Author: Luke Foddy
Navigating CBD COP17
The 17th Conference of the Parties on the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17) convenes in Yerevan, Armenia, on 19 October.
COP17 is a major opportunity to make global progress on protecting nature, and while the main focus will be on resource mobilization and developing the Cali Fund, there will also be side events and discussions on environmental crime.
But for those attending for the first time, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) process and the COP itself can seem confusing, or even overwhelming.
In 2024, ahead of COP16 in Cali, the Nature Crime Alliance organised a webinar to share advice on the CBD COP and how best to engage with discussions and delegates. It featured expert insights from Dr Sue Lieberman, Vice President for International Policy at the Wildlife Conservation Society, and Dr Charles ‘Chip’ Barber, Director of the Alliance at World Resources Institute – both of whom have years of experience in engaging with the CBD process.
While focused on COP16, the discussion may be of help for those attending COP17. Watch below.
New toolkit aims to strengthen financial investigations into environmental crimes
The toolkit, produced by FCDS Peru, is part of a project implemented by World Resources Institute – which hosts the Nature Crime Alliance – alongside Rainforest Foundation US and FCDS Peru, with support from the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.
Environmental crimes such as illegal logging and mining are underpinned by illicit financial activities, including corruption, money laundering, and fraud. Addressing these financial aspects of environmental crime offers an effective approach to disrupting the networks involved in the plundering of nature, enabling broader investigations and ensuring meaningful legal proceedings.
More broadly, understanding the financial networks involved in the illegal extraction of natural resources can help identify the economic structures sustaining these illicit activities, thereby helping to disrupt such crimes before they occur.
However, the fragmentation of knowledge and resources within law enforcement and judicial response is a key challenge. It is crucial to marshal complex or disparate technical information into practical approaches that allow financial analysis to be incorporated into environmental crime investigations. Otherwise, opportunities to ‘follow the money’ and expand the scope of an investigation may be lost.
To address this challenge, the Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development of Peru (FCDS Peru) recently released the toolkit – ‘Financial Trail Behind Environmental Crimes‘.
The toolkit aims to translate technical evidence and lessons learned from working with justice officials into practical guidelines that can facilitate the integration of financial analysis into environmental crime investigations.
The toolkit was developed from a recent study, ‘Money Transactions in the Supply Chain of Illegal Gold and Timber Economies in the Peruvian Amazon’, produced by FCDS Peru and the Institute of Criminology and Violence Studies (ICEV), alongside insights gathered during associated activities. These include national workshops with prosecutors from various specialized units and public agencies, binational forums involving Peruvian and Colombian authorities, and technical assistance provided for national and cross-border environmental crime investigations. A series of podcasts were also produced to accompany the initiative.
Inextricable links
The study highlighted the close relationship between environmental crime and the illicit economies that fuel it, as well as the financial flows that enable and conceal these activities. It also identified how these illicit economies intersect with legal markets.
It shows how environmental crimes rely on financial resources, goods, inputs, and services, alongside mechanisms for financing, logistics, and commercialization. Financing in these areas plays a role throughout the illicit supply chain – from funding the transport of illegal goods to reinvesting profits, often into legitimate sectors of the economy. This convergence with formal markets can make it difficult to detect financial activities linked to environmental crimes.
The research also identified challenges in investigating financial flows, which often require capabilities and resources from various areas of law enforcement and the financial sector. For instance, an investigation might require knowledge of both environmental law and international finance, as well as expertise in taxation and asset recovery.
What is in the toolkit?
The ‘Financial Trail of Environmental Crimes’ toolkit offers practical guidance to help investigators “follow the money” through five key steps:
1 – Understanding the phenomenon
This first step provides an overview of how environmental crimes are financed and concealed, emphasizing the role of illicit economies linked to gold and timber extraction. Understanding the dynamics of this criminal landscape allows investigators to broaden their hypotheses beyond the visible offense and identify actors and relationships that might otherwise go undetected in an investigation focused solely on the initial intervention.
2 – Following the money
Tracing the money trail is crucial for identifying the actors who finance, mobilize resources for, or profit from, illegal activity. However, investigations should not focus exclusively on the final destination of the proceeds. Money does not merely appear after the crime has been committed; it also enables the crime to occur in the first place. A financial investigation requires identifying when money enters the picture, its intended use, the payers and recipients, the flow of funds, and the link between the transaction and the illicit product.
