The illicit trade in Myanmar teak and a new resource to tackle financial crime linked to environmental crime were some of the issues explored in the latest ‘Meet the Nature Crime Alliance’ webinar.

Marcello De Maria, Project Manager, WWF-UK, unpacked the recently-launched Environmental Crimes Financial Toolkit – an online platform that assists financial institutions in monitoring risks related to nature crimes such as illegal deforestation, land conversion, and wildlife trafficking.

Julian Newman, Campaigns Director, and Kate Klikis, Forests Campaigner, Environmental Investigation Agency, highlighted how Myanmar teak – a highly sought-after timber used for furniture and luxury yacht decking – continues to enter the US and EU markets despite measures to prevent this illegal trade.

And Tsveti Bandakova, Programme Manager, Nature Crime Alliance Secretariat, provided a preview of a new suite of resources that have been developed by the Alliance team to support members’ activities in tackling nature crime.

The session also heard from Charles ‘Chip’ Barber, Director of the Nature Crime Alliance, who shared highlights from a new World Resources Institute report he has co-authored: ‘People, Planet, Justice: Understanding and Countering Nature Crime‘.

Learn more about our members’ work

If you’d like to find out more about the work showcased during the webinar, you can contact the speakers directly:

Marcello De Maria: If you’d like to learn more about WWF’s Environmental Crime Financial Toolkit, please contact Marcello at: MDeMaria@wwf.org.uk

View Marcello’s slides here.

Julian Newman and Kate Klikis: To find out more about the Environmental Investigation Agency’s work on Myanmar teak, please contact Julian at: JulianNewman@eia-international.org or Kate at: katarinaklikis@eia-international.org

View their slides here.

The video they included in their presentation can be viewed here.

Tsveti Bandakova: To learn more about the resources developed by the Nature Crime Alliance Secretariat, please email Tsveti at: tsvetilena.bandakova@wri.org

Chip Barber: Chip also authored a WRI Insights piece here, which distills key aspects of the report. You can contact Chip at charles.barber@wri.org

Join a future webinar!

If you’re a member of the Nature Crime Alliance and would like to be profiled in a future webinar, please contact Luke Foddy: luke.foddy@wri.org

The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) has joined the Nature Crime Alliance to further its work on illegal fishing and wildlife trafficking.

ASOC plays a key role in the continued protection of vulnerable ecosystems in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean by providing a unified voice for Antarctic conservation. Founded in 1978 to advocate for environmental regulations at the highest levels of governance, it maintains that commitment today as the only environmental NGO with observer status to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting and meetings of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which has responsibility for fisheries management in the Southern Ocean.

By becoming a member of the Alliance, ASOC joins a global, multi-sector network that raises political will, mobilises financial commitment, and bolsters operational capacity to fight nature crime. ASOC will gain access to an aligned network with which to foster new collaborations in support of its mission to inform and motivate global leaders to protect the crucial ecosystems of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.  

Claire Christian, Executive Director of ASOC, commented: “The Nature Crime Alliance offers the opportunity to expand our network and collaborate with likeminded organisations on the safeguarding of precious ecosystems. Through the Alliance, we hope to build stronger partnerships and bolster efforts to prevent nature crimes in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean.”

ASOC joins other Ocean-focused members in the Alliance, including Fisheries Transparency Initiative, FishWise, and Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, and will have the chance to engage in member working groups, including those focused on illegal fisheries and transparency tools. 

Dr Charles Barber, Director of the Nature Crime Alliance, said: “ASOC’s achievements in centering conservation and biodiversity within Antarctic governance make it a valuable addition to the Alliance. We are looking forward to supporting ASOC in its mission and fostering collaboration with other Alliance members.”

As 2024 draws to a close, we reflect on our activities with Alliance members throughout the year to increase political will, mobilise financial commitment, and bolster operational capacity to fight nature crime.

Building our global, multi-sector network

Interest in joining the Alliance continued throughout 2024, with new members including a range of governments, international organisations, and CSOs.

Members to join in 2024 included Ghana, Malawi, Peru, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), ASOC, FishWise, IFAW, International Lawyers Project, Lilongwe Wildlife Trust, National Whistleblower Center, Outlaw Ocean, Wildlife Investigators Training Alliance, and WWF. View all members here.

