Publication Name

vention and aims to provide reliable and high-quality data

and information for regular SoE reporting on the Caspian

Sea.

Other transboundary (water) work featured in this report,

is the continental shelf work in West-Africa and in the

Himalayas (funded outside the framework agreement).

Environmental Crime Programme

GRID-Arendal’s Environmental Crime Programme started

in 2012. Transnational organized environmental crime

robs mainly developing countries of an estimated USD

90-210 billion every year, or 1-2 times global Official De-

velopment Assistance (ODA). It involves five key areas:

i) Illegal logging and deforestation; ii) Illegal fisheries; iii)

Illegal mining and trade in minerals including conflict dia-

monds; iv) Illegal dumping and trade in hazardous and

toxic waste; and v) Illegal trade and poaching of wildlife

and plants. It threatens state security by increasing cor-

ruption, spreading into other crimes such as arms and

drug smuggling and human trafficking. It therefore has

devastating effects on developing economies.

In 2013, GRID-Arendal used MFA funds to support the

development of its environmental crime programme. Ad-

ditional co-funding of over NOK 60 million was secured

for the period 2013-2015 from multiple partners.

GRID-Arendal, together with the UN Office for Drugs and

Crime (UNODC), was granted NOK 15 million by NORAD

for the three-year project ‘Organised Forest Crime (ORG-

FORC) – Combatting Transnational Organized Forest

Crime and Corruption’. The purpose of the project is to

reduce corruption and organized crime associated with

illegal logging, thereby paving the way for REDD funds

and investments to achieve significant sustainable devel-

opment impacts on poverty reduction and better govern-

ance. The Convention on International Trade in Endan-

gered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is also a

collaborating partner. In addition, GRID-Arendal together

with INTERPOL, has developed a ‘Law Enforcement As-

sistance to Forests (LEAF)’ project to support government

agencies and INTERPOL in training frontline police offic-

ers, investigators and National Central Bureaus, as well as

supplying information on illegal logging to improve inter-

national enforcement operations. GRID-Arendal assists

with information gathering and research to help inform

INTERPOL and collaborating countries.

ORGFORC and LEAF are evolving quickly, and have al-

ready provided a range of results both on the ground and

in improved international collaboration to combat illegal

logging, including through meetings and courses world-

wide. GRID-Arendal has been central to the overall de-

velopment and initiation of both projects. Building on its

close cooperation and involvement in these two projects,

GRID-Arendal was also closely involved in initiating a col-

laborative effort in East Africa with UNODC, INTERPOL

and UN REDD. A joint proposal for USD 5.7 million has

been developed and submitted to the Norwegian Govern-

ment.

In 2012-2013, three UNEP Rapid Response Assessments

(RRAs) on environmental crime were launched, all co-

funded by UNEP and donor countries. All received ex-

tensive global media coverage and are repeatedly quoted

worldwide, including in the UN General Assembly.

The UNEP RRA

Green Carbon, Black Trade

revealed that il-

legal logging has a global value of USD 30-100 billion and

is responsible for 50-90% of the deforestation in key tropi-

cal countries. In addition, illegal logging represents 8-14%

of global CO

emissions. Major countries, including Bra-

zil, referenced the report in media when announcing deci-

sions to enhance the effort against organized crime and

illegal logging.

Two more RRAs were produced during the first quarter

of 2013. The UNEP report

Stolen Apes: The Illicit Trade

in Chimpanzees, Gorillas, Bonobos and Orangutans

, ana-

lyzes the scale and scope of the illegal trade in apes and

highlights the growing links to sophisticated transbound-

ary crime networks, which law enforcement networks are

struggling to contain. Another report, prepared by GRID-

Arendal for UNEP, CITES, IUCN and TRAFFIC,

Elephants

in the Dust: The African Elephant Poaching Crisis

, provides

an overview of the current state of the African elephant

and recommendations for action to ensure its protection.

Both reports were launched in early March 2013, at side

events at the 16th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties

(COP16) of CITES held in Bangkok, Thailand, and were

intended to influence decisions at the COP. An agreement

was reached on concrete actions to be taken by a group

of eight countries identified as the worst offenders in the

illegal ivory trade (the supply states, Kenya, Tanzania and

Uganda; the consumer states, China and Thailand; and

the transit countries Malaysia, Viet Nam and the Philip-

pines). According to this agreement, the countries are

committed to quickly develop national ivory action plans

and to take urgent measures to implement and report on

these plans. Whilst the

Elephants in the Dust

report can-

not claim attribution for this new policy, it is likely to have

been an important resource for raising awareness as it

was launched prior to the COP discussions on this issue.

Longer lasting Engagements of GRID-Arendal

As recommended by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, GRID-

Arendal is striving to focus its traditionally diverse work

increasingly on some broader and longer lasting pro-

grammes. As noted above, GRID-Arendal is working with

Regional Seas Conventions to build regional capacity in

Africa for implementing ecosystem-based management

and state of marine environment reporting. The rapidly

increasing work on “Blue Carbon” includes a 4-year com-