This step outlines four main types of transactions identified within gold and timber supply chains: resources allocated to production; labor payments; domestic buying, selling, and reselling; and international trade. It also offers guidance on where to look for the money. For instance, prior to timber or gold extraction, funds are used to finance supplies, machinery, and services. During illegal operations, money may appear as payments to workers and intermediaries, while post-extraction, financial activity is visible in processing, marketing, and export. The proposal is to simultaneously track the product’s path and the money trail. While the former makes it possible to reconstruct the movement of gold or timber, the latter allows for identifying who provides the financing, who pays, who receives payment, and who benefits financially from the activity.
3 – Recognizing how money is concealed
Once the points where money appears within illegal gold and timber supply chains have been identified – and a transaction has been analyzed in context – the next step is to determine what the various operations reveal when viewed in relation to one another. Funds linked to these economies can move through diverse mechanisms: being split into multiple transactions, circulating through third parties or companies, co-mingled with legitimate economic activities, backed by sham transactions, or converted into other goods and assets.
This step presents typologies, red flags, and patterns as tools to guide financial investigations. None of these elements, in isolation, prove that a crime was committed. The goal is to move from viewing an operation in isolation to reconstructing the relationships and patterns connecting actors, transactions, products, and assets.
4 – Preventing the loss of the financial trail
An investigation may possess relevant financial, tax, corporate, asset-related, commercial, or territorial information yet still fail to reconstruct the financial flow. The trail can weaken when an operation fails to trigger an alert, data is not converted into actionable information, information is fragmented across different entities, capacity constraints exist, or action depends on another government entity.
This step identifies the key institutional and operational gaps that can hinder the detection, reconstruction, and timely use of a financial connection. It also proposes criteria for focusing the investigation, integrating sources, and converting financial information into evidence useful for the investigation and for asset-related enforcement actions.
5 – Investigating cross-border environmental crimes
An investigation into environmental crimes may begin within national territory and reveal connections to other countries, such as an international transfer, a company incorporated in another jurisdiction, a foreign buyer, a person under investigation outside the country, an asset located in another state, or information held by a foreign authority needed to corroborate a working hypothesis. When such connections arise, international cooperation becomes a key tool for expanding the investigation.
This step proposes a practical set of steps: identifying the cross-border element at an early stage, defining investigative requirements, determining the location of the asset and the party controlling it, and selecting the appropriate channel or mechanism to obtain it or to take coordinated action. International cooperation is not an end in itself. Its utility depends on what it enables the investigation to verify, obtain, preserve, or execute.
Reducing illegal logging and gold mining
This toolkit is published as part of the project ‘Reducing illegal logging and gold mining in the Colombian and Peruvian Amazon: technological deployment, prosecution of financial crimes, and enhanced cross-border cooperation,’ implemented by the World Resources Institute (WRI), Rainforest Foundation US, and FCDS Peru, with support from the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL).
Guidelines to help organisations navigate new UN resolution on corruption linked to environmental crime
The Guidelines offer recommended approaches to support implementation at both the national and global levels
In December 2025, States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) adopted Resolution 11/9, ‘Preventing and combating corruption as it relates to crimes that affect the environment’.
Given the central role corruption plays in enabling environmental crime, this was a major step forward in tackling this global challenge, committing States to stronger implementation of UNCAC provisions.
The challenge now is to ensure that the commitments made in Resolution 11/9 translate into tangible action.
To help meet this challenge, a new set of Guidelines have been published to enable stakeholders to support the Resolution’s implementation. The Guidelines serve as an advocacy tool for civil society organisations (CSOs) and other non-state actors to use at the national and global levels.
They have been produced by the Global Civil Society Coalition for the UNCAC’s Environmental Crime and Corruption Working Group, chaired by the Wildlife Justice Commission – a member of the Nature Crime Alliance. The Alliance management team is also a member of the Working Group.
