By: Henry Peyronnin

Regulating Illicit Gold draws on C4ADS analysis of the illicit gold trade to identify obstacles facing regulators and companies as they seek to achieve compliance with conflict minerals regulations, highlights the limitations of existing US laws pertaining to illegal gold and other minerals, and explores several potential areas in which these regulations can be strengthened or extended.

US lawmakers and public officials recognize the trade in illicit gold as a pressing environmental and social problem, but no comprehensive regulatory framework exists under which to stop the flow of illicit gold to the United States. The challenge of tracing gold supply chains is complicated by four key factors: gold’s physical and commercial characteristics; the growing sophistication of illicit gold trading networks; corruption in source, transit, and destination countries; and the fragmentation of the global gold market. Although two laws partially address this regulatory gap in the United States, neither provides a strong set of rules that apply equally to public companies and private entities. Regulating Illicit Gold draws on C4ADS analysis of the illicit gold trade to identify obstacles facing regulators and companies as they seek to achieve compliance with conflict minerals regulations, highlight the limitations of existing US laws pertaining to illegal gold and other minerals, and explores several potential areas in which these regulations can be strengthened or extended.

Washington, DC: C4ADS March, 2021. 18p.

By R. Nishino and T. Kitade  

 TRAFFIC conducted online surveys to track changes after voluntary ivory bans were introduced from November 2019 on Yahoo Shopping and Yahoo Auction, Japan’s largest platforms for online ivory trade, following similar voluntary bans already implemented by Rakuten-Ichiba, Rakuma and Mercari. The trading practices of a major auction house, Mainchi Auction, and trends in illegal ivory exports were also examined to understand better the domestic ivory market in Japan. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult to assess physical markets. RESULTS: Effective measures by companies The number of shops selling ivory on Yahoo Shopping and Rakuten-Ichiba as B2C (business to consumer) trade and the volume of ivory trade on Yahoo Auction, a mixture of B2C and C2C (consumer to consumer) trade, have reduced by almost 100% and more than 99%, respectively as a result of the platform-wide voluntary ivory ban. There was no observable shift in either B2C or C2C trade to other platforms after the introduction of the ivory ban on Yahoo’s platforms. Monitoring of ivory bans by companies such as Mercari and Rakuma was seen to have been effective 

TRAFFIC, Japan Office, Tokyo, Japan., 2020. 30p.

By United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

The present version of the Wildlife and Forest Crime Analytic Toolkit is an initial attempt to provide a comprehensive overview for understanding the main issues related to environmental offences and for analysing preventive and criminal justice responses to wildlife and forest offences in a given country. Efforts have been made to provide a framework through which measures for prevention and response can be analysed and understood as the basis for an effective national response to wildlife and forest offences. The Toolkit is designed mainly to assist government officials in wildlife and forestry administration, Customs and other relevant enforcement agencies. It will help them to conduct a comprehensive analysis of possible means and measures to protect wildlife and forests and monitor their use and thus, to identify technical assistance needs. In this sense, the Toolkit may also be used as training material for law enforcers. In addition, other stakeholders at the international and national levels, as well as civil society, may find the Toolkit useful regarding their daily responsibilities. The Toolkit can be used effectively to address (a) a wide range of wildlife and forest offences, including illegal logging and illegal trade in timber and a lack of adherence to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and, (b) the usefulness of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

