Abstract
The environment is losing most of its natural resources, much of which humans rely on for livelihood, at risk from a global threat: environmental crime. The poaching of rhinos and the killing of elephants have raised awareness of the illegal wildlife trade. Criminals now include waste, chemicals, illegally caught fish, timber, and conflict minerals (including diamonds and gold) in their trafficking portfolios. The increasing rate of these crimes is shocking, and there are concerns about mass extinctions. The study combines qualitative and quantitative methods to determine the geographic distribution patterns and the prevalence of environmental crimes in South Africa. The Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment (DFFE) established an environmental crime and incident hotline in 2005, which an independent service provider often manages. The Vuvuzela hotline was the service provider during the study period (2017-2019). Thus, data on the number of recorded environmental crimes was collected from this service provider. Results suggest that there was a total of 17 types of environmental crimes reported in the study period. These 17 types of crimes were grouped into three main sub-sectors: Blue, Brown, and Green Crimes. Crimes related to environmental impact assessment (EIA), air pollution, waste, and developments were grouped as ‘Brown’ crimes. Then ‘Blue’ crimes were any environmental crimes related to managing and protecting the coastal environment and water pollution. Lastly, crimes related to the sustainable use and protection of biodiversity, biosecurity, and the management of protected areas were grouped as ‘Green’ crimes. The results also reveal that the most reported environmental crimes in SA between 2017 – 2019 were the Brown Crimes (69%), and air pollution contributed the most to this percentage. Moreover, the distribution pattern suggests that more environmental crimes are being reported in the Gauteng province than in the Northern Cape province and that crimes increase with the years. A Kruskal-Wallis test was calculated to test whether the provinces have an effect on the number of crime incidents. The Kruskal-Wallis test (x2 (26) = 17535, P < 0.001, E = 0.54) revealed that
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there is a statistically significant difference between the provinces (the independent variable) with respect to the dependent variable - number of crime incidents, p=0.001. Thus, with the available data, the null hypothesis is rejected. A summary of crime frequency per sub-sector and year was conducted on QGIS to produce hotspot maps. The hotspot areas across all years (2017, 2018, and 2019) and in all crime sub-sectors (brown, green, and blue crimes) are relatively the same. The Gauteng province is the hotspot zone for all environmental crimes and remains a hotspot zone across all three years. The Kwa-Zulu Natal and Western Cape have similar crime distribution, and they follow Gauteng as environmental crime hotspots. The Northern Cape recorded the lowest environmental crimes, and a Heatmap was conducted in R- Studio, revealing matching results to the QGIS mapping. Key informant interviews (n = 3) using open-ended questionnaires were employed to collect qualitative data from DFFE. Results from that interview reveal that DFFE follows procedures when handling environmental crimes. Briefly, a crime is reported, an investigation is conducted, legal processes follow, and feedback is given to the complainant. Although the department has a structure and processes, it still faces challenges concerning environmental crimes. Challenges such as the lack of communication from the different government spheres, complainants remaining anonymous, making it difficult to trace back reports or give feedback, and the hotline needs to be better known by the public. In recent years, environmental crime has received global attention due to its severe impact on ecosystems, development, peace, and security. Hence, this also presents recommendations that may be adopted and applied by DFFE in efforts to work towards effective prevention strategies of environmental crimes in South Africa.