Promoting implementation
The Guidelines, ‘Promoting implementation of Resolution 11/9’, offer recommended approaches at both the national and global levels, and cover issues such as:
- Strengthening legal, integrity and regulatory frameworks
- Improving transparency, accountability and access to information
- Following the money through financial investigations and asset recovery
- Strengthening oversight of businesses, financial institutions and professional service providers
- Strengthening international cooperation and enforcement
- Using technology and investigative tools
- Whistleblower reporting and protection
- Promoting active civil society participation, recognizing the vital role of local communities and indigenous peoples (first time reference in a CoSP resolution)
Find out more and view the Guidelines at the Global Civil Society Coalition for the UNCAC website.
Alliance Newsletter | Summer 2026
Tools to tackle forest crime, exploring a potential new UNTOC protocol, engaging the private sector + more
NEWS FROM THE ALLIANCE TEAM
WATCH | Alliance convenes information exchange and training session on using geospatial monitoring to fight forest crime
The Nature Crime Alliance brought more than 450 stakeholders together for an information exchange on how geospatial monitoring technologies can counter forest crimes. Held in partnership with Global Nature Watch (previously Global Forest Watch), the session showcased perspectives from law enforcement, Indigenous communities, governments, and civil society on the role of these technologies – which use satellite imagery to monitor changes to the Earth’s landscape – in tackling crimes such as illegal logging and illegal mining.
Participants heard insights and learnings from Alliance member Conservation Allies, Peru’s public prosecutor’s office, Guatemala’s National Forest Institute (INAB), and the Organisation of Indigenous Peoples of the East (ORPIO), Peru.
The session is available to watch here in English, French and Spanish. Watch in English below.
Following the geospatial monitoring webinar, the Alliance held a training session on using the Global Nature Watch (GNW) platform to identify, investigate and disrupt forest crime. The session, convened in partnership with GNW, saw experts demonstrate how the geospatial monitoring tool can be used to support efforts to tackle illegal deforestation. Participants included government agencies, civil society organisations, and local communities. The Alliance team are very grateful to the Waterloo Foundation for supporting this work.
Alliance Director joins new IUCN Specialist Group
The Director of the Nature Crime Alliance has joined a new IUCN Specialist Group focused on implementing IUCN Resolution 8.048 on Crimes that Affect the Environment, which was adopted at the World Conservation Congress in October. Dr Charles ‘Chip’ Barber, who serves as Director of Natural Resources Governance and Policy at World Resources Institute (WRI), which hosts the Alliance, has been invited to join the IUCN WCEL Crimes that Affect the Environment Specialist Group, which functions under IUCN’s World Commission on Environmental Law. Chaired by John Scanlon AO, Executive President, International Council of Environmental Law, with Ana Motamayor, Policy Advisor at the Global Initiative to End Wildlife Crime, serving as Deputy Chair, the group brings together a wealth of expertise on environmental crime and conservation.
APAC Dialogue explores environmental crime risk to finance and transport sectors
The latest Asia-Pacific Regional Private Sector Dialogue (PSD) on the disruption of financial crimes related to crimes that affect the environment convened in Kuala Lumpur in May, with representatives from the transport sector joining the discussion for the first time. Organised by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, INTERPOL, and WRI – which hosts the Nature Crime Alliance – in partnership with United for Wildlife, the PSDs aim to improve the private sector’s understanding of environmental crimes and related risk. The latest Dialogue, hosted by the Asian Development Bank, brought together government representatives from 18 countries, 14 private sector organisations and 13 civil society and academic institutions.
The inclusion of representatives from the shipping and transport sector saw new topics explored in the Dialogue, including methods for improving vessel screening and identifying risk indicators such as high-risk ports, flags of convenience or links to sanctioned entities. The post-session evaluation questionnaire reported that 100% of participants found the Dialogue enabled them or their organisation to identify new risk indicators, red flags and/or suspicious transactions of financial crimes related to environmental crimes, while 88% reported that the inclusion of the transport sector in the Dialogue, alongside the private financial sector, was extremely valuable.
Exploring a potential UNTOC protocol on crimes that affect the environment
Lynn Schlingemann, Senior Associate, Financial Crime and Corruption, WRI, participated in a roundtable discussion in May on a potential new protocol on crimes that affect the environment (CAE) under the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC). Organised by the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security and the Permanent Mission in Vienna, the session brought together policy officers and experts from a range of organisations, including Alliance members Wildlife Justice Commission and Wildlife Conservation Society, to discuss such a protocol, which could bring a range of benefits to bolster the global fight against environmental crime.
