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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 12:45 am
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Results for theft of natural resources
8 results foundAuthor: Baker, Shawn Title: An Analysis of Timber Trespass and Theft Issues in the Southern Appalachian Region Summary: Timber theft is a crime within the forest industry which has not received a large amount of attention within research literature. As a result, there are no recent estimates available of the extent of the problem. The southern Appalachian region has conditions which seem to be conducive to timber theft, but convictions for timber theft in the area are infrequent. In order to address these issues, a study was undertaken in a 20 county region of the southern Appalachians to interview law enforcement officers and prosecuting attorneys about their knowledge of timber theft and their current level of investigation and prosecution. To ascertain the extent of timber theft, interviews were also carried out with both industrial and non-industrial landowners. The survey results indicate that both prosecuting attorneys and law enforcement officers are generally knowledgeable regarding timber theft and trespass. Results were similar between those individuals who had experience with the crime as well as those who did not. The overriding perception from both prosecuting attorneys and law enforcement officers was that timber theft should be handled as a civil violation. This perception was primarily a result of the frequent lack of properly located boundary lines to prove ownership of the property, and the difficulty of proving criminal intent. The study found 22 convictions for timber theft out of 36 criminal cases in the past three years. Due to a low response rate (16%) from non-industrial private forest landowners, estimates of the extent of timber theft were determined from the industrial landowner data and the law enforcement and attorney surveys. Based on these data, the impact of timber theft was conservatively estimated at 120 incidents per year, resulting in a loss of approximately $300,000 per year within the study area. An extrapolation of this to the entire southern Appalachian region would mean over $4 million per year. The results of this research indicates that there are potential areas for improvement in the conviction of timber theft offenders as well as in reducing the total number of theft incidents. The current statutes used to deal with timber theft are generally inadequate to provide prosecutors with the potential to convict most timber thieves because of the unique evidentiary requirements of a timber theft. As a result, changes in the statute would likely provide the greatest remedy. Civil statutes are also inadequate in many states to provide landowners the opportunity to obtain a suitable civil judgment. Information needs to be disseminated to landowners, law enforcement officers, and prosecuting attorneys about the aspects of timber theft which are most pertinent to them, and how the problem should be dealt with both before and after the theft. Details: Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2003. 118p. Source: Internet Resource: Master's Thesis: Accessed June 30, 2011 at: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-05212003-153313/unrestricted/timb_theft_thesis.pdf Year: 2003 Country: United States URL: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-05212003-153313/unrestricted/timb_theft_thesis.pdf Shelf Number: 121931 Keywords: Illegal LoggingTheft of Natural ResourcesTimber Theft |
Author: Stewart, James G. Title: Corporate War Crimes: Prosecuting Pillage of Natural Resources Summary: Pillage means theft during war. Although the prohibition against pillage dates to the Roman Empire, pillaging is a modern war crime that can be enforced before international and domestic criminal courts. Following World War II, several businessmen were convicted for commercial pillage of natural resources. And although pillage has been prosecuted in recent years, commercial actors are seldom held accountable for their role in fuelling conflict. Reviving corporate liability for pillaging natural resources is not simply about protecting property rights during conflict — it can also play a significant role in preventing atrocity. Since the end of the Cold War, the illegal exploitation of natural resources has become a prevalent means of financing conflict. In countries including Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, East Timor, Iraq, Liberia, Myanmar, and Sierra Leone, the illicit trade in natural resources has not only created incentives for violence, but has also furnished warring parties with the finances necessary to sustain some of the most brutal hostilities in recent history. In Corporate War Crimes, available below in its second edition, law professor James G. Stewart offers a roadmap of the law governing pillage as applied to the illegal exploitation of natural resources by corporations and their officers. The text traces the evolution of the prohibition against pillage from its earliest forms through the Nuremburg trials to today’s national laws and international treaties. In doing so, Stewart provides a long-awaited blueprint for prosecuting corporate plunder during war. Corporate War Crimes seeks to guide investigative bodies, war crimes prosecutors, and judges engaged with the technicalities of pillage. It should also be useful for advocates, political institutions, and companies interested in curbing resource wars. Details: New York: Open Society Institute, 2011. 