14 DAY TRIAL // This past Wednesday, the UN released a new report documenting the financial impact of environmental crime. By the looks of it, wildlife crime, illegal logging, pollution and illegal fishing all have a price tag of millions of dollars.
The organization explains that, for the time being, environmental crime is by far one of the most profitable forms of organized crime in the world.
Thus, wildlife crime alone is said to be worth $10-15 billion (€11-15 billion). This makes it the fourth largest global illegal trade. Drugs, humans and weapons trafficking hold the first three places.
From this standpoint, it is no wonder that poachers are having such a difficult time choosing another “career,” despite ongoing efforts to protect elephants, rhinos and other endangered species against them.
The UN further details that, of the 50 million tons of e-waste (electrical and electronic waste) that are produced on a yearly basis, merely 10% are recycled.
What's more, illegal fishing is said to amount to 11-26 million tonnes yearly, and 50-90% of the logging carried out annually in the Amazon basin, Central Africa and South East Asia must also be linked to organized crime.
The UK warns that, more often than not, these forms of environmental crime go hand in hand with violence, money laundering, corruption and violations of human rights.
“We know today and this is part of our partnership, that this is a global phenomenon. It's a global market place, it is a globally active syndicates, criminals who are engaged in this trade, who are causing damage to national economies and communities in the range of tens of billions of dollars,” says UN Under-Secretary General Achim Steiner.
Furthermore, “Just in the wildlife- and if you add also the illegal trade and timber, we are talking about tens and tens of billions of dollars that are stolen from communities, from countries, from the national treasury and that finance criminal networks and allow the kind of poaching crisis that we are confronting right now to escalate.”
These issues are being discussed at a meeting for the International Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Conference held in Nairobi this week. About 500 law enforcement and environmental experts are present at this meeting, and they are all working to find solutions to curb environmental crime.