Transnational environmental crime has become the largest financial driver of social conflict in the world.
It poses serious challenges to any government, organization, agency or other entity in pursuit of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Of the nearly two billion people whose sustainable development prospects are undermined by risks posed by transnational environmental crime, an estimated 535 are children, according to the The United Nations Children’s Fund.
The United Nations Environment Program estimated global value of transnational environmental crime is between US$91 and $259 billion per year.
Transnational environmental crime accounts for 64% of illicit and organized crime finance and $34 billion of the criminalized economy in fragile states in or near conflict areas.
The science of conservation crime builds new understanding about risks to and from global environmental change. It also offers innovative and interdisciplinary solutions to these problems. Scroll down to learn more about where my partners and I conduct our applied science, what ideas we use to inform our work, who we partner with, and why we remain cautious and impatient optimists!
Poached rhino skulls stacked outside a ranger post.
A visual illustration of the interdisciplinary conservation criminology framework.
What is Conservation Criminology?
Conservation Criminology is one interdisciplinary approach for thinking about environmental risks. The approach has three parts: natural resource policy and management, criminology and criminal justice, and risk and decision science.
Not all transnational environmental crimes need a multi-pronged approach to understand and reduce them. But sometimes, problems like wildlife trafficking, illegal logging, or illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing are so complicated and “wicked” that we can’t find solutions using only one tool. View information about how conservation criminology can contribute to solutions by clicking on the link above.
Use this map to learn more about conservation criminology.
Hover over the numbered dots to bring up information on that region of the world.
I am a human geographer
I advance understanding about the human dimensions of global environmental change such as biodiversity loss and climate change. The majority of my research uses risk concepts to explore human-environment interactions and all of my efforts are designed to build evidence for action. I bring an interdisciplinary perspective to a range of conservation issues such as wildlife trafficking, illegal fishing and illegal logging.
I am on the faculty of the Department of Geographical Sciences at the University of Maryland, College Park. I received my PhD in Natural Resource Policy and Management from Cornell University, MA in Environment and Resource Policy from George Washington University, and BA in Anthropology and Environmental Studies from Brandeis University. From 2006-2020, I was on the faculty at Michigan State University.
I am an American Geographical Society Council Member, a National Academies of Sciences Jefferson Science Fellow, US Department of State Embassy Science Fellow and Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leader.