162p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 20, 2011 at: http://www.soros.org/initiatives/justice/articles_publications/publications/pillage-manual-20101025/pillage-manual-2nd-edition-2011.pdf Year: 2011 Country: International URL: http://www.soros.org/initiatives/justice/articles_publications/publications/pillage-manual-20101025/pillage-manual-2nd-edition-2011.pdf Shelf Number: 123066 Keywords: Archaeological TheftsDestruction and PillageTheftTheft of Cultural PropertyTheft of Natural Resources |
Author: Stewart, James G. Title: A Pragmatic Critique of Corporate Criminal Theory: Atrocity, Commerce and Accountability Summary: Corporate criminal liability is a controversial beast. To a large extent, the controversies surround three core questions: first, whether there is a basic conceptual justification for using a system of criminal justice constructed for individuals against inanimate entities like corporations; second, what value corporate criminal liability could have given coexistent possibilities of civil redress against them; and third, whether corporate criminal liability has any added value over and above individual criminal responsibility of corporate officers. In this paper, I use examples from the frontiers of international criminal justice to criticize all sides of these debates. In particular, I harness the latent possibility of prosecuting corporate actors for the pillage of natural resources and for complicity through the supply of weapons, to highlight the shortcomings of corporate criminal theory to date. Throughout, I draw on principles derived from philosophical and legal pragmatism to reveal a set of recurring analytical flaws in this literature. These include: a tendency to presuppose a perfect single jurisdiction that overlooks globalization, the blind projection of local theories of corporate criminal responsibility onto global corporate practices; and a perspective that sometimes seems insensitive to the plight of the many who have fallen victim to corporate crime in the developing world. To begin anew, we need to embrace a pragmatic theory of corporate criminal liability that is forced upon us in a world as complex, unequal, and dysfunctional as that we presently inhabit. Details: Vancouver, British Columbia: UBC Faculty of Law, 2012. 38p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 15, 2012 at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2152682 Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2152682 Shelf Number: 126742 Keywords: Corporate CrimeDestruction and PillageOffenses Against the EnvironmentProsecutionTheft of Natural Resources |
Author: United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Title: Tracking and Certification of Mineral Output in Southern Africa Summary: The illegal exploitation of minerals and fraudulent manipulation of the volume or the value of exported minerals are enduring challenges for producing countries in Southern Africa. Illegal exploitation of minerals in particular has regularly been linked to instability and conflict in the region. There have been calls for effective mechanisms for regulating the exploitation and movement of the minerals. Regulation of the mining industry in Southern Africa is quite challenging partly because of its history and partly because of its nature. Some of the mineral exploitation occurs in areas with difficult access either because of conflict or because of the nature of the terrain. This makes it difficult to verify any declarations of output issued from such areas. The estimated yield of each mine is based on the scientific analysis of samples collected at various stages of mineral processing. Intimately connected to the prospects for development, the mining industry is also capital intensive and taxing on the personnel and equipment of various stakeholders, including corporate institutions and Governments. This study was conducted against the backdrop of the commitment by SADC member States to gather information on the identity, origin and volume of SADC mineral output in order to develop standardized mechanisms for tracking and certification. This was motivated by the growing conviction within the region that the mineral value chains were being undermined by leakages through neighbouring countries. Gold is said to be illegally imported from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) into Kenya, Burundi and Uganda and re-exported further. Limited benefit accrues to the DRC as a result of the process. Diamonds are said to be illegally imported from Zimbabwe into Mozambique and South Africa for onward exportation. Similar allegations are heard about illegal tin, coltan and woframite which are exported through Rwanda. Monitoring mineral value streams in the producing countries is complicated by the large informal small-scale mining sector active within them. There are also concerns about such practices as transfer pricing by large-scale mining