25 June 2014
UNEP, INTERPOL Report on Environmental Crime
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On the occasion of the first UN Environment Assembly (UNEA), INTERPOL and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) released a report highlighting how environmental crime is used to finance criminal, militia and terrorist groups and how it threatens human security and sustainable development.

interpol-unep24 June 2014: On the occasion of the first UN Environment Assembly (UNEA), INTERPOL and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) released a report highlighting how environmental crime is used to finance criminal, militia and terrorist groups and how it threatens human security and sustainable development. The report, titled ‘Environmental Crime Crisis, a rapid response assessment,’ notes increasing awareness of and response to eco-crime, but recommends strengthening action against the organized criminal networks profiting from illegal trade in wildlife and forest products.

Combined estimates from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), UNEP and INTERPOL place the monetary value of all environmental crime, including logging, poaching and trafficking of wildlife, between US$70 and US$213 billion each year. This compares to global overseas development assistance (ODA) of approximately US$135 billion.

UNEP Executive Director, Achim Steiner, lamented that the illegal trade in natural resources is depriving developing economies of billions of dollars in lost revenues.

The publication highlights poaching across many species, including tigers, elephants, rhinoceros, great apes and saiga antelopes, to support illegal trade in products used for pharmaceuticals, food and other medicinal purposes as well as pets. The report recommends, inter alia: acknowledging the multiple dimensions of environmental crime and its serious impact on the environment and sustainable development goals; sharing information; and strengthening institutional, legal and regulatory systems to ensure that legal trade is monitored and managed effectively.

With further regard to the rule of law, John Scanlon, Secretary-General, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), recommended continued collaboration with customs organizations, the police, the judiciary and other conventions to implement CITES and combat illicit trafficking in flora and fauna. [Publication: Environmental Crime Crisis] [UNEP Press Release] [CITES News] [UN News]


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