New York: United Nations, 2012. 212p,

By Tomomi Kitade and Ayako Toko

Japan was formerly recognized as one of the world’s largest end-use markets for wildlife products, particularly during the height of the national economic boom which lasted throughout the mid-1970s and 1980s. Wildlife products traded to Japan at the time were extensive and wide-ranging, and included everything from animal fur and leather for fashion, exotic animals for pets and zoos, to taxidermy specimens, raw materials for traditional medicine and other traditional manufacturing industries. Rhino horn and elephant ivory, arguably the two symbols of the current illegal wildlife trade crisis, were also traded to Japan in massive quantities until 1980 and 1989, respectively, when international trade bans were introduced pursuant to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). For a time Japan ranked as the world’s largest consumer of both rhino horn and elephant ivory, but the market for these products declined significantly over the years, to a point where only a small fraction of the former domestic market remains significant today. This research sheds light on Japan’s wildlife trade history as a case study on the contributing factors that helped reduce the market for rhino horn and elephant ivory. By conducting comprehensive research into these phenomena, this report aims to elucidate the circumstances and drivers for change, in the hope that it may provide useful understanding for the contemporary context in other Asian markets facing problems with wildlife trade. Additionally, this study critically reviewed the status of the current domestic market and regulations to amplify where Japan stands today in terms of the historical and global context and provides recommendations for addressing current issues in Japan, especially in light of severe contemporary global levels of illegal wildlife trade. Because of the holistic approach taken and the historical knowledge required for this study, information was collected and analysed from a wide range of sources. In terms of literature, sources in the Japanese language were especially utilized, including the database of National Diet records and national newspaper archives. Various data relating to trade, production, and socio-economic status, as well as records associated with regulatory schemes, were obtained from many sources including the Japanese government, domestic industry associations, and CITES-related databases (i.e. the CITES Trade Database and the Elephant Trade Information System). Furthermore, critical insights were gathered through a series of stakeholder/expert interviews, especially with industry members who were directly part of the process. Finally, an original consumer survey was conducted in 2014 to gain further understanding of consumer perspectives.

Tokyo: TRAFFIC Japan, 2016. 96p.

By Nigel Davidson

In 2017 it will be Australia’s turn to chair the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KP), an international organisation set up to regulate the trade in diamonds. Diamonds are a symbol of love, purchased to celebrate marriage, and it is therefore deeply ironic that the diamond trade has become linked with warfare and human rights violations committed in African producer countries such as Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo and, more recently, Zimbabwe and Angola. In their quest for diamonds, or by using diamonds to purchase weapons, armed groups in these countries have engaged in recruiting child soldiers, amputating limbs, and committing rape and murder. In response to the problem, the international community, non-governmental organisations and key industry players such as De Beers combined forces to create the Kimberley Process in 2002. The KP uses an export certificate system to distinguish the legitimate rough diamond trade from so-called ‘blood diamonds’, which are also known as ‘conflict diamonds’. This book considers the extent to which the KP, supported by other agencies at the international and national levels, has been effective in achieving its mandate. In so doing, it presents an original model derived from the domain of regulatory theory, the Dual Networked Pyramid, as a means of describing the operation of the system and suggesting possible improvements that might be made to it. Nigel Davidson spoke with 936 ABC Hobart about what Australia can do to help stop blood diamonds.

Canberra: Australian National University Press, 2016. 330p.

By Rodriguez, M., M. Pascual, J. Wingard, N. Bhatri, A. Rydannykh, A. Russo, J. Janicki

Sharing up to 98% of human DNA, great apes are our closest relatives on earth. Human activities, however, pose serious challenges to their survival and threaten them with extinction. Expansion of the agricultural frontier into tropical forests, and poaching, driven by lucrative illegal markets for pets and bush meat, are the main forces cited for their population declines.1 Meanwhile, in some parts of the world, people are eager to have baby chimps at home; others attend great ape ‘boxing matches’; while others are looking for that ‘Instagram-able’ moment with a captive great ape. Regardless of the kinds of demand for great apes, we are losing thousands to illegal trade in these species every year. The exact number is unknown due to the illegal nature of the trade, but the UN Environment Programme estimates that no fewer than 3,000 great apes are taken from the wild each year. 2 Because of these high losses and continuing population declines, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists great apes and gibbons as either endangered or critically endangered on its Red List of Threatened Species. These categories denote species that are “very likely” to become extinct in the wild or face an “extreme high risk” of extinction, respectively. There are seven species of great apes (excluding humans), divided into four genera – gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees and bonobos. They inhabit areas of central Africa and South East Asia, and tend to live in humid mountainous areas and forests. Gibbons, part of the family of lesser apes, comprise 16 species, all of which are native to the tropical and subtropical forests of South East Asia.

Missoula, MT: Legal Atlas, 2018. 191p.

