The concept, characteristics and types of environmental crimes in international law

The article focuses on the definition of the concept of environmental crimes, it is noted that there is no single normative instrument in international law that contains a definition of such a concept. It is stated that international institutions, in particular: United Nations Environment Programme, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, European Commission, Europol, etc. provide different interpretations of these unlawful acts. And universal and regional international acts criminalising illegal acts in the environmental sphere (the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques (1976), Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (1980) and its Additional Protocols, Lusaka Agreement on Co-operative Enforcement Operations Directed at Illegal Trade in Wild Fauna and Flora (1994), Directive (EU) 2024/1203 on the protection of the environment through criminal law and replacing Directives 2008/99/ EC and 2009/123/EC, etc.), mainly contain a list of offences, obligations to criminalise them by the parties to the relevant international agreements, to impose sanctions, to cooperate, etc. It is noted that the factors that increase the danger to natural objects and the survival of humanity as a whole are the ways of committing illegal acts (e.g., destruction, large-scale uncontrolled fishing, chemical pollution of water and land, large-scale uncontrolled and irreversible deforestation, etc.). There is also a combination of different forms of crime, namely, crimes committed by transnational organised groups, the use of administrative resources, corruption schemes, money laundering, etc., which facilitate the commission of crimes, increase the level of latency, etc. Another negative trend is the close connection of environmental crime with international conflicts, which increase the danger to all environmental objects and individuals. The subjects of illegal acts include individuals, companies, governments, informal criminal networks and organised criminal groups. The victims of environmental crimes are individuals, communities and the population of the state. The article classifies environmental crimes on the basis of the objects of encroachment and the methods of committing the illegal acts, and accordingly proposes to distinguish between such types as: fisheries crime, forestry crime, pollution crimes, illicit trade in natural resources and wildlife crime. Conclusions and recommendations are made.