Edited by Christian Nellemann

This report Green Carbon, Black Trade by UNEP and INTERPOL focuses on illegal logging and its impacts on the lives and livelihoods of often some of the poorest people in the world set aside the environmental damage. It underlines how criminals are combining old fashioned methods such as bribes with high tech methods such as computer hacking of government web sites to obtain transportation and other permits. The report spotlights the increasingly sophisticated tactics being deployed to launder illegal logs through a web of palm oil plantations, road networks and saw mills.

Nairobi, Kenya: Arendal, Norway: United Nations Environment Program, GRID-Arendal.; 2012. 72p.

By Financial Action Task Force

The illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is a major transnational organised crime, which generates billions of criminal proceeds each year. IWT fuels corruption, threatens biodiversity, and can have a significant negative impact on public health and the economy. To move, hide and launder their proceeds1 , wildlife traffickers exploit weaknesses in the financial and non-financial sectors, enabling further wildlife crimes and damaging financial integrity. Despite this, jurisdictions2 rarely investigate the financial trail left by this crime. 2. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), as the global standard setter on antimoney laundering (AML), countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) and countering proliferation financing (CPF), is concerned about the lack of focus on the financial aspects of this crime, and has conducted this study to support jurisdictions to combat related money laundering. The FATF Standards (i.e. 40 Recommendations) provide a useful framework for jurisdictions to address these threats by strengthening their national laws, policies, and co-operation at the domestic and international level. 3. This is the FATF’s first global report on IWT. It builds on previous studies by two of the FATF-Style Regional Bodies (FSRBs), work by other international bodies and recent initiatives by the private sector. This study by the FATF makes a unique contribution by assessing the money laundering (ML) aspects of wildlife crimes, and by demonstrating how jurisdictions should apply the FATF standards to combat IWT. The findings in this report are based on inputs from around 50 jurisdictions across the FATF Global Network, as well as expertise from the private sector and civil society. This study highlights that jurisdictions should view the proceeds generated by IWT as a global threat, rather than as a problem only for those jurisdictions where wildlife is illegally harvested, transited, or sold. In particular, criminals are frequently misusing the legitimate wildlife trade, as well as other import-export type businesses, as a front to move and hide illegal proceeds from wildlife crimes. They also rely regularly on corruption, complex fraud and tax evasion. Another key theme of this study is the growing role of online marketplaces and mobile and social media-based payments to facilitate movement of proceeds from wildlife crimes. These trends highlight the increasing importance of a coordinated response from public authorities, the private sector and civil society to identify and disrupt financial flows from IWT.

Paris: Financial Action Task Force (FATF)., 2020. 72p.

By Alexandria Reid and Cathy Haenlein.

The UK is a leading advocate of the need to ‘follow the money’ linked to illegal wildlife trade (IWT) on the international stage. Yet, to date, little focus has been placed on examining the UK’s domestic record in this area. This report is the first independent study to address the UK’s exposure and response to IWT-linked illicit finance, offering recommendations to bolster enforcement action. Based on an open-source literature review, analysis of government enforcement data, a focused ‘call for evidence’ and 40 semi-structured interviews, the report assesses the UK’s record in relation to the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) 2020 recommendation that countries assess their exposure to IWT-linked illicit finance; ensure legal powers exist to bring financial charges in relation to IWT offending; and undertake greater numbers of parallel financial investigations in IWT cases.

London: Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), 2022. 60p.