conglomerates taking advantage of intra-group agreements involving the holding companies based in low tax jurisdictions and the subsidiaries based in the region. Transfer pricing abuses take various forms, including over- or under-invoicing of exports and imports, overloading of costs onto the subsidiary, service contracts and intra-group loans. Through such agreements, the holding companies are able to transfer income and allocate costs in a hidden manner that unfairly favours them. These malpractices reduce revenue which would have accrued to the producing States, thus exacerbating poverty amidst a rich natural resources heritage - the so-called 'paradox of plenty!' (UNECA, 2010). The SADC Mining Protocol was adopted in September 1997 by twelve member States and came into force in February 2000. The SADC Mining Sector Co-coordinating Unit (SMSCU), under the previous SADC structure, promoted adoption of the Mining Protocol. The Protocol recognizes that a 'thriving mining sector can contribute to economic development, alleviation of poverty and the improvement of the standard and quality of life throughout the Region.' In principle, the SADC Protocol seeks to'harmonize national and regional policies, strategies and programmes related to the development and exploitation of mineral resources.' In this spirit, SADC aims to develop and adopt common mineral certification standards, in accordance with internationally acceptable standards, in order to minimize illegal trade in minerals and thereby optimize the benefits to member States. SADC member States intend to 'adopt policies that encourage the exploration for and commercial exploitation of mineral resources by the private sector.' Furthermore, the Protocol seeks to facilitate the development of small-scale mining through, among other initiatives, the establishment of marketing facilities, including exhibitions and mineral exchanges. The study on which this report is based proposes a tracking and certification regime that is motivated by the above tenets. It suggests that the same goals that motivated the formulation and adoption of a tracking and certification system for diamonds in Guyana could be adapted by SADC. The key points are: (a) To provide reliable data to States on producer, exporter and purchaser behaviour; (b) To ensure the payment of the royalties and taxes due to the State; (c) To strengthen the State's oversight function along the mineral value chain; and (d) To prevent the mixing of minerals that are lawfully produced and/or acquired with illicitly produced and/or acquired ones in order to reduce illegal trade in minerals and consequently increase legal revenue flows through legal trade at both the national and subregional levels. The Kimberley Process Certification System (KCPS) was prompted by the concern summed up in (d), specifically that lawful output could and, in several demonstrable instances, had been contaminated by rough diamonds originating from zones of conflict. The study on which this report is based concerns minerals other than diamonds. Since some of them, like emeralds, share many characteristics with diamonds, the study borrows some lessons from the KCPS. The scope of the study determined by the terms of reference, namely: (i) To assess legislation and licensing procedures relating to mining, sale and transportation of minerals to overseas markets and their effectiveness in preventing fraudulent trade in mineral commodities; (ii) To examine national technical reporting requirements for mining and export of SADC mineral products and their efficacy in providing needed data for preventing fraudulent trade in mineral commodities; (iii) To review national, regional and international systems for tracking and certifying mineral products and make proposals for a possible tracking and certification system that would ensure an effective product audit trail of SADC minerals; (iv) To examine export documents and regulations and recommend how they might be adjusted to form part of the certification audit trail; (v) To examine customs conventions and formalities to assess how these might affect the formulation and application of rules of origin for a SADC-wide certificate of origin for SADC mineral products; and (vi) To assess current regional integration efforts in trade and how these might help or hinder the development of a SADC certificate of origin for mineral products. The study considered prevailing legislation and licensing procedures in several countries in order to assess their effectiveness in preventing fraud in the trade of minerals. It found that most national legislation did not prioritize this objective, and could not be considered effective in preventing the most pernicious form of illegality in minerals marketing, namely transfer pricing. It found that a tracking regime on its own is not the appropriate vehicle for policing transfer pricing, and that this could be better done by combining centralization of the marketing of minerals and creating incentives for localized beneficiation of mineral output. Details: Addis Ababa: United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Subregional Office Southern Africa, 2014. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 20, 2015 at: http://www.uneca.org/sites/default/files/PublicationFiles/tracking-and-certification-of-mineral-output-in-southern-africa.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Africa URL: http://www.uneca.org/sites/default/files/PublicationFiles/tracking-and-certification-of-mineral-output-in-southern-africa.pdf Shelf Number: 137044 Keywords: Crime PreventionIllegal MarketsIllegal TradeKimberley ProcessMetal TheftMineral TheftMiningTheft of Natural Resources |
