Environmental crimes, illicit economies and the emergence of a Mekong Crime Complex

Since Myanmar’s fragile experiment in democracy was derailed by a military coup in February 2021 the country has transformed into a global centre of criminality. A global organised crime index based on data collected even before the coup gave Myanmar an organised criminality ranking of 3rd in the world (out of 193 countries), as well as placing it 1st in both Asia and the Southeast Asian region (Global Initiative, 2021). In 2018 it had been ranked 82nd out of 84 economies in the world, labelled as an enabler of crime and noted for its manifest lack of commitment to countering illicit trade (behind only Libya and Iraq; Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade, 2018). Since then, the ensuing civil war, reductions in state law enforcement capacity and indeed increased state participation as a criminal actor itself, have all pushed Myanmar into a position as the current global epicentre of transnational organised crime. Green or environmental crimes have long been an important feature of this criminal landscape. The fracturing of state authority and policing and regulatory capacity, as well as the increasing permissiveness that has accompanied the conflict, has done little to reign in the size and destructive impacts of the many criminal enterprises that continue to loot Myanmar’s environmental resource inheritance.