Crimes that affect the environment – such as illegal deforestation, marine pollution, wildlife trafficking, and crimes in the fisheries, waste and mining sectors – contribute significantly to the triple planetary crisis of biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution.
According to the UN Environment Programme, gender inequality is one of the main challenges to creating a clean, safe, and healthy environment for all. Yet the role of gender in crimes that affect the environment is still poorly understood.
Ahead of a UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), UN Women, and Republic of Slovenia discussion on Gendered Dimensions of Crimes that Affect the Environment, UNODC sat down with Tanya Wyatt, UNODC researcher, to discuss why gender matters in confronting and preventing these crimes.
Q: Why do you think researching crimes that affect the environment is important?
A: Firstly, I think it’s important for us to acknowledge that there are more victims of crimes that affect the environment than any other kind of crime.
Think of the millions, if not billions, of people who are exposed to air, soil, water pollution, for instance. Or the people whose livelihoods or health are destroyed because of biodiversity loss from wildlife trafficking, illegal deforestation, and illegal fishing. They are all dealing with the fall-out from these illegal behaviors. It’s a massive problem.
We should bring more attention to this for Member States and policymakers to show that addressing these crimes is integral to addressing the triple planetary crisis. Crimes that affect the environment contribute to climate change. They contribute to biodiversity loss. They contribute to pollution.
Q: What is your perception of the role gender plays in crimes that affect the environment?
To begin, I think it’s important to understand this term “crimes that affect the environment”, or more colloquially, “environmental crimes”. Crimes that affect the environment cover a huge range of activities, like wildlife crime and trafficking, waste crime and trafficking, illegal deforestation, illegal mining, illegal fishing, and more. There are many different aspects to these crimes, but I think we are finally turning a corner in research where we can look at why gender matters here.
Early findings show that what know about the role of gender in more “traditional crimes” - like assault, theft, etc. - also hold true in crimes that affect the environment. Men are more often the perpetrators of the crimes – for instance, they are the ones out poaching protected species or fishing illegally and bringing these goods back to the communities.
Women, on the other hand, are more often involved later in the supply chain of these illegal goods. They are either the ones selling them at the market or driving the consumption of the products. For example, it’s often women who hold the knowledge about traditional medicine, so they are therefore the ones who want the bear bile, dried seahorses, etc. To take another example, if you look at places where stereotypical gender roles are still the norm – i.e., where the woman is expected to cook for the family – you see that it is women who want a particular type of protected animal meat or plant for a meal, driving demand for illegal activity.
Q: Environmental degradation has different impacts on the lives of women versus men. What examples of this have you seen in your research on crimes that affect the environment specifically?
A: The UNODC 2023 Global Homicide Study highlighted that environmental defenders face considerable risks of being killed for their activism to protect natural resources. The research shows that women environmental defenders face different threats than their male counterparts – for instance, it’s more likely that they will be threatened with sexual violence or harm to their children.
Q: What recommendations would you have for how to address these issues?
A: Again, it’s a matter of tackling consumption. So much of the crimes that affect the environment that we see are linked to plain demand for stuff. If you look at wildlife crime, for instance, these species are targeted because people want food, medicine, jewelry, pets. Something has to be done about reducing demand – and these solutions must be gender sensitive and inclusive.
Q: How would you want your research to be used?
A: I hope that the findings put more pressure and a sense of obligation on Member States to take concrete action – maybe through General Assembly or Crime Commission resolutions – and implement solutions for addressing these crimes.
This year, UNODC will be releasing the first-ever research analysis on crimes that affect the environment. The report will be released chapter-by-chapter beginning in May and will cover crimes like illegal deforestation and logging and mining, waste crime and trafficking, illegal fishing, and more. Visit www.unodc.org to learn more.
To learn more about crimes that affect the environment and UNODC’s response, click here.