Author: Dranginis, Holly Title: The Mafia in the Park: A charcoal syndicate is threatening Virunga, Africa's oldest national park Summary: An illegal charcoal cartel is helping to finance one of the most prominent militias in central Africa and destroying parts of Africa's oldest national park. Nursing alliances with Congolese army and police units and operating remote trafficking rings in the sanctuaries of Congo's protected forests, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) is a kingpin in Africa's Great Lakes region's organized crime networks and a continuing threat to human security. Details: Washington, DC: Enough Project, 2016. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 22, 2016 at: http://www.enoughproject.org/files/report_MafiaInThePark_Dranginis_Enough_June2016.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Africa URL: http://www.enoughproject.org/files/report_MafiaInThePark_Dranginis_Enough_June2016.pdf Shelf Number: 139794 Keywords: CharcoalForestsIllegal TradeNatural ResourcesOrganized CrimeTheft of Natural Resources |
Author: Rettberg, Angelika Title: Gold, Oil and the Lure of Violence: The Private Sector and Post-conflict Risks in Colombia Summary: For the first time in decades Colombia seems to be on course towards a negotiated settlement with its two remaining guerrilla groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the National Liberation Army. However, the post-conflict prospects are not altogether auspicious. Abundant weapons in circulation, demobilised combatants with criminal expertise, and multiple opportunities for applying this know-how in both legal and illegal activities and organisations as part of the steady and continuing reconfiguration of criminal groups pose serious risks to stability and the sustainability of peace in Colombia over the coming years. This report presents a number of the challenges for Colombia's post-conflict stability arising from criminal networks and activities in regions associated with the extractive industry - and specifically in regions dedicated to oil extraction and gold mining. While domestic and foreign investments have risen over recent years, and overall security conditions have improved, it is likely that armed violence will continue and undergo further transformations in these regions. The emergence of new sorts of non-conventional armed violence, operating across the spectrum between conflict and criminality, illustrates the challenge of consolidating a post-conflict arrangement in Colombia. Details: Oslo: Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre (NOREF), 2015. 13p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 28, 2016 at: https://www.clingendael.nl/sites/default/files/Rettberg_NOREF%20Clingendael_Gold%20oil%20and%20the%20lure%20of%20violence_the%20private%20sector%20and%20post-conflict%20risks%20in%20Colombia_Sept%202015_FINAL.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Colombia URL: https://www.clingendael.nl/sites/default/files/Rettberg_NOREF%20Clingendael_Gold%20oil%20and%20the%20lure%20of%20violence_the%20private%20sector%20and%20post-conflict%20risks%20in%20Colombia_Sept%202015_FINAL.pdf Shelf Number: 139886 Keywords: Criminal NetworksGoldNatural ResourcesOilOrganized CrimeTheft of Natural Resources |
Author: Emordi, Kingsley Emeka Title: Victims, villains or heroes? : the local community perception of oil bunkering in the Niger delta Summary: Grounded on a political ecology approach, this study sheds light on oil bunkering activity that is done by local militants in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Such oil bunkering is used as a euphemism for oil theft in Nigeria. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the perception of oil bunkering that is done by groups (militants) of the local communities of the Niger Delta. By collecting and comparing the narratives of the three actors linked to so-called illegal oil bunkering. The three actors are the locals of the Niger Delta, the Nigerian government and the multinational oil companies (MNOCs). Such Oil bunkering that is done by the local militants of the Niger Delta has dominated the local politics since the 1990s. Through narrative analysis I have identified three different stories from the three different actors. The government and the Multinational oil companies (MNOCs) operating in the Niger Delta perceives, such oil bunkering is seen as illegal activity that affects the nation's economy, as well as causing environmental degradation in the Niger Delta. However, oil have contributed enormously to the national economy since the inception of oil exploration in the Niger Delta. To many people, such as the government agencies and its allies, these growth have brought income opportunities and growth to the local communities of the Niger Delta. In contrast to the inhabitants of the Niger Delta such