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Introduction
Ecosystems play a crucial role and especially for developing economies by supporting
revenues, future development opportunities, livelihoods and sustainable harvest in agri-
culture, forestry and fisheries. Ecosystems support tourism, valued at 5–10% of national
economies.
1
Ecosystems also supply vital services, such as buffering effects of extreme
weather such as floods, drought and cyclones, and through provision of safe water supply
to cities. They are valued globally at up to USD 72 trillion.
2
Healthy ecosystems provide
the platform upon which future food production and economies are ultimately based.
3
Opportunities, management and future development are also threatened by serious
and increasingly sophisticated transnational organized environmental crime, which
is undermining development goals and good governance. Transnational organized
environmental crime may include illegal logging, poaching and trafficking of wildlife,
illegal fisheries, mining and dumping of toxic waste. It is a rapidly rising threat to the
environment, to revenues from natural resources, to state security, and to sustainable
development. Individual estimates from the OECD, UNEP, INTERPOL and UNODC
place the monetary value of different forms of transnational organized environmental
crimes to between USD 70–213 billion annually.
4
This compares to a 2013 global ODA
of ca. USD 135 billion.
5
Wildlife crime is no longer an emerging issue. The scale and
nature of the challenge has been accepted in decisions of the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)(see decisions and resolutions
following COP 16)
6
, the UN Commission on Crime Prevention
and Criminal Justice and UNODC,
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the Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC), the UN Security Council, UN General
Assembly, INTERPOL,
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the World Customs Organisation
(WCO) and others, including many significant nations. High-
level political conferences have also addressed the issue, most
notably recently convened in Botswana and Paris (December
2013), London (February 2014), and Dar-es-Salaam (May 2014).
However, the responses in terms of impact on the ground are
still behind the scale and development of the threat to wildlife,
including forests, as well as increasingly also development goals.
Transnational organized environmental crime involves
primarily five key areas:
1. Illegal logging and deforestation
2. Illegal fisheries
3. Illegal mining and trade in minerals including conflict
diamonds
4. Illegal dumping and trade in hazardous and toxic waste
5. Illegal trade and poaching of wildlife and plants
The illegal trade in wildlife is particularly challenging as it
involves multiple dimensions, including poverty, governance
and is often hidden in legal trade. It also commonly involves
the mixing of legal and illegal harvesting of resources. Such
harvesting is done using advanced, deliberate and carefully
executed systems of laundering of illegally procured wood,
charcoal, bushmeat and fish or other wildlife products.
Illegal trade in wildlife can involve complex combinations
of methods, including trafficking, forgery, bribes, use of