By James Wingard and Maria Pascual

Anti-money laundering (AML) laws have the potential to play a crucial, game-changing role in transforming wildlife trafficking from a low-risk/high-reward to a high-risk environment. Yet despite the 2017 UN Resolution callings on countries to leverage AML laws in the fight against wildlife trafficking, they remain under-utilised. Investigations and prosecutions in the case of wildlife-trafficking crimes still rely primarily on charges for poaching or trafficking, while money-laundering crimes are mostly overlooked. There are several reasons for this, one of them being the degree to which wildlife crimes constitute a predicate offence. This paper reviews the AML laws from 110 jurisdictions from the Legal Atlas online platform to determine their applicability to illegal wildlife trade (IWT) crimes, showing positive results for 64 out of the 110 countries. The paper also flags some more general challenges that may hinder the application of such AML laws.

Missoula, MT: Legal Atlas, 2019. 29p.

By Melissa Arias

In recent years, the illegal trade in jaguars has become a growing concern for the conservation of the species, following academic, media and NGO reports suggesting the emergence of international trafficking to China, and the existence of thriving domestic markets for jaguar body parts across the range. Jaguar hunting, and the use and trade in their body parts have a long history in Latin America, tied to the traditional practices and belief systems of past and current indigenous and mixed-ethnicity societies. Through most of the 19th and 20th centuries, jaguars were hunted at commercial scales for their skins, to supply the fashion industry in Europe and North America. The listing of jaguars under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1975, which prohibits international commercial trade, along with the establishment of national hunting laws,successfully put an end to commercial-scale international trade in jaguars. Since then, illegal trade became a minor concern amidst a larger set of threats facing the species, including habitat loss, fragmentation and increased conflict with humans over real or perceived livestock depredation. After nearly five decades since their listing under CITES, recent findings suggesting that the demand for jaguar body parts is expanding to other continents, particularly Asia, have raised concerns about the potential impacts of illegal trade on the survival of the species. These concerns have translated into conservation actions at the national and international level, including CITES Decisions 18.251 to18.253 on Jaguars (Panthera onca), adopted at the 18th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES held in Geneva, Switzerland in August 2019. In accordance with Decision 18.251, the CITES Secretariat commissioned this study to: i) map illegal trade in the jaguar throughout its range, including poaching, trade pathways and networks, and main markets that are driving this trade, and how it is connected to other wildlife trafficking activities in the region; ii) analyse the uses of jaguar specimens, both within range states and in international markets, as well as the extent to which illegally-sourced jaguar products are entering international trade; iii) analyse the modus operandi associated with illegal trade in jaguar specimens and possible drivers of this activity; and iv) characterize the overall impact of illegal trade on jaguar populations throughout the species’ range. Jaguars have a wide distribution, from the South-western United States to northern Argentina, covering 8.42 million km² across 19 countries (de la Torre et al., 2017). Despite being a highly charismatic species, their population status is poorly understood and their abundance estimates vary greatly. Jaguars are classified as Near Threatened under the IUCN Red List. However, most jaguar subpopulations with the exception of the Amazon subpopulation (including parts of the Pantanal, Yungas and Chaco biomes), have been assessed as Endangered or Critically Endangered due to their small size, isolation and deficient protection (de la Torre et al., 2017). The threats to jaguars are increasing, with deforestation growing inside and outside protected areas, driven by the expansion of agriculture, cattle ranching, and human infrastructure. These threats have synergistic impacts on jaguars by increasing access of poachers into remote areas, reducing prey abundances, and increasing the risk of human-jaguar conflict. Targeted poaching of jaguars for the illegal commercial trade adds to the pressures that jaguars are already facing, and may affect the survival of sub-populations that are at critical risk of extinction. Understanding the scale, characteristics and impacts of this growing threat to jaguars is essential to design and implement Decision 18.252, in particular paragraphs c) to g) as well as other effective jaguar conservation actions.

Geneva, SWIT: Convention On International Trade In Endangered Species Of Wild Fauna And Flora (CITES) , 2021. 141p.

