What Is Environmental Crime?

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1. Illegal logging: Illegal logging is a very damaging environmental crime perpetrated by organized crime units all over the world. Logging in forests from South America to Papua, New Guinea, these advanced organized crime units run a very profitable, black market enterprise specializing in the trade of illegally-logged lumber. It is estimated that over $10 billion USD are lost in developing countries worldwide as a result of illegal logging. Many efforts have been enacted by countries such as the PROFOR, Program on Forests, a multi-donor partnership aimed at forest management and overall good governance in foresting as well as strict foresting laws. Another effort is the FLEG or Forest Law Enforcement Program, a series of meetings held to make political commitments to tackling these logging problems. As a result of these environmental crimes, a number of financial consequences can be felt due to the severity of the crimes. When a group performs illegal logging, usually they are guilty of evading taxes, laundering their money and they cause a loss of revenue for the country and company that had permits to log. It has also been proven that these groups give bribes to authority figures in these countries as well as cause an overall damage to everyone who loses our already shrinking natural resources. 2. Illegal Chemicals trade: Another large environmental crime is the buying and selling of illegal Ozone-depleting chemicals. All life on Earth is dependent on our precious Ozone layer therefore crimes purported against it are of utmost seriousness; CFC’s (Chlorofluorocarbons) and HCFC’s (Hydrochlorofluorocarbons) are some of the more common Ozone-depleting chemicals that humans have used irresponsibly and that now pose a serious threat to everyone’s life. The release of these chemicals in our stratosphere causes the destruction of Ozone molecules in our Ozone

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