Organized Environmental Crime: Why it Matters for Peace Operations

May 12, 2022 | Marina Caparini
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‘Environmental crime’ lacks a universally agreed definition but has been referred to by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as ‘illegal activities harming the environment and aimed at benefiting individuals or groups or companies from the exploitation of, damage to, trade or theft of natural resources, including, but not limited to serious crimes and transnational organized crime’. 

Organized environmental crime has become one of the fastest-growing types of organized crime. In many conflict-affected contexts, it is the primary source of financing for non-state armed groups. Statistically, global environmental crime is the third largest crime sector in the world and is estimated to generate between $110 and $281 billion annually in criminal proceeds. However, the full global economic value of illegal logging, fishing and wildlife trade alone is estimated by the World Bank at $1–2 trillion per year, with over 90 per cent of economic losses due to environmental crime’s impact on ‘ecosystem services’ (which may include prevention of the degradation of watersheds and land erosion, improving water quality and quantity, and absorbing carbon emissions).

Today, in conflict-affected settings where the largest UN peacekeeping operations are currently deployed, organized environmental crimes involving minerals, timber and wildlife constitute a major category of illicit markets that benefit armed groups and sustain armed conflict.