Australian Law to Combat Illegal Logging in Indonesia: A Gossamer Chain for Transnational Enforcement of Environmental Law

• Date: 01 July 2017
• Published date: 01 July 2017
• Author: Gregory Rose
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12206

Australian Law to Combat Illegal Logging in

Indonesia: A Gossamer Chain for Transnational

Enforcement of Environmental Law

Gregory Rose*

Two countries’combined crime-fighting ability might

be greater than the sum of their individual capacities

where their capabilities complement each other. This

article investigates transnational coordination against

environmental crime. Australian utilization of mutual

legal assistance and anti-money laundering mechan-

isms to prosecute offences related to illegal logging in

Indonesia are examined as a case study. In theory,

interrupting the transfer of proceeds of environmental

crime across national borders enhances transnational

law enforcement. The case study demonstrates that

difficult legal obstacles can obstruct practical cooper-

ation between neighbouring countries combating

transnational environmental crime in the timber sec-

tor. Therefore, international harmonization of envi-

ronmental crime laws is needed.

INTRODUCTION

The connections between transnational crime and envi-

ronmental crime are present in illegal logging. This art-

icle surveys Australian and Indonesian laws against

illegal logging and against dealing in the proceeds of

crime, with a view to analysing whether those countries’

laws can work together. It commences by placing

Indonesian–Australian illegal timber trade within the

context of transnational environmental crime and com-

pares the criminalization of illegal logging and of deal-

ing in the proceeds of crime within each jurisdiction. It

then undertakes a case study that follows the proceeds

from Indonesian illegal logging in Australian law with a

view to their confiscation. It focuses on ‘dual criminal-

ity’and finds that Australian laws can be used to seize

proceeds from illegal logging in Indonesia. However,

prosecutions for illegal logging and related crimes, such

as money laundering, require a commitment of law

enforcement resources and concomitant international

cooperation. The practical hurdles in securing evidence

may be insuperable. Nevertheless, the return on cooper-

ative labours will be greater than the sum of each coun-

try’s lone actions.

TRANSNATIONAL

ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME

An environmental crime can be defined as an action in

breach of a national environmental law where that

breach is subject to prosecution and, on conviction, the

imposition of criminal penalties.

1

The term ‘transna-

tional environmental crime’simply refers to environ-

mental crime that has elements that cross national

borders.

2

The nature of the cross-border elementscan vary widely,

from physical acts such as simple poaching and smug-

gling by a lone operator, to intangible acts such as con-

spiring in complex layered transactions across multiple

jurisdictions by organized criminal syndicates.

3

The lat-

ter might include bribery and corruption to support the

domestic commissionofthe offence,

4

whilst money laun-

dering disguises the illicit origin of proceeds and facili-

tates their transboundarymovement back to criminals.

5

For example, ramin, a valuable once plentiful species of

light hardwood that has been depleted in Indonesia, is

subject to a national ban on logging and commercial

trade. It is logged illegally in protected areas, such as

the Tanjung Puting National Park in Indonesian Bor-

neo. Neighbouring Malaysia is a transit destination for

*Corresponding author.

Email: grose@uow.edu.au

1

G. Mueller, ‘An Essay on Environmental Criminality’, in: S. Edwards,

T. Edwards and C. Fields (eds.), Environmental Crime and Criminality

(Garland, 1996), 3, at 5–6.

2

For perspectives on transnational environmental crime, see L. Elliott

and W.H. Schaedla (eds.), Handbook of Transnational Environmental

Crime (Edward Elgar, 2016).

3

M. Levi, ‘Breaking the Economic Power of Organised Crime Groups’,

in: D. Siegel, H. van de Bunt and D. Zaitch (eds.), Global Organized

Crime (Springer, 2003), 117.

4

Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Telapak Indonesia,

‘The Thousand Headed Snake: Forest Crimes, Corruption and Injus-

tice in Indonesia’ (2007), at 1; WWF –United Kingdom, ‘Fighting For-

est Crime and the Illegal Timber Trade’ (2004).

5

B. Setiono, ‘Fighting Illegal Logging and Forest related Financial

Crime: The Anti-Money Laundering Approach’, paper presented at the

Workshop on Transnational Environmental Crime and Illegal

Resource Activity in the Asia Pacific, Australian National University,

Canberra, 22–23 March 2007. Specific advocacy for the use of anti-

money laundering (AML) regimes to combat illegal logging in Indo-

nesia was led by BamBang Setiono, an economist with the Centre for

International Forestry Research (CIFOR) located in Bogor, Indonesia.

ª2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.

128

RECIEL 26 (2) 2017. ISSN 2050-0386DOI: 10.1111/reel.12206

bs_bs_banner

Review of European Community & International Environmental Law