Introduction to Understanding and Managing Threats to the Environment in South Eastern Europe

Abstract

This chapter concentrates on the problem of international waste traffick-ing, one of the dark sides of technological development in the late twentieth century. The first section frames illegal waste trafficking within the field of green criminol-ogy and cross-national environmental crime. The article goes onto define waste and the classification of waste in different categories. The first section concludes with the definition of the consequences of illicit waste dumping for the environment, people, and seeing waste trade through a human rights perspective. The second section looks into the reasons for international waste trafficking and the methods used; it discusses destination countries, phases of trafficking and the traffickers themselves. International legislation is the essential element of the third section, taking a closer look at the Basel, Bamako and Lomé IV Conventions. Domestic waste law in a sample of countries is further examined. To get a better insight into the seriousness of the problem, some of the most notorious cases are summarized in the fourth section. The final section presents some of the international illicit waste trafficking combating efforts, and the results of different national and international programs are discussed. 5.1 Understanding the Problem of Waste Illicit waste trafficking, as a part of green criminology, has been gaining in prominence among criminologists during the past few years (Eman et al. 2009). Environmental crime is not new, but growing awareness has extended its scope (Carrabine et al. 2009).