The UNTOC is the principal international legal framework for combating organised crime, and provides several tools that support law enforcement action. These include mechanisms that enable deeper levels of international cooperation, such as the sharing of financial information to support joint investigations, the provision of technical assistance, and measures to assist in asset recovery. A new CAE protocol would extend the Convention’s operational framework to environmental crimes, enabling its cooperation mechanisms to be applied more consistently across jurisdictions. A key opportunity to drive progress on a new protocol is the upcoming Conference of the Parties to the UNTOC which takes place in Vienna this October.
Find out more about a potential CAE protocol in this GI-TOC podcast featuring John Scanlon AO, Executive President, International Council of Environmental Law, and Frances Craigie, Chief Director, Enforcement, South African National Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. The Wildlife Justice Commission has published a helpful blog on developments around international legal frameworks, including the UNTOC, which you can read here.
Journalists discuss nature crime investigations at Mongabay’s ‘PUMA FEST’
Image: Alexa Velez (Mongabay Latam)
Ruth Nogueron, Senior Associate at WRI, spoke at the PUMA FEST Latin American Environmental Journalism Festival in Bogotá, Colombia, last week, where she demonstrated the power of satellite-derived information and artificial intelligence (AI) in investigating nature crimes. The festival, organised by Mongabay Latam, brought together journalists, scholars, students and other practitioners at the intersection of journalism and environmental issues. Ruth spoke on a panel that explored technologies such as geospatial monitoring and AI, and their application for investigative journalism. She introduced the Global Nature Watch platform and its forest monitoring systems, and shared examples of its use in identifying environmental crimes including illegal logging and illegal deforestation.
Dutch stakeholders briefed on role of open source intelligence in countering illegal timber trafficking and waste crime
The Alliance team presented and participated in two Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) days in the Netherlands focused on waste and pollution crime and illegal timber trafficking. The event brought together representatives from a range of Dutch organisations including the Environmental Protection Agency, Financial Intelligence Unit, tax authority, police, and several banks. Lynn Schlingemann, Senior Associate, Financial Crime and Corruption, WRI, presented work under the EU ENCORE project on risk indicators linked to corruption and waste and pollution crimes. Additionally, Sarah Carter from Global Nature Watch, WRI, presented on how satellite imagery combined with financial and trade data may help identify deforestation risks and high-risk supply chains.
WATCH | Webinar unpacks findings from forest legality project in Cameroon
From 2021 to 2026, WRI, together with Centre pour l’Environnement et le Développement, Forêts et Développement Rural and Field Legality Advisory Group, implemented a project, supported by the European Union, to strengthen transparency in forest operations and improve forest legality in Cameroon through independent forest monitoring. A recent webinar shared learnings from the project, which identified several challenges in the country. These include insufficient numbers of enforcement agents to cover mangrove areas, lost tax revenues linked to illegal logging, and examples of suspicious company activities. The need for cross-sector collaboration and efforts to build trust were also explored in the webinar. Read a summary of the session on the Forest Governance and Policy website.
Use YouTube Settings icon in video to select English or French audio
Guidelines on productive collaboration between civil society and law enforcement
The recent announcement of a new partnership between IUCN and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to tackle environmental crime (see ‘News from our Network’, below) highlights the value of multi-sector approaches to this complex challenge. In December, the Alliance team, in collaboration with the INTERPOL Wildlife Crime Working Group and United for Wildlife, published a set of Guidelines to support productive collaboration between civil society organisations and law enforcement on environmental crime.
Analysis: Science is giving forest law enforcement a new edge
A recent WRI Insights article explores how traceability technologies promise to transform law enforcement approaches to illegal timber. Centered on examples from Indonesia, the article highlights how forensic wood identification techniques such as DNA and isotope analysis can identify the precise origin of timber, enabling authorities to verify claims in logging documentation as to the source of forest products.
