The ESRC Green Criminology Research Seminar Series

Concerns about an ever-expanding array of global environmental harms and their social and economic impacts have become central to contemporary popular and political discourse. Green Criminology, which began to emerge as an identifiable strand of criminology in the early 1990s and has expanded and developed in recent years into a clear and distinct sub-discipline, can be seen as a particular and significant academic response to these concerns. Yet it remains marginalised in the larger field and those engaged with this highly relevant topic are isolated or in fractured groups. Despite this there are a number of books and articles published in the last few years, and Green Criminology panels are a feature of many criminology conferences. A unique seminar series dedicated to Green Criminology is both timely and important in creating the critical mass for the further development of this important emerging area of scholarship and firmly establishing a Green Crime network focused on these crucial concerns.
There are, inevitably, many definitions of Green Criminology - also known as Eco and Environmental Criminology - but broadly speaking it can be defined as a criminological analysis of environmental harm, including harm to animals. For some, it narrowly focuses on Criminal Law and legal regulation to control or prevent environmental harm, including: the making and enforcement of such laws; the policing and prevention of Green Crimes; and the processes of prosecution and punishment of those accused and found guilty of such offences. For others, there is a broader interpretation. Green Criminology can additionally encompass: environmental harms that are not (yet) proscribed by criminal or other laws; issues of environmental, ecological, and species justice (White 2008); and victimisation from environmental harm. This is a brief list, but clearly demonstrates the need for enhanced interdisciplinary examination of environmental harm and its regulation, and the benefit that will come from closer relationships with practitioners and policy makers working in the areas of environmentalism and conservation.
The main aim of the series is to realise this benefit by bringing together academics at all career stages from a range of disciplines such as law, sociology, criminology, and justice studies, to exclusively focus on the analysis and examination of Green Crimes. Crucially though, the series will also include ecological and conservation practitioners, environmental and wildlife law enforcement, and other experts. This core group of approximately 15 people (for whom we are applying for funding) will meet to exchange professional and academic knowledge and expertise, practical information, and research plans, which will further the state of Green Crime knowledge and lead to interdisciplinary research projects.
The proposed series will have 5 half-day seminars and 1 2-day mini-conference beginning in October 2012. The seminars will take place every term until August 2014. They will each have 2 invited speakers, each experts on the topic. It is not possible to cover all the facets mentioned above, so the series will focus primarily on: 1.) Green Criminology Theories and Concepts; 2.) Wildlife and Timber Trafficking; 3.) Animal Abuse and Wildlife Crime; 4.) Hazardous Waste and Pollution; and 5.) Environmental Law and Regulation. The mini-conference will have sessions on each of these themes and time devoted to those aspects of Green Criminology not covered elsewhere in the series, such as methodological challenges, environmental conflict, and bio-piracy. The final conference will also have a session devoted to plans for future collaborative research, publications, and an annual conference. The series will have wide international dissemination because it will be webcast through a dedicated website and advertised using the Green Criminology list serve at the University of Colorado Denver, the CRIT-GEOG forum, Crimspace, and other avenues.

Established, early and new career academics from multiple disciplines will certainly benefit from this seminar series. This will not only be those that are already engaged with the field of Green Criminology, but other criminologists and interdisciplinary researchers will also be exposed to the theoretical and conceptual breadth that Green Criminology now encompasses. This could potentially inspire others to join the field. Furthermore undergraduate and postgraduate students will benefit from this series. Some postgraduates will be core group members of the seminar series and other postgraduates and undergraduates will be able to watch the seminar series online. This will expose them to the cutting edge research of Green Criminologists which is typically left out of university courses with a few notable exceptions. This could be their only engagement with an important field that is growing. To these academic beneficiaries (contributors, attendees, and virtual participants) of the seminar series, the major benefit is the first ever series that is devoted exclusively to the topic of Green Crime. This will enable in depth discussions and engagement with the many different aspects of Green Crime that typically get overlooked or glossed over in other venues. It will positively impact all those in the field of Green Criminology because this seminar series will firmly establish a mechanism for networking that will undoubtedly lead to new collaborations and research projects that will contribute to the theoretical, empirical, methodological, and conceptual understanding of the variety of Green Crimes. This will particularly impact the student participants (though the academics will also benefit) because their studies and careers will begin with an already established and solid network. This will enable them to draw knowledge from this foundation and to form research collaborations more easily than is currently possible.
These collaborations and future research projects will not just be amongst academics, but will include the range of seminar series practitioner participants, who will also widen their networks. In the long-term, such research could improve the policies and practices of the ecological, conservation, and law enforcement organisations that engage (directly or virtually) in the seminar series, both within the UK and internationally. The series will ensure that current academic thinking and debate is brought into a dialogue with the 'action contexts' of these practitioners (ecologists, conservationists, law enforcement, NGOS, campaigners, and policy makers), benefiting them, but also ensuring reciprocation by sharing practitioner knowledge and expertise with the academic beneficiaries. The Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime, comprising representatives of the agencies involved in UK wildlife law enforcement and which sets wildlife crime priorities, which has been invited to take part, is one such practitioner that will benefit from this series. Third sector organisations such as TRAFFIC, WWF, and the Environmental Investigation Agency will also benefit from this series and its assessment of relevant theory, policy, and practice. The dissemination stage will share seminar outcomes and publications with bodies including the Environmental Law Foundation, Environmental Justice Foundation, and the UK Environmental Law Association. Additionally, the Law Commission's review of wildlife law will directly be affected by this series as potentially will any future reviews of environmental law. At the same time, the academics and practitioners involved in the series will gain insights into practical, jurisprudential, and political aspects of the law-making process through the Law Commission's input into seminars.