By Irvin Kerman

The Guiana’s ecosystems provide habitats to over 4,500 species of flowering plants, 660 species of birds, 300 species of freshwater fishes, 180 species of mammals, 150 species of reptiles and 90 species of amphibians. Of great significance in the Guianas is the large number of wild fauna and flora that are unique to the region. Amongst these are species that are globally in decline but have found safe refuge in the Guianas’ wilderness and are flourishing. Other species are simply endemic to the region, being found in very few other areas of the planet. Amongst the very special species found in the Guianas is the jaguar, Panthera onca, the largest cat of South America. As with species like the giant river otter, Pteronura brasiliensis, the arapaima, Arapaima gigas, black caiman Melanosuchus niger, and giant anteater, Myrmecophaga tridactyla, the jaguar requires an extensive territory to survive and has found this in the Guianas. The extremely low population of humans, most of whom live along the coast, make the Guianas very attractive for forest cats whose migratory behaviour necessitates their having extensive wilderness areas as habitats. Another character that has helped make the Guianas attractive to forest cats has been the general respect and or fear that persons of the region have always had for the species. The jaguar, and many of its smaller relatives such as the jaguarundi, Herpailurus yagouaroundi, ocelot, Leopardus pardalis and the oncilla, Leopardus tigrinus, have rarely ever had to face the threat of targeted exploitation. Human – wildlife conflicts have, in the past, been limited to accidental encounters within the territory of the animals. However, from recent reports to WWF, this situation is feared to have changed. Several species of wildlife are exported annually from Suriname and Guyana to the US, Europe and Japan. Some of these species, particularly birds and wild plants, are also the subject of domestic trade. Globally, illegal and/or excessive trade remains a very significant impediment to the survival of many species. Both Guyana and Suriname have a legal international trade, with export quotas being set per species, based on population estimates and relative abundances worldwide. The quotas also reflect the listing of the species under international conventions. However, the jaguar does not belong to this list of species approved for exploitation. The jaguar is classified by all countries of the Guianas as being endangered and thus in need of protection. This means that it is illegal to target and hunt the species, whether for export, recreation, the domestic pet trade, or for bushmeat. There are only a few exceptions where special provisions are made for capture and shipment for education, exhibition and research to zoological parks, museums and wildlife reserves.

Guianas: WWF Guianas, 2010. 14p.

By Esmond Martin and Lucy Vigne

China is the largest importer by weight of illegal ivory in the world (Milliken, et al. 2009). In response the government of China took steps to reduce this illegal ivory trade in 2004 by introducing an official identification card for each ivory item sold in registered shops. China was then approved by CITES to buy tusks from the southern African ivory auctions in 2008; Chinese traders bought 62 tonnes. In January 2011 we surveyed ivory factories and retail outlets in Guangzhou, the largest city in southern China and an important ivory centre, and in Fuzhou, a city famous for carving. According to a factory owner in Fuzhou, in 2010 he paid on average USD 455/kg for government-owned 1-5kg tusks with a range of USD 303- 530/kg. Similarly, privately-owned raw ivory in 2010 was USD 750/ kg, according to various sources. Siberian mammoth high quality tusks were around USD 400/kg in 2010 wholesale in China.

London: Elephant Family, The Aspinall Foundation and C Woking, Surrey Woking, Surrey olumbus Zoo and Aquarium, 2011. 20p.

By Alastair MacBeathbn

The world’s most popular social media platforms, e-commerce sites, and specialist forums consistently host advertisements for the sale of endangered species or products made from their parts. These private platforms bear almost no legal liabilities for hosting such content or facilitating this trade, and as a result, their responses have been weak and inadequate. This also complicates the response from law enforcement. Without a clear legal basis to act and being overwhelmed by and ill-equipped to counter online crime in general, wildlife crime is usually low on police forces’ priority lists. This lack of prioritization ultimately stems from governments who refuse to acknowledge the urgency of tackling threats to biodiversity or to address the challenges posed by weak responses to cybercrime. Faced with almost complete impunity for illegal wildlife traders online, civil society actors, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), conservation organizations, and citizen investigators are stepping into the gap: monitoring, reporting, running complex – sometimes clandestine – investigations and even engaging in confrontations to disrupt these illegal markets. But unlike law enforcement, journalists and academics, civil society actors have no universally accepted professional ethical standards or regulations to guide their investigative conduct. This community tool is aimed at supporting civil society actors in responding to this critical ethical dilemma: How should they balance ethical imperatives to respond to wildlife crime without contravening user privacy, accepted norms related to mass data collection or a platform’s terms of service? It also intends to provide an overview of the ethical issues involved in civil society organizations’ collection of data, investigation into the illegal online trade in wildlife and possible interventions.

Geneva: Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, 2022. 36p.