Through the Alliance, we are creating new opportunities for engagement and cooperation, especially between actors in different sectors who have not previously collaborated.

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“The Alliance, under WRI’s leadership and coordination, gives us a really impactful platform of organisations that are already aligned for fighting environmental crimes. This includes organisations that we haven’t previously worked with.”

– Braddock Spear, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership

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Driving engagement, furthering knowledge

The Alliance continued to support members’ efforts to fight nature crime through various initiatives, from information sharing opportunities to the development of new tools and resources.

Regional Private Sector Dialogues launched

Alongside supporting UNODC and INTERPOL in the ongoing Global Private Sector Dialogues on disrupting financial crimes linked to crimes that affect the environment, the Alliance Secretariat was also instrumental in launching new Regional Private Sector Dialogues in 2024 to sharpen the geographic focus of these efforts. The first Regional Southern Africa Private Sector Dialogue convened in Cape Town in January, while the first Asia-Pacific iteration took place in Singapore in December. These sessions bring together financial institutions alongside law enforcement entities, financial intelligence units, and civil society to share insights aimed at improving the detection and disruption of financial crime linked to environmental crime. 

Supporting government responses to illegal mining 

The Alliance Secretariat briefed government officials during a session at the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) Implementation Review Group meeting in Vienna. The session, chaired by Peru and France, convened experts from civil society to share insights on environmental crime and its convergences with other forms of serious organised crime to better inform government representatives working on the UNCAC and the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC). The Wildlife Justice Commission, a founding member of the Nature Crime Alliance, also participated in the session, alongside the UNCAC Coalition and Transparency International. 

New tools to support action against nature crime

Over the year the Alliance Secretariat has been working on enhancing its dot-connecting capabilities by developing a range of specialised tools designed to streamline collaboration and information sharing among stakeholders involved in combating nature crime. These resources were conceptualised together with members to address specific needs outlined during consultations. Tools which will be coming online in early 2025 include a new knowledge database, a library of tools and technologies, and a wildlife crime expert list. These resources will be hosted on the Alliance website. 

Bringing our members together

The Secretariat has continued to provide a platform for Alliance members to share insights from their work via our ongoing series of webinars. Organisations featured in 2024 included Amazon Conservation Association, IFAW, the National Whistleblower Center, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), World Forest ID, and World Resources Institute. The webinars aim to share knowledge and information between members and spark ideas for potential collaboration. View all 2024 webinars here. 

Alliance working groups continue

The Alliance has also brought actors together through its various working groups with the aim of developing new approaches to tackling nature crime across different contexts. The Illegal Fisheries and Transparency Tools working group has made progress in supporting electronic monitoring, as highlighted in our feature article with SFP. 

Elsewhere, the Secretariat has worked with Indigenous Peoples’ Rights International to convene the Indigenous Peoples and Frontline Defenders working group, which has met throughout 2024. An initial outcome from the working group includes a forthcoming report based on Indigenous Peoples’ perspectives on combatting nature crime. The analysis includes a range of case studies from illegal logging in the Amazon to land grabbing in Tanzania. 

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Elevating nature crime in the international agenda

The Alliance Secretariat held two workshops on nature crime during IUCN’s US Regional Conservation Forum in August to raise awareness of this critical issue and explore ways for IUCN to approach this challenge ahead of its World Conservation Congress in 2025. “We had an engaging discussion on elevating the issue of nature crime within IUCN’s agenda for the upcoming years,” Elodie Perrat, Senior Government Engagement Manager for the Alliance, commented. “We’re eager to see the impact our collaborative efforts will have on advancing this crucial topic.”

The Alliance continued to raise awareness of the challenges of nature crime, as well as amplifying solutions, during key international fora in 2024. This included a major side event at UNEA6 in Nairobi featuring members including Norway, the US, Ghana, Malawi, UNEP, TRAFFIC, Basel Institute on Governance, and UNODC. Secretariat experts also spoke on nature crime during several sessions at the International Anti-Corruption Conference and the Forest Governance and Policy Conference, and supported an environmental crime focused event at the UNTOC COP in Vienna. The Alliance Secretariat also amplified member activities and other nature crime sessions during COP16, including a post-conference roundup. 

