ABSTRACT
Environmental crime encompasses a broad range of illegal behaviours. The main category is the pollution of the air, seas and land. Also, the European Union has drafted regulations for the prevention of environmental harm and pollution, such as the European Waste Shipment Regulation (EWSR). Despite these initiatives, tackling cross-border environmental crimes remains a complex and in many respects 'wicked problem'. The chapter addresses the problem of cross-border environmental crime and environmental harm in more detail. It discusses strategies to control both eco-crime and environmental harm by enforcing laws, by reducing general opportunity structures, and by putting social pressure on those who cause harm to the environment and violate environmental laws. The impact of environmental crime and environmental harm has become more transnational in recent decades. Two main factors explain this development. The first is that the Western industrialized states have implemented more stringent regulations since the 1970s, causing visible environmental crime to shift to other parts of the world.
