Understanding and Managing Threats to the Environment in South Eastern Europe

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Series C: Environmental Security

Understanding and Managing Threats to the Environment in South Eastern Europe

Published in Cooperation with NATO Emerging Security Challenges Division

edited by

Gorazd MeškoUniversity of MariborFaculty of Criminal Justice and SecurityLjubljana, Slovenia

Dejana DimitrijevicUniversity of BelgradeFaculty of Security StudiesBelgrade, Serbia

and

Charles B. FieldsEastern Kentucky UniversityCollege of Justice and SafetyRichmond, Kentucky, USA

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Managing Global Environmental Threats to Air, Water and Soil – Examples from South Eastern EuropeLjubljana, Slovenia 28–30 June 2010

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011920992

ISBN 978-94-007-0613-2 (PB)ISBN 978-94-007-0610-1 (HB)ISBN 978-94-007-0611-8 (e-book)

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Foreword

The transnational nature of environmental crime is nowhere more apparent than in the case of South Eastern Europe. What happens in one country will usually, and in many cases, inevitably, affect people, ecosystems and animals well beyond that country’s borders. In this region, we are all interconnected and, regardless of specific political, social and cultural differences, we all have obliga-tions to be good neighbours. Our general wellbeing, our fate, rests in the hands of those who share borders, rivers, winds and transportation networks with us, as much as in what we ourselves do or not do in regards to the environment.

The recent toxic sludge incident in Hungary provides a tragic illustration of what regional partnership really means. A thick red torrent of sludge burst from a reservoir at a metals plant 100 km south of Budapest in early October 2010. At least seven people died as a result of the sludge surge, some went missing and over one hundred persons were physically injured as the toxic substance flowed into nearby villages and towns. The toxic sludge reached the Danube River several days later, from where it could flow into six other European countries before reaching the Black Sea: Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Moldova. An ecological and social disaster for Hungary thus simultaneously poses an environmental threat to surrounding countries, and the human inhabitants, ecosystems and animal life of these.

How to prevent, interpret and respond to such events is part of the mandate of those criminologists who have an interest in analysing the threats to environ-mental wellbeing. From the perspective of what I call eco-global criminology, the core issues attending to this type of criminological work include a con-cern with the ecological, the transnational and the environmentally harmful. Transgressions against humans, ecosystems and nonhuman animals provide the substantive focus for such work. But it is the conventional methodological tools of mainstream criminology as well as the conceptual innovations of green criminology that make this work so interesting, exciting and urgent.

Taken in its entirety, this book demonstrates how criminological knowl-edge, techniques and science can be utilised in the study of and response to environmental threats. From situational crime prevention through to problem-solving investigation techniques and environmental risk assessment,

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the concepts, methods and applications of criminology are increasingly being mobilised to study immediate and longer-term threats to environmental well-being across South Eastern Europe. The threats are many, and the potential impacts are profound.

Transnational environmental harm is always located somewhere. That is, while risk and harm can be analysed in terms of movements and transference from one place to another, it is nonetheless imperative that threats to the envi-ronment be put into specific regional and national contexts. This is important for several reasons. First, environmental threats originate in particular factories, farms, firms, industries and localities. Second, the political and policy context within which threats to the environment emerge is shaped by the nature of and interplay between local, national, regional and international laws and conventions.

What happens at the local level counts. What happens at the local level is likewise implicated in decisions and processes that transcend the merely local, given the complex ties and connections between businesses, governments, workers and activists. Yet, it is at the level of the nation-state that clear differ-ences in approach and in problems is perhaps most easily discerned.

From an analytical perspective, it is essential that examination of environ-mental threats take into account specific national context. Living in Serbia or the Ukraine or Slovenia makes a big difference in terms of what the specific environmental risks and harms are, and how authorities and others may respond to these. Criminologists have to be aware of national differences (and similarities) in the course of investigating environmental threats. They also have to draw upon cross-national comparisons and global developments in order to provide critical scrutiny of practices and policies that offer the best option in addressing specific issues relating to environmental threats.

The world is watching what is happening in South Eastern Europe, not only because of the devastating events that have recently taken place in Hungary, but because, ultimately, it is in all of our interests to do so. How eco-crime and eco-risk is dealt with in this region, how threats to the environment are conceptualised and responded to, and how criminological policy and practice can be fashioned to address contemporary issues in the best possible way are matters of great importance to anyone and everyone with an interest in ecological justice and environmental wellbeing.

