Toolkit to tackle organized environmental crime

The G7 ministers responsible for climate and the environment have met in advance of G7 meeting in the UK in June to discuss ‘building back greener’ after the pandemic and released a communiqué with joint commitments.

The ministers’ document provides an ambitious set of pledges – from preserving biodiversity to mainstreaming nature in policymaking. They recognize the challenges posed by both legal and illicit markets, and one of their pledges is to confront ‘illicit threats to nature’. In so doing, they acknowledge that the illegal wildlife trade (IWT), trafficking in timber and timber products and illegal logging, as well as illegal trade in mineral resources, such as precious metals, gemstones and other minerals, and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing all have a devastating impact on the natural environment and people’s livelihoods.

In this brief, the GI-TOC sets out four specific action points that the G7 states could consider as critical elements of a toolkit that would tackle illicit environmental markets more efficiently and curtail the wide-ranging threat that environmental crimes pose worldwide: focus on shrinking the consumer base by tackling online markets; reconsider policy responses at the source by engaging local communities; improve targeted law enforcement within a governance and rule of law agenda; and consider sanctions as a part of the toolkit against high-level impunity.

Read and download GI-TOC Brief