The importance of global, multi-sector cooperation in tackling nature crime, and the value of the Nature Crime Alliance, was also highlighted by Dialogue Earth in August. 

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Thank you to our network

The Alliance Secretariat is extremely grateful to our members and partners who have supported and collaborated with us in 2024 as we work together towards eradicating nature crime.

We wish you all a positive and fruitful 2025. 

The upcoming Conference of the Parties of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP) in Cali is a major opportunity to make global progress on protecting nature. But as with all high-level international fora, the CBD COP has its fair share of complexity.

Based on discussions with members of the Nature Crime Alliance – some of whom are engaging with the CBD process for the first time at COP16 – the Alliance Secretariat convened a webinar to help civil society organisations better understand how the CBD COP works, and provide advice on how to make the most of their participation in this key global summit.

Dr Susan Lieberman, Vice President, International Policy, Wildlife Conservation Society, and Dr Chip Barber, Director, Natural Resources Governance and Policy, World Resources Institute, shared insights from their deep experience in engaging with the CBD process.

Watch the webinar in full

For more information, please contact Luke Foddy, Communications Manager: luke.foddy@wri.org

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and World Forest ID shared insights from their work during the latest ‘Meet the Nature Crime Alliance’ webinar on Thursday 3 October.

Covering issues across wildlife crime, timber traceability, and the global landscape of criminalisation for environmental offences, the webinar brought members of the Nature Crime Alliance together to share information and ideas.

Watch the webinar in full

Tanya Wyatt, Lead Researcher, Crimes that Affect the Environment, UNODC, unpacked highlights from the Landscape of Criminalization report, part of the Global Analysis on Crimes that Affect the Environment.

Katalin Kecse-Nagy, Wildlife Crime Research Officer, UNODC, shared highlights from the 2024 World Wildlife Crime Report, including some of the solutions that are working in the fight against these crimes.

Jade Saunders, Executive Director of World Forest ID, provided updates on the non-profit’s science-based traceability efforts, including some good advice for organisations seeking to build relationships with law enforcement.

Moderated by Luke Foddy, Communications Manager, Nature Crime Alliance, the session also included remarks from Dr Chip Barber, Director, Natural Resources Governance and Policy, World Resources Institute.

Learn more about our memebers’ work

If you’d like to find out more about the work showcased during the webinar, you can contact the speakers directly:

Tanya Wyatt: tanya.wyatt@un.org

Katalin Kecse-Nagy: katalin.kecsenagy@un.org

Jade Saunders: jade.saunders@worldforestid.org

If you are a member of the Nature Crime Alliance and would like to be featured in a future webinar, please contact Luke Foddy: luke.foddy@wri.org

The complexities of fisheries crime require different sectors to work more closely together, according to Braddock Spear, Global Policy Director at the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP).

Speaking to the Nature Crime Alliance Secretariat, Spear highlighted the multi-dimensional challenges posed by these crimes – and why they need a multi-sector response.

“It’s a really complicated matter and there are many different factors,” Spear said, citing political sensitivities – including issues around state sovereignty and national security – and the murky layers of corruption that shroud the organised crime networks plundering the ocean.

“We need various actors and sectors to come together and to work together.”

This was a factor in SFP’s decision to join the Nature Crime Alliance when it launched in 2023. Only by working with a wide group of stakeholders involved in different aspects of this complicated issue, building bridges across sectors, and increasing coordination and information-sharing, will success be found.

Watch: Braddock Spear on SFP’s engagement with the Nature Crime Alliance

“The seafood industry has a really key role to play in identifying illegal fishing risks, and in taking steps to close down the markets for those illegal products,” Spear said. “Producing countries, meanwhile, need good fisheries management, they need good monitoring and enforcement systems, while importing countries need the regulations and the checks required to ensure illegal products are identified.

“International institutions, such as UN agencies, also have an important role to play in intelligence sharing or in running campaigns that raise awareness of the issue.”

Bringing together these actors – industry players, governments, international and civil society organisations, innovators – to find solutions to the different parts of the puzzle is “critical” in the fight against illegal fishing, Spear added, highlighting the value of multi-sector initiatives such as the Nature Crime Alliance, which drives engagement across different sectors.