By Nellemann, C., Henriksen, R., Raxter, P., Ash, N., Mrema, E. (Eds)

Given the alarming pace, level of sophistication, and globalized nature that illegal trade in wildlife has now notoriously achieved, UNEP initiated a Rapid Response Assessment to provide some of the latest data, analysis, and broadest insights into the phenomenon. Tackling illegal wildlife trade demands this examination of the relationship between the environmental resources at stake, their legal and illegal exploitation, the loopholes that exacerbate the situation, the scale and types of crimes committed, and the dynamics of the demand driving the trade. In the international community, there is now growing recognition that the issue of the illegal wildlife trade has reached significant global proportions. Illegal wildlife trade and environmental crime involve a wide range of flora and fauna across all continents, estimated to be worth USD 70–213 billion annually. This compares to a global official development assistance envelope of about 135 billion USD per annum. The illegal trade in natural resources is depriving developing economies of billions of dollars in lost revenues and lost development opportunities, while benefiting a relatively small criminal fraternity. This report focuses on the far-reaching consequences of the environmental crime phenomenon we face today. The situation has worsened to the extent that illegal trade in wildlife’s impacts are now acknowledged to go well beyond strictly environmental impacts – by seriously undermining economies and livelihoods, good governance, and the rule of law. Even the security and safety of countries and communities is affected: the report highlights how wildlife and forest crime, including charcoal, provides potentially significant threat finance to militias and terrorist groups. Already recognized as a grave issue in DRC and Somalia by the UN Security Council, the assessment reveals that the scale and role of wildlife and forest crime in threat finance calls for much wider policy attention, well beyond those regions. The consequences are increasingly evident: illegal wildlife trafficking constitutes a barrier to the achievement of both sustainable development and environmental sustainability. As reflected in a range of decisions of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the UN Office for Drugs and Crime, the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, INTERPOL, the UN Security Council, and others, the illegal trade in wildlife and environmental crime are now widely recognized as significant threats on a global scale, to be tackled with urgency. However the responses to date, in terms of impact on the ground, have been too modest, and inadequate to the scale and growth of the threat to wildlife and the environment.

Nairobi: United Nations Environment Programme; Arendal, Norway: GRID-Arendal. 2014. 108p.

By TRAFFIC

The trade in wildlife living in the forests and other natural habitats in East and Southeast Asia is of great importance and concern. While we continue to prepare and implement many conservation-related projects across the region, we are aware that unsustainable wildlife trade, much of it illegal, undermines the best attempts by governments and NGOs to secure viable populations of many species. The abundance of many wild species in the forests and other ecosystems is now just a shadow of what it was - and could be - to the detriment of those who have relied on those species in a sustainable manner for livelihoods, including in times of food insecurity. In 2005, we launched the report Going, Going, Gone? The Illegal Trade in Wildlife in East and Southeast Asia, which described the nature and scale of the trade, including through case studies. It described the markets, including illegal markets, for wildlife. However, in our discussions on how to move forward in tackling the problems identified in the report, we became aware that there was limited understanding of the economic and social drivers of these markets. This information is needed to determine the actions most likely to succeed given the wide range of market contexts within which the illegal wildlife trade operates in the region. This report is intended to help address this information gap. It was supported financially by the World Bank-Netherlands Partnership Program and prepared by TRAFFIC, in collaboration with staff from the IUCN Asia Ecosystems and Livelihoods Group and Species Programme and The World Bank. We believe this to be an important contribution to the effort to generate information about the economic and social factors influencing illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade in Southeast Asia. It is our sincere hope that this information will result in more effective policies, programs and projects aimed to address the illegal and unsustainable trade in wildlife in the region.

Cambridge, UK: TRAFFIC: Washington, DC: World Bank, 2008. 120p.

