Green Criminology
The green criminology is a concept that recognizes the crimes which occur against the environment. It includes a wide range of crimes that can have a negative impact on the environment, which includes green crimes, white crimes and brown crimes. One of green crimes is Global warming and climate change (Brisman & South, 2018). The issue of global warming is a well-known one, where the carbon emissions from around the world has led to an increase in the average temperature of the globe, and it is also impacting the climate around the world. The sea level is rising, the temperature is reaching new highs, glaciers are melting, the winter season is becoming shorter and summers are becoming longer in its duration. It is also responsible for issues such as wildfire, that further destroy the wildlife and the tree, further leading to higher carbon emissions (Lynch & Stretesky, 2013).
One of such impacts of climate change and global warming could be evaluated on the Carteret Islanders, who are the inhabitants of Carteret Island, a group of islands from Papua, New Guinea. They were forced to be the first climate refugee of the world, as the level of sea was rising on the islands and making it inhabitable for the flora, fauna and the humans to live on the islands. Before the arrival of this issue, the community of the Islanders used to be self-sufficient; they did not need anything from the mainland, and maintained their own food and water supply (McLeman, 2018). They didn’t even need electricity. But the rising sea level and ocean water polluted the fresh water sources on the islands, making it impossible for the people to consume the water. The plan for evacuation was put in place, in order to evacuate the people of Carteret Islands, but the people did not either leave, or they returned back to the island. They are deeply connected with their land and their culture, and the islands are part of that culture (McLeman, 2018). The issue is identified from the point of view of Eco global perspective, where the impact of the activities of people from around the world is impacting the lives of people of Carteret Island, and is forcing them to be displaced from their home. The imbalance of the climate is not contributed by any one country, but by all the people from around the world, where people use fossil fuel vehicles, have industries with high carbon emissions, and many other activities (Nurse, 2017).
As a solution, the Islanders were planned to be evacuated from the islands, and were also allowed to build their own livelihood, a few families at a time. Some of them were evacuated, and they began their lives in Bougainville, which is the nearest place to Carteret Island. This move is also not an easy one for the Islanders, as they would need to start their lives from the scratch, and that too at a place which is still reeling from “crisis”, as they call their civil war (McLeman, 2018). But the community is resilient, as it is apparent from the title of the movie “Sun Come Up”, that the sun will come up and they will start a new life, just like a new day starts when the sun comes up.
Impact on Movement of Carteret Islanders
From the point of view of justice, the justice given to the people is considered to be Anthropocentric, where only humans are provided justice for the impacts of the green or environmental crimes (Kopnina, 2019). Only people were provided with the solution and justice as a result of the rise in the sea level, and no justice could be provided to the non-human animals of the Islands, which shows that the humans are environmental justice, and not ecological justice, which is balanced justice for humans and other non-human animals, too (Kopnina, 2019).
As per a recent report, almost 7 million people from 104 countries were displaced and not living on their homelands as a result of displacement that occurred as a result of climate change (Migration Data Portal, 2021). This goes on to show how many people are impacted by climate change.
This further emphasizes the need to bring change and also punish those who are responsible. But justice cannot be served, as a single entity is not responsible for global warming and climate change. At an individual level, the people are also contributors to these issues as they have their own carbon emission. While this is a significant portion of carbon emission, the higher percentage of carbon emission is due to private corporations, who run their operations without reducing their carbon emissions or trying to neutralize this emission (Ruggiero & South, 2013).
It is important that the justice provided is egocentric, one where the social justice is served not only to humans, but to non-human nature, too. The UNFCCC has a Climate Change Management Act 2015, which is in place to help the people with providing the justice against the green crimes (UNFCCC, 2015). As the crime recognized is not done by a single person or entity, punishment is not part of the justice. But better management of carbon emission is very much emphasized. The International Criminal justice is also taking cases of environmental crimes, as they understand the severity of the green crimes and green criminology (Kemp, 2013).
Thus, it can be concluded that the crimes against the environment are one of the grave concerns, especially considering the negative impacts left by people. These crimes can often lead to displacement of people from their homes, as observed in the case of Carteret Islanders, who were forced to leave their lands as a result of higher sea level, which occurred due to climate change and global warming. Ensuring that egocentric justice is provided is essential, as anthropocentric justice is not sufficient. Non-human nature is equally important. Having national and international laws in place, and the both, national and international justice system prosecuting the green criminals is also a key factor in progress with green criminology and a better world.
References
Brisman, A., & South, N. (2018). Green criminology. In The Routledge companion to criminological theory and concepts (pp. 297-300). Routledge.
Kemp, G. (2013, October). Climate Change, Global Governance and International Criminal Justice. In Climate Change: International Law and Global Governance (pp. 711-740). Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG.
Kopnina, H. (2019). Ecocentric education: Student reflections on anthropocentrism–ecocentrism continuum and justice. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 13(1), 5-23.
Lynch, M. J., & Stretesky, P. B. (2013). Global warming, global crime: A green criminological perspective. In Global Environmental Harm (pp. 80-102). Willan.
McLeman, R. (2018). Migration and displacement risks due to mean sea-level rise. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 74(3), 148-154.
Migration Data Portal. (2021). Environmental Migration. https://www.migrationdataportal.org/themes/environmental_migration_and_statistics#:~:text=define%20a%20refugee.-,Recent%20trends,IDMC%2C%202021).
Nurse, A. (2017). Green criminology: Shining a critical lens on environmental harm. Palgrave Communications, 3(1), 1-4.
Ruggiero, V., & South, N. (2013). Green criminology and crimes of the economy: Theory, research and praxis. Critical Criminology, 21(3), 359-373.
UNFCCC. (2015). PNG Climate Change Management Act 2015. https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/ndcstaging/PublishedDocuments/Papua%20New%20Guinea%20First/PNG%20Climate%20Change%20Management%20Act%202015.pdf
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