Il paesaggio delle ecocamorre

In this article, the authors highlight the factors that determined the rise of certain illegal activities that are especially destructive of the environment and have produced their most conspicuous effects in Campania, and especially in the Provinces of Naples and Caserta. These activities mainly include large-scale illegal housing development and the traffic of both urban and industrial waste, both of which have been going on with special intensity in this region since the 1980s. The growth of this particular interest of criminal organizations finds its explanation both in the characteristics of policies for southern Italy --special policies to promote industry, post-earthquake reconstruction funding, authorizations to derogate from existing urban plans, the failure to modernize the waste disposal cycle -- and in the web of alliances that camorra clans have managed to weave in the business world and public institutions, especially municipal administrations. Today there are signs that ecomafias are threatening to spread to other areas in Italy, including the Center and North.