, and ecological conditions.
To enhance knowledge exchange and promote practical implementation, expert workshops were organized and the research team participated in several conferences where they presented their findings. These engagements facilitated dialogue with scholars, practitioners, and policymakers, contributing to the broader dissemination of the project's insights.
The project introduced the concepts of “green laundering” and “joint crime ventures” to theorize the processes through which illegally obtained natural resources are legitimized and incorporated into formal markets. These conceptual innovations contribute to the advancement of the growing field of green criminology by approaching natural resource laundering as a systemic, multi-actor phenomenon involving complex interactions between criminal networks, corporate actors, and state institutions. This also foregrounds the myriad environmental harms associated with laundering practices and highlights the need for integrated analytical frameworks that move beyond conventional distinctions between legal and illegal.