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 in English, French and Spanish.

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.

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.

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, which is available to watch in English or French via the Forest Governance and Policy website.

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. If you haven’t seen the Guidelines yet, they are available via the Alliance website.

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.