By Goncalves, Marilyne Pereira; Panjer, Melissa; Greenberg, Theodore S.; Magrath, William B

Every two seconds, across the world, an area of forest the size of a football field is clear-cut by illegal loggers. In some countries, up to 90 percent of all the logging taking place is illegal. Estimates suggest that this criminal activity generates approximately US$10-15 billion annually worldwide funds that are unregulated, untaxed, and often remain in the hands of organized criminal gangs. Thus far, domestic and international efforts to curb forest crimes have focused on preventative actions, but they have had little or no significant impact. While prevention is an essential part of enforcement efforts to tackle illegal logging, it has not halted the rapid disappearance of the world's old-growth trees. New ideas and strategies are needed to preserve what is left of forests. This paper suggests that current practice be combined with a more targeted, punitive approach, through more effective use of the criminal justice system. It argues that the criminal justice system should form an integral part of any balanced and organized strategy for fighting forest crime. This strategy should include initiatives to enhance the efficiency of criminal justice in combating illegal logging that is, the investigation, prosecution, and conviction of cases, as well as the confiscation of the proceeds of criminal activity. These initiatives should be deployed in parallel with preventive programs, and the two approaches should complement and reinforce each other. The criminal justice system has been used in the fight against illegal logging, but only in very sporadic instances and in limited and ineffective ways. Moreover, in those few cases, it has tended to target low-level criminals whose involvement in illegal logging is due to poverty. As such, it has created no real deterrent and has encouraged skeptics to further discount the relevance of criminal justice methods. The objective of this paper is to inform policy makers and forestry and law enforcement actors how they can use the criminal justice system in fighting illegal logging. It seeks to mobilize them to take action and address the various criminal acts involved in illegal logging operations. The paper puts forward practical suggestions that can be implemented to achieve a tangible improvement in this fight. Rather than focusing on a single element of the criminal justice system, it provides a broad overview of the topic. Future papers may provide an opportunity to flesh out further detail.

Washington, DC: World Bank, 2012. 60p.

By Wander Meijer, Dr. Daniel Bergin, Timothy Cheng, Crystal Yang, and Dr. Eugene Kritski .

The large-scale consumption of wildlife parts, products, and derivatives across the globe is increasingly being recognized as a driving factor toward substantial declines in populations for many species. Mainland China (hereafter referred to as ‘China’ in this report) is thought to be one of the largest markets, leading conservation professionals to explore the potential for targeted advocacy, social marketing, and multi-media campaigns to deliver real and rapid impact in reducing this demand. WWF have implemented several behavior change interventions in recent years to reduce demand for illegal wildlife products like ivory, pangolin scales, rhino horn, and tiger bones. Consumers including outbound tourists, persistent buyers, collectors, businessmen, and traditional medicine users have been targeted in those behavior change interventions. Within this context, a “game-changing” ban on commercial processing and trade in elephant ivory was implemented by the State Council, China’s Cabinet on 31 December 2017. TRAFFIC and WWF commissioned GlobeScan before the ban became effective in 2017 to conduct the largest-ever ivory consumer research in China. This research seeks to discover the nature of ivory consumption in 15 major cities in China, to understand consumers’ perception toward the ivory ban, and to assess effective messaging and mechanisms for demand reduction based on a pre- and a post-ban surveys, conducted in September – October 2017 (pre-ban), May – June 2018 (post-ban), May – July 2019 (post-ban) and October 2020 - January 2021 (postban). The research will also serve as the foundation of WWF’s future behavior change strategies and interventions.

Beijing, China: World Wildlife Fund, 2021. 119p.

By Environmental Investigation Agency

Lost at Sea, calls on governments, industry, retailers, and consumers to help end the appalling damage that plastic waste inflicts on marine environments.

The report details how global plastics production has grown from five million tons per year in the 1960s to 299 million tons in 2013. It is found in our clothes, computers, and cars and has now found its way to our oceans, leaving no area uncontaminated. Plastics are ingested by seabirds and other marine life, concentrated in Arctic Sea ice, and are accumulating in deep sea sediments where microplastics are now more numerous than in surface waters. An estimated 80 percent of marine litterl originates from terrestrial waste sources, but can vary depending on geographical area.

This report outlines some of the impacts on marine creatures, with recommended actions to reduce the rising tide of plastic waste entering the oceans.

London: Environmental Investigation Agency, 2015. 12 p.