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Case study: Multi-sector collaboration leads to ‘historic decision’ on human rights

In February 2024, the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO) endorsed plans to address human rights abuses in distant water fishing fleets, alongside measures to improve monitoring, control, and surveillance in the jumbo flying squid industry. The outcome followed a multi-sector push from 30 major seafood companies, industry associations, and governments. While not all measures proposed were adopted, the agreed measures marked a major step forward in tackling illegal fishing and associated human rights abuses at sea.

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An impactful platform

“To date, the Alliance has supported SFP in a couple of different ways,” he said.

“The Alliance, under WRI’s leadership and coordination, gives us a really impactful platform of organisations that are already aligned for fighting environmental crimes. This includes organisations that we haven’t previously worked with.”

SFP is a member of an Alliance working group that focuses on tools and technology in combating illegal fishing. This forum provided an opportunity for SFP to share its new guidelines for designing electronic monitoring programmes, receiving constructive feedback from other organisations in the working group that has strengthened the product.  

SFP was also given a platform at an Alliance webinar to discuss its new fishery IDs tool, developed with FAO. “We got to hear some interesting reactions and feedback from the group,” Spear said. “It’s just really valuable for us.”

Yet these tools and systems that SFP is building will not work in isolation.  

“The truth is, this won’t work – we cannot do it – in a vacuum,” said Spear. “We need collaborators, we need groups from other sectors, we need alignment, particularly with governments and international organisations to bring these systems and the industry’s influence to a global scale.”

This is where the Nature Crime Alliance will continue to add value, he contends.

“More and more, looking ahead, SFP will be tapping into the network or the Alliance to look for those collaboration opportunities.”

Fisheries crime is a major focus of the Nature Crime Alliance, whose members include SFP, FishWise, Fisheries Transparency Initiative, and Outlaw Ocean.

The Nature Crime Alliance Secretariat briefed government officials during the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) Implementation Review Group meeting in Vienna this month. 

Lynn Schlingemann, Senior Associate, Financial Crime and Corruption, Nature Crime Alliance Secretariat, participated in a meeting of the Group of Friends on Crimes that Affect the Environment, chaired by France and Peru.

The session convened experts from civil society to share insights on environmental crime and its convergences with other forms of serious organised crime to better inform government representatives working on the UNCAC and the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC). Schlingemann presented on illegal mining and the financial crimes associated with these activities.

The Wildlife Justice Commission, a founding member of the Nature Crime Alliance, also participated in the session, alongside the UNCAC Coalition and Transparency International.

Participants from the 14 governments represented noted the value of the briefings, highlighting the importance of multi-sector collaboration between governments and civil society – a key tenet of the Nature Crime Alliance.

The Nature Crime Alliance Secretariat supported IUCN’s US Regional Conservation Forum (RCF) in August, facilitating two sessions on nature crime.  

IUCN, a member of the Nature Crime Alliance, convened its US RCF in Arlington, Virginia, with more than 100 participants from across IUCN Member organisations, IUCN Commissions, and other partners. The RCF is held every four years.

The Nature Crime Alliance Secretariat’s Elodie Perrat, Senior Government Engagement Manager, and Frazer McGilvray, Consultant, held two workshops during the Forum to raise awareness of nature crime issues and explore ways for IUCN to approach this challenge ahead of its World Conservation Congress in 2025.

“We had an engaging discussion on elevating the issue of nature crime within IUCN’s agenda for the upcoming years,” Perrat said. “We’re eager to see the impact our collaborative efforts will have on advancing this crucial topic.”

IUCN has catalysed collective change for 75 years – creating a living legacy for the preservation of nature. As it approaches its centenary, the Union has an opportunity to reaffirm its direction and recommit to bring about critical change for nature.

Find out more about IUCN here.

Image: From left to right – Frazer McGilvray and Elodie Perrat, Nature Crime Alliance Secretariat, with Grethel Aguilar, Director General, IUCN; Tracy Farrell, Director, North American Regional Office, IUCN; and Natalie Cox, Program Officer, Commission on Education and Communication, North America Regional Office, IUCN.

Peru is the latest government to join the Nature Crime Alliance in recognition of the need for international, multi-sector collaboration to counter crimes that harm people and planet.

Peru has made significant strides in addressing nature crimes, enabling the implementation of more effective strategies and policies. Yet, as with many countries rich in natural resources, Peru continues to face significant challenges linked to nature crime, with criminal forms of wildlife trade, logging, land conversion, and gold mining remaining a major concern.

