Introduction: The evolution of environmental enforcement

Abstract

This book's introduction describes the emerging structure of environmental enforcement, which the Amazonia has pioneered for the world, centered on the formation of police agencies, prosecutor units, and special courts. It shows how this structure, by giving the environment effective political and institutional support, is a historical and legal breakthrough in global protection. But the book's analysis and case studies will also explain how that same structure is weakened by the larger political, institutional, and geographic context in which it operates.