Abstract: Wildlife crime is a significant global problem that undermines efforts to protect the environment, applies immense pressure to often fragile social and cultural structures and deprives economies of wealth and the capacity of countries to achieve sustainable development goals. Wildlife poaching, referring to the illegal removal of flora or fauna, is the most common form of wildlife crime and often occurs from within the spatial boundaries of protected areas (PAs). The limits of current approaches to effectively deal with the global poaching epidemic has led to a growing acknowledgement by both academics and practitioners for a need to improve our understating and management of wildlife crime problems. In pursuit of this agenda are a growing number of criminologists from the field of environmental criminology with an interest in wildlife crime. Applying traditional environmental criminological approaches to a variety of wildlife crime problems, these researchers are forging a foundation for the inclusion of social science in conservation management. Guided by this emerging field, this presentation explores the utility of applying theories and methods from environmental criminology and crime analysis for understanding poaching in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

Biography: Damian is a final year PhD candidate at the University of Queensland in the School of Social Science. His research examines the application of environmental criminology theory and crime analysis methods towards understanding illegal fishing and compliance management practice in Marine Protected Areas. Damian has had work published in a number of international peer reviewed journals, including the British Journal of Criminology. For the past ten years, Damian has worked as the Senior Intelligence Analyst for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Damian has undergraduate degrees in Social Science (Policy), Arts (Political Science) and a Masters degree in Environmental Management.