It is with this in mind that we say that – regardless of physical and histori-cal affiliation – we all live near Chernobyl, we all swim in the Danube, we all breathe the air of Ljubljana. South Eastern Europe is, metaphorically and in many other interconnected ways, part of our global home. Accordingly, what happens anywhere in our house is and should be of concern to all of us.

The future of the planet is increasingly linked to the environment and how we collectively deal with threats to the environment. Looking over the horizon means developing strong analytical tools and positive strategic interventions that will ensure that our children and our children’s children have a decent home in which to live and grow. As this book indicates, many issues demand our attention in many different parts of the world including South Eastern

viiForeword

Europe specifically. Moreover, the past, present and future form a continuum of analysis that can expose deep seated problems as well as suggest specific means of addressing these. The crucial thing is that we do indeed turn our gaze to that which in the twenty-first century is most important to our future wellbeing – understanding and managing threats to the environment.

Rob WhiteSchool of Sociology and Social Work

University of Tasmania, Australia

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Contents

1 Introduction to Understanding and Managing Threats to the Environment in South Eastern Europe ........................................ 1Gorazd Meško, Dejana Dimitrijević, and Charles B. Fields

2 Slovenian Environmental Policy Analysis: From Institutional Declarations to Instrumental Legal Regulation ..................................... 11Andrej Sotlar, Bojan Tičar, and Bernarda Tominc

3 Situational Crime-Prevention Measures to Environmental Threats ........................................................................ 41Gorazd Meško, Klemen Bančič, Katja Eman, and Charles B. Fields

4 The Role of Economic Instruments in Eco-Crime Prevention.............. 69Radmilo V. Pešić

5 International Waste Trafficking: Preliminary Explorations ................. 79Ana Klenovšek and Gorazd Meško

6 Primary Categories and Symbiotic Green Crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina ....................................................................... 101Elmedin Muratbegović and Haris Guso

7 Usage of Special Investigation Measures in Detecting Environmental Crime: International and Macedonian Perspective .................................................................... 123Marina Malis Sazdovska

8 Solving Problems Related to Environmental Crime Investigations ................................................................................. 135Bojan Dobovšek and Robert Praček

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9 The Benefits from Using Professionally Developed Models of Possible Hazardous Materials Accident Scenarios in Crime Scene Investigations............................................... 151Damir Kulišić

10 Environmental-Security Aspects of Explosion in the Ammunition Storage: Opportunity for Policy Making ....................... 187Zoran Keković

11 Nanotechnology: The Need for the Implementation of the Precautionary Approach beyond the EU ................................... 205Dejana Dimitrijević

12 Management of Spring Zones of Surface Water: The Prevention of Ecological Risks on the Example of Serbia and South Eastern Europe ..................................................... 225Miroljub Milinčić and Tijana Đorđević

13 Environmental Risks to Air, Water and Soil Due to the Coal Mining Process ............................................................................... 251Ivica Ristović

14 Solid Municipal Wastes in Ukraine: A Case Study of Environmental Threats and Management Problems of the Chernivtsi Dump Area ................................................................. 265Igor Winkler and Grygoriy Zharykov

15 Environmental Risk Factors in Connection with Hospital Laundry Effluent ............................................................. 279Sonja Šostar-Turk and Sabina Fijan

16 Risk Assessment of Chemicals in Food for Public Health Protection .................................................................. 293Elizabeta Mičović, Mario Gorenjak, Gorazd Meško, and Avrelija Cencič

17 Possibilities of Risk Quantification in the System of Save-for-Health Food Production ...................................................... 311Midhat Jašić and Dejana Dimitrijević

18 Solutions to Threats and Risks for the National Security of Slovenia ................................................................................. 327Teodora Ivanuša, Matjaž Mulej, and Iztok Podbregar

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19 Uncertainty in Quantitative Analysis of Risks Impacting Human Security in Relation to Environmental Threats ...................................................................... 349Katarína Kampová and Tomáš Loveček

20 Environmental Conflict Analysis ........................................................... 365Katarína Jelšovská

About Editors and Authors ............................................................................ 379

Index ................................................................................................................. 387