By Ian M. Ralby

On January 13, 2017, the Atlantic Council launched a major study on downstream oil theft at its inaugural Global Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The present analysis draws on that launch event to examine the implications of the Downstream Oil Theft: Global Modalities, Trends, and Remedies report findings, and to suggest tangible next steps in both further investigating this global scourge and beginning to confront it effectively. The panel, moderated by Ambassador Richard Morningstar, the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center’s chairman, included the lead author of the report, Dr. Ian Ralby, a nonresident senior fellow of the center and chief executive officer (CEO) of I.R. Consilium; Éric Besson, former minister of industry, energy, and digital economy for the Republic of France; Dr. John Gannon, former Central Intelligence Agency deputy director for intelligence and chairman of the US National Intelligence Council; and Kola Karim, CEO of Shoreline Energy, an oil company in Nigeria. Though the panelists’ comments form a starting point for this analysis, they do not constitute the sole basis for this report. The implications of the study are extensive and point to a wide range of challenges, but six areas stand out as encompassing the most significant consequences of illicit downstream hydrocarbons activity: 1. The Energy Industry 2. Security, Terrorism, and Law Enforcement 3. The Environment 4. Finance and Economics 5. Politics and Policy 6. International Relations The present analysis focuses on the implications of the study for these six areas

Washington, DC: Atlantic Council, 2017. 15p.

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By Amanda Cabrejo le Roux, Jacob Duer, Brenda Koekkoek, Arnold Kreilhuber, Elizabeth Mrema, and Andrew Raine of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Chemicals provide important benefits to society and play a vital role in the global economy, but they also carry risks for the environment and human health, with greater risks to vulnerable social groups. Chemicals can contaminate soil, air and water and can damage biodiversity, and human exposure to chemicals is implicated in a range of acute and chronic health effects. As industries have grown in recent decades, so too have environmental and health concerns, and now a range of multilateral environmental agreements together with initiatives, non-binding legal instruments, national legislation and policy frameworks regulate the trade in chemicals

Arendal: UNEP and GRID-Arendal , 2020 86p.

By Cathy Haenlein.

This paper argues that large-scale illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing takes place on an organised, systematic scale across multiple jurisdictions, and must therefore be recognised as transnational organised crime. Such IUU fishing endangers food security, threatens livelihoods, undermines the rule of law and deprives states of revenues. It also intersects with other crimes, further amplifying the threat to security. Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is conventionally treated by governments worldwide as the result of technical regulatory infringements. As such, it is often deemed a matter for industry regulators and dismissed as a trivial issue insofar as it relates to national security. This diagnosis is flawed. Certainly, IUU fishing is often small in scale and conducted by artisanal fishers out of ignorance of laws, or opportunism. Yet there is also evidence that much of today’s IUU fishing activity takes place on an organised, systematic scale across multiple jurisdictions. Testament to this are the volumes involved. Although numerous difficulties affect such calculations, global losses to IUU fishing have been estimated at some $10–23.5 billion annually – equivalent to 11–26 million tonnes of fish per year. The result is the plunder of the world’s oceans, threatening not only marine ecosystems, but also the security of human populations. Large-scale IUU fishing endangers food security, threatens livelihoods, undermines the rule of law and deprives states of revenues. It also intersects with other crimes, further amplifying the threat to security. Yet research on these security dimensions is limited and fragmented; our understanding of their dynamics remains partial. Policy and practical responses, meanwhile, remain ill-suited, failing to keep pace with the complexity of the threat posed.

London: Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), 2019. 56p.

By Economist Intelligence Unit.

Behind most every major headline, every major story in the news, lies another potential headline and another story about some form of illicit trade. From the refugee crises in the Mediterranean and South-east Asia, where the chaos is providing cover for human traffickers, to North Korea, a criminal state that couldn’t survive if it didn’t trade in arms, illicit cigarettes and counterfeit currency. Even the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election has led to indictments on money laundering, which is both a product of illicit trade and a facilitator of it. To measure how nations are addressing these and other issues related to illicit trade, the Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT) has commissioned the Economist Intelligence Unit to produce the Global Illicit Trade Environment Index. The global index expands upon an Asia-specific version, originally created by The Economist Intelligence Unit in2016toscore17economiesinAsiaonthe extent to which they enabled or prevented illicit trade. This year’s updated and expanded version now includes 84 economies, providing a global perspective and new insights on the trade’s societal and economic impacts.During research for the construction of the index and in writing this report, The Economist Intelligence Unit interviewed executives and • experts from across the world. Their time and insights are greatly appreciated.

NY: TRACIT 2017. 44p.