11
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
2
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-