economic growth is yet to translate to economic development, and an appreciable increase in the standard of living. Despite being the goose that lays the golden egg. This is coupled with certain fundamental issues such as continuous neglect by state, political marginalization and the failure of state interventionist efforts at ameliorating the suffering of the inhabitants of the region. The consequence of this is reinforcing the option of resistance and violence, as against peaceful engagement with the state. This is manifested in the increasing violence and lawlessness epitomized by the incidence of kidnapping of oil workers, seizure of MNOCs oil facilities, destruction of oil installations, as well as oil bunkering which is the focus of this study. By using narrative analysis, I found that the local communities sees oil bunkering as an integral part of their protest against the state and the multinational companies operating in the Niger Delta. This is an approach within political ecology, and narrative analysis offers a way of obtaining a rich understanding of the main ways that locals of the Niger Delta experience and perceives oil bunkering. As well as the state and MNOCs approach towards the locals, by means of their presentations of relevant narratives. By doing this I also aim at contributing trend of political ecology to the Niger Delta region. The local communities of the Niger Delta have been 11 embroiled in resistance against the federal government and the multinational oil companies (MNOCs). Multilayered issues such as lack of control, participation, revenue allocation, resources control and more, institute the main grievances against the oil companies and the government. Cognizant of these issues, the state and MNOCs have not applied a more holistic approach, for this reason the local communities in the Niger Delta lost confidence in both the state and MNOCs. Hence these led to the issues the Niger Delta is facing today. Such Oil bunkering activities done by the local militants of the Niger Delta is a classic example of the perceived struggle and resistance of the Niger Delta militants over control of the natural resources in their region. The local's militants are indigenes of the Niger Delta, they represent the resistance group and they are the main figure in oil bunkering. This study carried a more in-depth analysis of the local communities' narratives on oil bunkering than other stakeholder's narratives. However, this study also presented extensive position of other actors narratives linked to oil bunkering in the Niger Delta. My reason for doing this is that, as a researcher for this study I find the local communities of the Niger Delta to constitute the most challenging task to understand. The locals are more challenging to understand, because my main interest is to understand the local's community's perceptions. Therefore deeper focus on these, whilst to understand the context of other narratives are pertinent to identify the narrative landscape to compare and contrast. This study further argues that oil bunkering activities in the Niger Delta emerged due to grievances by the people of the Niger Delta, which is attributed to the failure of the state and the multinational oil companies (MNOCs) to comply with the demands of the local community of the Niger Delta. This thesis further shows that, the current oil bunkering activities in Niger Delta have become a mixture of genuine grievance and greed as well as opportunism. Details: As, Norway: Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 2015. 105p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed September 3, 2016 at: https://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui/handle/11250/293819 Year: 2015 Country: Nigeria URL: https://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui/handle/11250/293819 Shelf Number: 140143 Keywords: Offenses Against the EnvironmentOil IndustryOil TheftTheft of Natural Resources |
Author: Williams, Aled Title: At the extremes: Corruption in natural resource management revisited Summary: Natural resource sectors are undergoing profound changes. Resources are being extracted in more remote locations within corruption-prone developing countries than was previously the case; there is an increased proliferation of actors involved in resource extraction; and a marked shift towards renewable energy, conservation and climate change projects in developing countries. Formulating generic anti-corruption policy prescriptions for the wide range of heavily contextualised corruption challenges natural resource sectors face is unlikely to help. This U4 Brief offers instead modest advice for advancing solutions through development cooperation, with a focus on analytical methods, project management approaches, and tracking evidence for effectiveness. Details: Bergen: Chr. Michelsen Institute (U4 Issue 2016:4), 2016. 6p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 9, 2017 at: http://www.u4.no/publications/at-the-extremes-corruption-in-natural-resource-management-revisited/ Year: 2016 Country: International URL: http://www.u4.no/publications/at-the-extremes-corruption-in-natural-resource-management-revisited/ Shelf Number: 145993 Keywords: CorruptionNatural ResourcesResource CurseTheft of Natural Resources |