NEWS FROM OUR NETWORK
Small grants opportunity for projects that advance the global 30×30 target
The High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People (HAC for N&P) has launched its Second Cycle of the Rapid Deployment Mechanism (RDM), a small grants programme supporting developing country members in advancing the global 30×30 target. In its first edition, the RDM awarded 10 grants of up to $50,000 to projects in Ghana, Kenya, Colombia, Maldives, Peru, Burkina Faso, Thailand, Malawi, Cook Islands, and Madagascar. These projects supported actions such as protected area designation, spatial planning, identification of OECMs, community-led conservation, and strengthening protected area management.
Supported by the Earthshot Prize and British Airways, the HAC for N&P, which is hosted by World Resources Institute and the Global Environment Facility, will award 10 grants ranging from $25,000 to $50,000, with successful applicants announced at COP17 in October 2026. Find out more
Taskforce on Nature Related Financial Disclosure (TNFD) seeking inputs on environmental crime guidance
The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) is holding an open consultation on a draft paper that presents guidance on incorporating environmental crime considerations into organisations’ nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities. TNFD has published a Discussion Paper that explores a range of environmental crimes, including illegal mining, illegal fishing and wildlife trafficking, and are seeking inputs from stakeholders. The consultation closes on 7 August 2026. View the Discussion Paper
IUCN and UNODC launch strategic partnership on crimes that affect the environment
IUCN and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have launched a strategic partnership agreement to deepen cooperation in tackling crimes that affect the environment. The partnership, announced in June during the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Crimes that Affect the Environment at UN Headquarters in New York, aims to bridge the gap between conservation science and international criminal justice, addressing crimes such as wildlife trafficking, illegal logging, and fisheries crime. The IUCN US National Committee produced a good read out from the New York meeting here.
WWF and IFAW contribute to new guidance aimed at bolstering European environmental crime strategies
Alliance members IFAW and WWF are among several organisations to produce new guidance to help EU governments develop and execute effective national strategies to fight environmental crime. The guidance includes practical recommendations for governments preparing their national strategies, from designing science based approaches to recommendations for monitoring and reporting. View the Guidelines here
ELI’s Operation SANDOKAN reveals major wildlife trafficking networks across the Lower Mekong
Earth League International (ELI) has exposed wildlife trafficking networks in Cambodia with links across the Lower Mekong during a major undercover investigation. In a new report – Operation SANDOKAN: Unmasking the Lower Mekong’s Biggest Wildlife Traffickers – ELI documents undercover intelligence operations that reveal the scale of the illegal wildlife trade across Southeast Asia, the criminals who run it, and the corruption that sustains it. ELI has also produced a short film based on the operation to accompany the report. Read more
IFAW report highlights surge in online sales of primates in the US
A recent report from IFAW, developed with AZA and WWF, reveals how fragmented laws, inconsistent enforcement, online platform loopholes, and the normalisation of primates as pets are fueling demand for wildlife exploitation. Alongside documenting the scale of the trade, the ‘Primates for Purchase‘ report outlines practical recommendations for policymakers, enforcement agencies, digital platforms, and the public to help reduce demand, strengthen protections for primates, and improve responses to wildlife trafficking and confiscation. Read the report
WFID publishes key findings from farmed shrimp research
World Forest ID (WFID) has published a new peer-reviewed paper on how chemical testing can be applied to farmed shrimp, supporting transparent supply chains, sourcing integrity, and responsible producers. The paper follows a WFID investigation, published in April, into farmed shrimp, which found that many products sold in supermarkets do not match their declared origin. Read the latest paper
Applications open for virtual media workshop on forest governance
Earth Journalism Network is hosting a two-day virtual media workshop in October on forest governance, primarily aimed at journalists from Ghana, Liberia and Cameroon. Journalists from forest risk commodity consumer markets in Europe and Asia (such as the European Union, United Kingdom, China and India) are also encouraged to apply. The workshop, which convenes on 21-22 October, aims to strengthen journalists’ knowledge of forest governance issues and improve their reporting on challenges and solutions in sustainable forest management. The deadline for applying is 13 August. Find out more and apply here
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Journalists explore nature crime investigations at Mongabay’s ‘PUMA FEST’
Image: Alexa Velez (Mongabay Latam)
Ruth Nogueron, Senior Associate at World Resources Institute, which runs the Nature Crime Alliance, spoke at the PUMA FEST Latin American Environmental Journalism Festival in Bogotá, Colombia, last week, where she demonstrated the power of satellite-derived information and artificial intelligence (AI) in investigating environmental crimes.
