Politics, economy and environmental crime

Issues relating to protection of the planet continue to capture media headlines and provoke public and political debate. The United Nationsʼ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has referred to global warming as a ʻweapon of mass destructionʼ (IPCC, 2007). However, global warming is not the only earth-threatening issue – there is also an increasing amount of environmental crime. The term ʻenvironmental crimeʼ is relatively new to the UK government lexicon but does not capture or harness the actions of the powerful towards acts of global environmental harm.