The Scale of Environmental Crime Has Reached Staggering Proportions

The world’s first high-level meeting between the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and INTERPOL on the multi-billion-dollar black market in environmental crime is currently underway in Nairobi, Kenya. The scale of the problem is massive, and includes everything from wildlife smuggling and illegal fishing to lumber laundering and e-waste dumping.

These practices aren't just bad for the environment, they're also linked to "the exploitation of disadvantaged communities, human rights abuses, violence, conflict, money laundering, corruption and international criminal syndicates," according to UNEP.

UNEP figures suggest that the black market sectors highlighted at the International Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Conference are worth tens of billions of dollars each. UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner says that while elephant and rhino poaching are grabbing the headlines, this week’s forum "shows the breadth of environmental crime does not end here."

"Whether it be timber or fisheries, or the dumping of hazardous wastes, improved intelligence gathering, focused police work, strengthened customs capacity and the engagement of the judiciary are all going to be vital pieces towards our shared ambition of a less crime-ridden and more just world," he continued, per a release.

The illegal global trade in wildlife is now worth $15-20 billion a year, UNEP says, with both rhino and elephant poaching on the rise. Seizures of large consignments of ivory—over 800 kilograms in weight—have more than doubled since 2009, and in some parts poaching is being used to fund terrorism. If not curtailed, it could lead to the extinction of African elephants and rhinos in the wild well before the end of this century.

As for illegal logging, the black market is now worth somewhere between $30-100 billion a year, amounting to up to 30 percent in the total global timber trade. An estimated 50-90 percent of all logging in the tropics is being carried out by organized crime syndicates. It also creates a whole host of environmental problems, contributing to global warming and damaging wildlife habitat. A few years ago, illegal logging contributed to devastating flooding in Pakistan.

Pirate fishing brings in roughly $10-23 billion a year, and is estimated to account for up to 50 percent of the total catch in some places. Here too there’s a connection with terrorism and piracy: Part of the reason why the waters off Somalia have become such a hotbed of pirate activity is because local fishermen are being muscled out by large international vessels taking all the fish. This all just furthers the potentially catastrophic situation that overfishing is creating. Currently about three-quarters of all fisheries are being exploited more quickly than the fish can reproduce.

Finally, e-waste is also an increasing source of criminal activity. Of the astounding 20-50 million tonnes of e-waste generated every year, it's estimated that just 10 percent is recycled globally. UNEP and INTERPOL warn that e-waste is increasingly being illegally diverted and dumped in landfills in the developing world to avoid the cost of recycling it. This dumping pollutes soil and water, as the often toxic components of the waste electronics start breaking down.

Enforcement efforts to date, despite some high-profile busts of smugglers, have been all but entirely ineffective in scaling back these kinds of environmental crime. UNEP is particularly blunt when it comes to the wildlife trade, saying there is "almost no evidence of successful arrests, prosecutions, or convictions."

The meeting in Nairobi is being held to build political support for greater enforcement, and encourage financial investment in policing efforts: The organisers argue that imposing stricter criminal penalties, as opposed to the civil sanctions, "may have a significant deterrent effect."