The festival, organised by Mongabay Latam, brought together journalists, scholars, students and other practitioners at the intersection of journalism and environmental issues.
Ruth spoke on a panel that explored technologies such as geospatial monitoring and AI, and their application for investigative journalism. She introduced the Global Nature Watch platform and its forest monitoring systems, and shared examples of its use in identifying environmental crimes including illegal logging and illegal deforestation.
The PUMA FEST conference aimed to equip independent investigative journalists with tools, methodologies and connections to support them to investigate environmental issues, including nature crime, given the well-established impact that journalism has on raising public awareness and increasing political will to fight these crimes.
APAC Dialogue explores environmental crime risk to finance and transport sectors
The latest Asia-Pacific Regional Private Sector Dialogue (PSD) on the disruption of financial crimes related to crimes that affect the environment convened in Kuala Lumpur in May, with representatives from the transport sector joining the discussion for the first time.
Organised by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, INTERPOL, and World Resources Institute (WRI) – which hosts the Nature Crime Alliance – in partnership with United for Wildlife, the PSDs aim to improve the private sector’s understanding of environmental crimes and related risk.
The latest Dialogue brought together government representatives from 18 countries, 14 private sector organisations and 13 civil society and academic institutions.
Transport sector joins the discussion
The inclusion of representatives from the shipping and transport sector saw new topics explored in the Dialogue, including methods for improving vessel screening and identifying risk indicators – such as high-risk ports, flags of convenience or links to sanctioned entities. In addition, various tools for improving due diligence and ‘know your customer’ screening, including the use of mapping and satellite imagery, were highlighted by subject matter experts.
The value of public-private partnerships in disrupting financial crime linked to environmental crime was also highlighted during the session, which was hosted by the Asian Development Bank. Participants showcased how well-designed public-private partnerships are delivering tangible investigative leads, drawing on case studies from previous PSDs.
Particular attention was given to the importance of improved feedback loops between the public and private sectors for accelerating operational cooperation resulting in the disruption of environmental crimes.
Adding value
This was the second meeting of the Asia Pacific Regional PSD, which first took place in Singapore in 2024. The post-dialogue evaluation questionnaire reported that 100% of participants found the Dialogue enabled them or their organisation to identify new risk indicators, red flags and/or suspicious transactions of financial crimes related to environmental crimes, while 88% reported that the inclusion of the transport sector in the Dialogue, alongside the private financial sector, was extremely valuable.
The Dialogue was Chaired by John Edward Conway, Executive Secretary of the Wolfsberg Group and Laode Muhammad Syarif, Senior Lecturer at the Hasanuddin University Law School and Former Commissioner of the Corruption Eradication Commission of the Republic of Indonesia. Lynn Schlingemann, Senior Associate Financial Crime and Corruption, WRI, coordinated the session.
For more information on the PSDs, please contact Lynn.Schlingemann@wri.org
Alliance Director joins IUCN Specialist Group on environmental crime
The Director of the Nature Crime Alliance has joined a new IUCN Specialist Group focused on implementing IUCN Resolution 8.048 on Crimes that Affect the Environment, which was adopted at the World Conservation Congress in October.
Dr Charles ‘Chip’ Barber, who serves as Director of Natural Resources Governance and Policy at World Resources Institute (WRI), which hosts the Alliance, has been invited to join the IUCN WCEL Crimes that Affect the Environment Specialist Group, which functions under IUCN’s World Commission on Environmental Law.
Chaired by John Scanlon AO, Executive President, International Council of Environmental Law, with Ana Motamayor, Policy Advisor at the Global Initiative to End Wildlife Crime, serving as Deputy Chair, the group brings together a wealth of expertise on environmental crime and conservation.
