Organized crime in timber, wildlife and gold continues to finance transnational organized criminal networks in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to a report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
The report examines transitional environmental crime as one of the key factors fueling the conflict cycle in eastern DRC and provides analysis on the illegal exploitation of natural resources, including their values, stakeholders in the trade, smuggling routes and impacts.
16 April 2015: Organized crime in timber, wildlife and gold continues to finance transnational organized criminal networks in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to a report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The report examines transitional environmental crime as one of the key factors fueling the conflict cycle in eastern DRC and provides analysis on the illegal exploitation of natural resources, including their values, stakeholders in the trade, smuggling routes and impacts.
Titled ‘Experts’ background report on illegal exploitation and trade in natural resources benefitting organized criminal groups and recommendations on MONUSCO’s role in fostering stability and peace in eastern DR Congo,’ the report estimates that between US$0.7 to 1.3 billion from charcoal (US$12-35 million), ivory, gold (US$40-120 million), timber (US$16-48 million) and wildlife, including fisheries and other resources (US$14.3-28 million) are smuggled out of the DRC’s conflict zone. Criminal groups in the region also target park managers charged with protecting the region’s mountain gorillas, who they view as interfering with the illegal charcoal trade. The report suggests that charcoal’s role as a conflict resource is likely to expand as a result of a growing regional cooking energy deficit and increasing demand.
“Wildlife and forest crime is serious and calls for an equally serious response,” UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said. He emphasized that such “environmental crime robs countries of revenues that could have been spent on sustainable development and the eradication of poverty” in addition to having an impact on peace and security. He called for strengthening enforcement and national legislation, building consumer awareness and enhancing international intelligence gathering and cooperation across the supply chain, with the aim of tracking and disrupting illegal operations.
“These natural resources should be drivers of inclusive sustainable development and the transformation of the DRC and Great Lakes region,” stressed the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Great Lakes, Said Djinnit. He recommended a regional approach, including “gradual replacement of the illegal charcoal trade, livelihood solutions [for] miners and farmers, harmonization of tax systems and transparent sharing of revenues.”
The report recommends a number of actions to strengthen institutional capacity to investigate and prosecute environmental crime and improve cooperation. It also recommends legal and fiscal reforms to formalize natural resource exploitation, particularly of artisanal charcoal production, gold mining and timber logging.
UNEP, the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) and the Office of the Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region (OSESG) produced the report with inputs from the UN Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), INTERPOL, the UN Group of Experts on the DRC, DRC Government agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Some of the report’s findings have been presented to the UN Security Council. In addition, participants discussed wildlife crime at a high-level side event at the 13th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, which convened from 12-19 April 2015 in Doha, Qatar. [UNEP Press Release] [Publication: Experts’ background report on illegal exploitation and trade in natural resources benefitting organized criminal groups and recommendations on MONUSCO’s role in fostering stability and peace in eastern DR Congo] [IISD RS Story on UN Crime Congress]