18
the countries. The IUU fishing off Senegal constitute a loss of
about USD 300 million in 2012, which is 2 per cent of GDP.
13
Of even greater concern is the impact of illegal logging on
carbon emissions and loss of revenues. Tropical deforestation
accounts for 10–15% of global emissions, and nearly 50–90% of
the logging is illegal in major tropical countries
14
– with direct
threats to emission reductions schemes and programmes such
as REDD, REDD+ and UN REDD.
The substantial rise and extent of transnational organized
environmental crime also endangers human- and state secu-
rity by facilitating and spreading collusive corruption. Loss of
revenues for the economic development of many countries
impacting upon food security, damage to the environment and
the ecosystems vital for the services they provide for the local
population, is highly damaging to developing countries, as the
largest share of the proceeds leave the countries or go to tax
havens or foreign nationals.
Scale of environmental crime
The economic impact of loss of resources and revenues from envir
onmental crime is substantial – especially on illegal logging and
fisheries – and probably just as large as or well exceed global ODA
(Official Development Assistance) of around USD 135 billion.
wildlife or forest products also provides a safe haven or venue
to conceal ex pat finance to extremist groups.
In the past decade, CITES, INTERPOL, UNODC (UNOffice for
Drugs and Crime), and UNEP (UN Environment Programme)
have warned against the rise of organized transnational envir
onmental crime. More sophisticated ways to conduct illegal
extraction of resources along with more advanced laundering
methods of both illegally extracted resources and the proceeds
from the illegal trade have been observed,
9
Furthermore, organ-
ized crime involved in drugs, trafficking, violence, murder and
corruption undermine human- and state security. Criminal
actors from other criminal sectors are attracted to environ-
mental crime because of a combination of high profits and low
probability of getting caught and convicted. This applies espe-
cially with respect to transnational activities, where enforce-
ment has been virtually non-existent until now.
10
Great concern has been expressed concerning illegal
fishery off the coast of West Africa and its impact on local
fishermen. The illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU)
fishing off West Africa, comprising between one third and
half the catch, is worth USD 1.3 billion per year.
11
Illegal fish-
eries have been previously discussed for Somalia, with links
to piracy.
12
Such fisheries involve major loss of revenues to