Other members include:
Alice Pasqualato, Global Policy Specialist – Wildlife Conservation Society
Brian Gonzales, Head of Protection of Endangered Species, WWF-Hong Kong
Greta Francesca Lori, Lead, Partnerships & Coalition Building, Daughters for Earth
Maud Lelievre, President, IUCN France National Committee
Matthew Baird, Director, Asian Research Institute for Environmental Law
Olivia Swaak-Goldman, Executive Director, Wildlife Justice Commission
Rodrigo Herrera, Director, Fundación para el Desarrollo de la Conservación (Bolivia)
Scott Hajost, Senior Environmental and Wildlife Policy Advisor, National Whistleblower Center
Zara Bending, Expert – Jane Goodall Institute Global
Resolution 8.048 was adopted with strong support at last year’s Congress following fruitful coordination between the International Council on Environmental Law, WRI, and many IUCN member organisations, including members of the Nature Crime Alliance.
Dr. Barber said: “Environmental crime fuels deforestation, drives biodiversity loss, and causes immense human suffering, stealing resources and revenue from communities and countries alike.
“I’m looking forward to working with leading experts in the Specialist Group to support the implementation of Resolution 8.048, which provides a mandate for IUCN to incorporate efforts to tackle these crimes within its workplan and encourages governments to address this issue at the national level.”
Parties interested in joining the Specialist Group can contact Ana Motamayor at ana.icelinternational@gmail.com
WATCH: Geospatial monitoring and forest crime
The Nature Crime Alliance brought its members and more than 450 stakeholders together for an information exchange on how geospatial monitoring technologies can counter forest crimes.
Held in partnership with Global Forest Watch, the session showcased perspectives from law enforcement, Indigenous communities, governments, and civil society on the role of these technologies – which use satellite imagery to monitor changes to the Earth’s landscape – in tackling crimes such as illegal logging and illegal mining.
Enforcement efforts in Madagascar
Caitlin Eschmann, Executive Director of Conservation Allies, a member of the Nature Crime Alliance, shared examples from Madagascar, where they work with law enforcement and community partners to identify deforestation in Protected Areas using Global Forest Watch data, and organise interventions. This includes the creation of ‘conservation brigades’ that are having a positive impact in protecting forests in the country. In the Menabe Antimena Protected Area, where conservation brigades operate, deforestation fell by more than 50% between 2023 and 2024, Caitlin said.
Caitlin was joined by Paul Salaman, President of Conservation Allies, for a Q&A session with the audience in which they shared insights from Conservation Allies’ success. The organisation now publishes an annual report on the state of Protected Areas in Madagascar to help policymakers and funders understand the situation on the ground. They are interested in expanding this approach to other geographies. Read the Madagascar Protected Areas Outlook here.
Community and prosecutor experiences in Peru
The focus then turned to Peru, with perspectives from Betty Rubio, Technology Transfer Specialist with the Organisation of Indigenous Peoples of the East (ORPIO), Peru. Betty spoke about the range of information collected by geospatial monitoring that can indicate potential harm to Indigenous territories, which is then passed on to enforcement authorities. This enables immediate action against threats.
Participants also heard from Bratzon Torres Saboya, Adjunct Provincial Prosecutor, Specialized Bureau on Environmental Crimes, Public Prosecutor’s Office of Peru, who discussed how geospatial data is combined with other intelligence, including information gathered in collaboration with the air force, to identify and disrupt criminal actors threatening the Peruvian Amazon.
Innovative uses in Guatemala
The session concluded with insights from Danger Gomez, Head of Geospatial Information Systems, National Forest Institute (INAB) of Guatemala, who discussed how INAB uses deforestation alerts based on geospatial data to identify potential breaches of conservation incentive schemes. Danger discussed the automated system INAB has built to facilitate this monitoring across Guatemala’s forests.
The webinar brought together more than 450 representatives from governments, law enforcement, Indigenous communities, philanthropies, and civil society to learn from our speakers’ experiences. It was moderated by Ruth Nogueron and Luke Foddy and was produced by Isabela Barriga, World Resources Institute.
WATCH THE SESSION IN FULL (ES and FR versions below)
English version
Versión en español
Version française
WEBINAR: Geospatial monitoring and forest crime
The Nature Crime Alliance, in partnership with Global Forest Watch (GFW), is hosting an information exchange with members and other key stakeholders on the use of geospatial monitoring in countering forest crime.
The session will see practitioners share their experiences of applying these technologies in contexts such as illegal logging and mining, and the lessons they have learned that could support others’ efforts elsewhere.
