Governance of transnational environmental crime: case study research on the illegal trade in e-waste and tropical timber
Year: 2012
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This PhD research responds to the call for more research on transnational environmental crime.It provides insights into the empirical reality of governing transnational environmental crime flows.The studied cases are the illegal trade in electronic waste (e-waste) and the illegal trade in tropical timber.This PhD study analyses the emergence and social organisation of these two cases.This entails looking at the scope and impact of the flows and at which legal, illegal and informal actors are involved, how they interact and what drives them.Building on the gained insights, this study analyses the governance reality for the two cases.Relating back to the responsive regulatory pyramid and networked governance, this study enquires which actors are involved in the governance of e-waste and tropical timber flows and provides insights into these governance arrangements for actors individually and in interaction.The focus of this study is on the flows that pass through the research setting of the Port of Antwerp and especially those between Europe and West and Central Africa.This implies that attention is paid to source, transit as well as destination locations of the goods.This research is based on a qualitative multi-method research design combining a document analysis of various primary and secondary sources, 81 interviews with key informants, and field visits.The document analysis is based on governmental sources, research reports, corporate documents and documents by civil society actors.The interviewees work for national and international government agencies, corporations involved in production, transport, refurbishment and recycling of electronics, and in trade and certification of tropical timber, environmental NGOs and labour unions.The field visits in Antwerp and Ghana were limited to crucial sites and actors in the illegal flows in order to allow for the necessary contextualized information.The core of this PhD thesis consists of five articles.The first article is a theoretical exploration of transnational environmental crime. 1 The second 2 and third 3 article focus on the social organisation and the governance of the illegal trade in e-waste.The fourth 4 and fifth 5 1 Bisschop, L. (2011).Transnational environmental crime: exploring (un)charted territory.
Author: Lieselot Bisschop
Language: English
Subfield: Nature and Landscape Conservation
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2234326347