ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of a wide range of environmental problems in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Kosovo, the Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, and the Ukraine. Despite the difficulty posed by the differences between countries and the diversity of languages in the region, the authors identify some common characteristics of the environmental problems in the area of South-Eastern Europe, such as air, water, and soil pollution caused by corporations and state-owned facilities (especially ash, coal dust, and thermal power-plant pollution of air and water), as well as waste trafficking and illegal waste disposal, animal and plant species trafficking, and poaching and illegal fishing. Their analysis shows the heavy influence of organised crime in the region, whereby loopholes in environmental protection legislation and gaps in infrastructure and enforcement allow perpetrators of such harms and crimes to avoid prosecution and/or punishment. Although the authors stress that systematic prosecution of environmental crimes is necessary in order to ensure that much environmental damage is reduced or eliminated, they recognise that the specific environmental and political nature of each country must not be ignored, and that many issues will have to be tackled by more focussed cooperation between and within countries, rather than as regional initiatives. Nevertheless, by identifying patterns of environmental crimes in South-Eastern Europe, this chapter reveals the potential for stimulating and enabling cooperation between countries in order to protect and preserve the environment of the entire South-Eastern Europe region.