Speakers include:
- Bratzon Saboya Torres, Adjunct Provincial Prosecutor, Specialized Bureau on Environmental Crimes, Peru’s Public Prosecutor’s Office
- Caitlin Eschmann, Executive Director, and Paul Salaman, President, Conservation Allies
- Betty Rubio, Technology Transfer Specialist, Napo River Basin, Organisation of Indigenous Peoples of the East (ORPIO), Peru
- Danger Gomez, Head of Geospatial Information Systems, National Forest Institute (INAB), Guatemala
There will be presentations in English and Spanish, with live interpretation into French, Spanish and English available. Join us on Zoom at 10am ET/ 4pm CET on Tuesday 21 April.
Alliance expert briefs UN officials on forest crime
Key aspects of forest crime and the solutions to tackling this global challenge were explored by Elodie Perrat, Senior Manager at the Nature Crime Alliance, during a briefing with UN officials convened to mark World Wildlife Day.
Elodie, the Alliance’s policy lead, spoke at the ‘Conserving our Forests: Challenges and Opportunities for Combatting Forest Crime’ meeting in New York, hosted by the Permanent Missions to the UN of Germany, Gabon, and Brazil, and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The role of organised crime and corruption
Elodie highlighted how illegal deforestation and logging are not marginal compliance failures. They are structured, deliberate, and financially sophisticated crimes, often conducted by organised criminal networks and enabled by corruption.
The same criminal actors involved diversify across illegal logging, mining, land grabbing, wildlife trafficking, and financial crime across the Amazon Basin, Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia, Perrat said, drawing on insights from the UNODC’s report ‘Forest Crimes: Illegal Deforestation and Logging’, part of the 2025 Global Analysis on Crimes that Affect the Environment and the ‘People, Planet, Justice‘ report, published by World Resources Institute (WRI), host of the Nature Crime Alliance, last year.
A key challenge is market infiltration, Elodie noted, with illegal timber entering legal supply chains through fraudulent documentation, corrupt concessions, and trade mis-invoicing. “Forest crime does not sit outside the global economy, it hides within it,” she said.
Engaging the financial system in the response to these crimes is essential. “The $51–152 billion generated annually from illegal logging flows largely undetected through the global financial system — because environmental crime is still barely treated as a predicate offence under anti-money laundering frameworks,” Elodie said. “We’ve built systems to regulate timber. We haven’t built systems to regulate the money it generates. Until we do, we’re addressing symptoms.”
Initiatives like the Global and Regional Private Sector Dialogues, convened by Nature Crime Alliance members UNODC, WRI, and INTERPOL, have demonstrated the value of engaging the financial system to counter these crimes.
Priority actions
During her remarks, Elodie set out seven priority actions that should shape the global response:
Strengthen the international legal architecture. The second meeting of the Intergovernmental Expert Group (IEG) on crimes that affect the environment under the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) in Vienna last week ended without consensus — but a larger number of countries than previously expressed support for a Protocol. The failure was in the process, not the principle.
Treat forest crime as financial crime. Nature crime proceeds must be integrated into anti-money laundering frameworks as predicate offences — enforcement must follow the money, not just the chainsaws.
Close the displacement gap in trade regulation. Regulations like the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) risk generating displacement without coordinated enforcement. Due diligence in importing countries must be matched by equivalent measures in producer countries.
Strengthen transnational enforcement cooperation. Intelligence must flow across customs, finance, and environmental authorities. Regional Private Sector Dialogues bringing together FIUs, banks, and enforcement agencies should be scaled.
Secure forest frontiers through rights-based governance. Land tenure for Indigenous and forest-dependent communities must be strengthened — their displacement creates the governance vacuums that criminal actors exploit.
Protect forest defenders as an enforcement strategy. Legal protection and accountability for attacks on defenders are not peripheral human rights concerns. They are operational enforcement priorities.
Align climate, biodiversity, and crime agendas. Meeting 2030 deforestation commitments is impossible while treating the criminal economy driving deforestation as a separate problem. These agendas must converge in institutions, funding, and political will.
Other Alliance members to participate in the briefing were the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), INTERPOL, UNODC and IUCN.
For more information, please contact Elodie directly at elodie.perrat@wri.org
