Incorporating a One Health approach into the study of environmental crimes and harms: towards a One Health Criminology?

• In Event: Green Criminology #2 - War and Environmental harms and crimes

Abstract

In the context of increasing intense and frequent pandemics such as COVID-19, it is evident that the current global ecological crisis poses a threat to the health and well-being of humans, non-human animals and ecosystems. In this exploratory paper, we aim to expand the existing green criminological scholarship endeavor by contending that green criminology should pay attention to, and incorporate, holistic approaches to health used by the biomedical scientific community, namely One Health. This is as a means to 1) further incorporate ecocentric and biocentric perspectives that will have Eco-justice implications; 2) contribute to discussions surrounding the concept of ‘wildlife’; 3) use health as an indicator of harm as One Health may provide holistic perspective, enabling a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted health impacts; and 4) integrate scientific knowledge to better comprehend and address threats, harms and crimes to the health and well-being of humans, non-human animals and ecosystems. One Health could also benefit from integrating a green criminological perspective, namely in its task to pandemic prevention, preparedness and zoonotic disease surveillance. The potential applications to be explored from a One Health perspective within green criminology extends beyond the conventional purview of zoonotic diseases to encompass broader harms to health related to other subjects, such as climate change and pollutants.

Authors

• Aitor Ibáñez Alonso, KU Leuven

• Nigel South, University of Essex