By joining the Alliance, Peru stands to benefit from gaining access to the expertise from across this global, multi-sector network, which includes governments, law enforcement, and civil society, international, inter-governmental, and Indigenous Peoples’ organisations. Through the facilitation of the Alliance Secretariat, hosted by World Resources Institute with participation from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Peruvian policymakers will also have the opportunity to engage in solutions-focused working groups and initiatives with Alliance members.

The Alliance currently includes more than 40 members, with the Secretariat managing projects on a range of issues including the use of tools and technology in fighting nature crime; disrupting financial activity and corruption linked to these crimes; and supporting front line defenders, including Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Peru will help enhance the Alliance’s collective efforts by bringing in its national and regional experience in combating these crimes, including strengthening regional cooperation in the Amazon region.

Gustavo Laurie, Ambassador of Peru in Norway, commented: “By joining the Nature Crime Alliance Peru is not only wishing to obtain benefits from its membership but is also committing itself to advance in the fight against all criminal activities negatively impacting nature, including in the Amazon basin. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, primarily through its Embassy in Norway, aims at ensuring a unified and consistent Peruvian contribution to the Alliance by undertaking effective multisectoral coordination and consultation. This endeavor is not exempted of challenges, but we are determined to overcome them.”

The Co-Chairs of the Alliance’s Steering Committee, Hans Brattskar, Special Envoy in the Ministry of Climate and Environment, Norway, and Christine Dawson, Director of the Office of Conservation and Water, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, US Department of State, commented: “The shared global challenges we face from nature crime cannot be addressed by single governments alone. We need a coordinated and collaborative response that draws on expertise and learnings from different sectors and recognises where efforts can be enhanced. The Nature Crime Alliance is creating the framework for this international collaboration, and we are delighted that Peru has joined the initiative. Together, we can end crimes against people and planet.”

The Director of the Nature Crime Alliance Secretariat, Yulia Stange, commented: “Joining the Alliance represents a commitment to tackle a global challenge that affects us all. We are pleased that Peru has joined the initiative in recognition of the value of international and inter-sector collaboration. Several Alliance members have active projects in Peru, and we look forward to deepening our engagement.”

The Nature Crime Alliance includes governments from Africa, Europe, North America and South America. For more information, please contact Luke Foddy at luke.foddy@wri.org

WWF is the latest organisation to join the Nature Crime Alliance – a global, multi-sector network that raises political will, mobilises finanical commitment, and bolsters operational capacity to fight nature crime.

For more than 60 years, WWF has worked to help people and nature thrive. Today, it operates in nearly 100 countries to conserve and restore nature and tackle climate change.

WWF joins the Nature Crime Alliance to further its work on a range of issues that converge with Alliance members, including financial crime related to land conversion and the disruption of illegal wildlife trade.   

Nature crime – criminal forms of logging, mining, fishing, wildlife trade and land conversion – threatens ecosystems, undermines global biodiversity and climate goals, and robs governments and communities of resources and revenue. These activities regularly converge with other forms of serious organised crime, including drugs and arms trafficking, and often give rise to human rights violations.

The Alliance has been formed in response to this critical global issue, and brings together governments, law enforcement, civil society, international organisations and frontline defenders, including Indigenous People and local communities, to build greater collaboration in response to these crimes.

Crawford Allan, Vice President, Nature Crimes and Policy Advocacy, WWF, commented: “WWF has worked for decades to tackle the combined threats of nature crime that devastate our wild places and undercut natural resource equity for vulnerable economies and communities. Joining the Nature Crime Alliance brings WWF’s experience, resources, and reach to bear alongside the governments and partners in the Alliance, as a unified front to counter the criminal operations that drive and profit from environmental degradation.”

Yulia Stange, Director of the Nature Crime Alliance Secretariat, commented: “WWF has a strong record of success in driving initiatives that tackle nature crime and protect biodiversity. Through joining the Alliance, WWF can deepen collaboration with our multi-sector membership and help scale solutions to nature crime into new regions and contexts.”

The Nature Crime Alliance Secretariat is hosted by WRI, with participation from UNDOC.

For more information, please contact Luke Foddy, Communications Manager, at luke.foddy@wri.org