Nature Crime and Crime Convergence

A cleared area in a rainforest showing felled trees

Nature crime refers to illegal exploitation of natural resources and wildlife including wildlife trafficking, and crimes associated with logging, mining, fishing, land conversion, and others. These crimes threaten ecosystems, contribute to climate change, worsen food and economic security, and undermine global efforts to promote sustainability and conservation. Together, nature crimes are the third-largest criminal sector worldwide, generating between USD 110 to 280 billion annually.

Despite its staggering scale and impact, nature crime is often mischaracterized as primarily a conservation issue, when in reality, it is deeply connected to the world of transnational organized crime.

Examples of Nature Crimes

There are many facets to nature crime. Most involve commercial activity that links the crime to international trafficking of the products being illegally harvested or poached.

  • Wildlife trafficking The illegal poaching, smuggling, and selling of protected animal and plant species, or their parts, contravening local, national, or international laws.
  • Illegal logging
    and timber trade
    Harvesting, transporting, processing, buying, or selling of timber in violation of national laws. This includes unauthorized logging and clearing of forests in protected areas, harvesting protected species, or logging without required permits or documentation.
  • Illegal fishing Fishing activities that violate national and international laws, such as fishing beyond approved quotas, inside closed areas, or using banned gear.
  • Illegal mining Mining activities conducted without proper legal authorization. This includes, for example, mining in protected areas.

Crime Convergence A Growing Threat to People and Nature

Crime convergence refers to the interconnection of various illegal activities, whereby different types of crimes overlap in ways that strengthen organized crime networks and increase their impact on society and the environment.

Criminal organizations traditionally involved in drug, weapons, and human trafficking are increasingly shifting their focus to illegal logging, wildlife trafficking, and the extraction and trade of valuable resources like minerals and gold. These groups have become more adaptive, fluid, and decentralized, leveraging modern technologies—such as social media, cyber tools, and improved transportation networks—to exploit remote, resource-rich areas. In addition, they often utilize the profits generated from nature crimes to fuel their other illicit activities. This convergence creates a web of illegal operations that extends across national borders, which threatens biodiversity and impacts the stability of communities and economies.

The Importance of Tackling Crimes at Their Convergence

Understanding the connection between nature crimes and other serious crimes is crucial for tackling both environmental destruction and broader criminal networks that threaten biodiversity and communities alike. By focusing efforts on areas where multiple crimes converge, law enforcement can disrupt criminal networks more effectively than if each crime were tackled in isolation.

By tackling crimes at their convergence, governments can:

  • Enhance resource efficiency: Addressing overlapping crimes simultaneously can optimize law enforcement resources, reduce duplication of efforts, save costs, and enable a faster response to criminal activities.
  • Disrupt criminal networks: Tackling crime convergence disrupts entire criminal networks rather than isolated criminal activities, making it harder for organized crime groups to adapt and continue their operations.
  • Improve data and intelligence sharing: Focusing on crime convergence encourages collaboration between agencies (such as environmental, financial, and public security groups), fostering better data sharing, improved intelligence, and a more comprehensive understanding of criminal operations.
  • Strengthen legal frameworks and international cooperation: Targeting crimes at their convergence can lead to stronger legislation that addresses multiple crime types and promotes the international cooperation necessary to tackle transboundary crime networks that operate across national borders and jurisdictions.

Evidence of crime convergence A case study of Brazil

Crime convergence is a challenge that most nations face across the globe. The globalization of trade and advancements in technology have made it easier for illicit actors to operate across borders, exploiting weak governance and enforcement in certain regions to create sophisticated networks that profit from the destruction of natural resources. The convergence of nature crimes and other serious crimes reflects a pressing global issue. Few countries are immune to its far-reaching consequences.

With a grant from the US Department of State in partnership with TRAFFIC, WWF undertook a study to analyze the scale and scope of nature crime convergence in one country in particular, Brazil, to better understand the challenges of nature crime convergence more broadly. The study focused on the convergence of four nature crimes—illegal wildlife trade, illegal fishing, illegal logging, and illegal gold mining—as well as the convergence between these crimes and other serious trafficking crimes, such as trafficking of drugs, arms, and people.

Brazil, with its vast natural landscapes, is home to some of the world's most biodiverse ecosystems. But these areas are under increasing pressure from illegal activities that exploit the country’s natural resources. Crime convergence is especially evident in the Amazon and Cerrado regions, where human, drugs, and arms trafficking intersect with nature crimes like illegal wildlife trade, deforestation, mining, and timber harvesting.

The following are some examples from WWF’s research which illustrate the significant overlap between nature and non-nature crimes in Brazil. Similar types of convergence themes are evident across the Amazon region, as well as in other biodiversity regions globally:

    • A barren mine among rainforest trees© Ubiratan G. Suruí / WWF-Brazil
      Illegal gold mining and drug trafficking

      Illegal gold extraction in the Amazon has become a lucrative avenue for criminal organizations traditionally involved in drug trafficking. Drug traffickers supply the logistics, equipment, and financial resources required for illegal mining, making gold extraction as profitable as drug trafficking but with less risk. These criminal organizations utilize the same supply chains and transportation routes for both gold and drugs, often operating within remote areas with minimal law enforcement presence.

    • Aerial view of the river separating Brazil and Paraguay© Jaime Rojo / WWF-US
      Border hotspots

      Remote border areas with weak state presence are naturally susceptible to geographic convergence of illegally sourced and traded commodities, as they offer the right conditions for organized criminal groups and nature crimes to flourish. The Western Amazon border region in Brazil, for example, serves as a significant source location for many products which are illegally smuggled across the border to Colombia and Peru, including illegal fish, wild meat, timber, and gold.

    • Shiny pieces of gold sit in a black bucket© WWF-Brazil / Adriano Gambarini
      Illegal gold mining and money laundering

      Illegal gold mining is unique in that criminals use this activity both to generate illicit proceeds, and as a vehicle to launder money from other criminal activities. The cash-intensive nature of gold transactions makes it an attractive asset for legitimizing illicit funds on a large scale. Law enforcement operations across South America have uncovered billions of dollars laundered through illegal gold extraction, trade, and associated activities, underscoring the need for coordinated international efforts to target these convergent crimes.

    Recommendations

    Crime convergence is a global phenomenon with evidence found across many countries, reflecting diverse economic, social, and political landscapes. Its manifestations vary widely depending on the regional context, but there are common threads across regions. In areas with dense forests, for example, illegal logging often overlaps with corruption and the displacement of Indigenous Peoples. Coastal regions may witness illegal fishing tied to forced labor or drug trafficking on poorly monitored vessels. In some areas, wildlife trafficking may intersect with drug smuggling along shared transportation routes, while in others, criminal groups may use cyber tools to facilitate illegal trade and evade law enforcement. Despite these regional differences, commonalities include the exploitation of vulnerable populations, weak legal frameworks, and the use of illicit proceeds to fund further criminal activities.

    This complexity underscores the need for a nuanced approach, combining localized strategies with international cooperation to disrupt these intertwined networks effectively. These interconnected crimes not only threaten environmental sustainability but also destabilize economies, compromise public safety, and weaken governance systems worldwide, underscoring the urgent need for a coordinated international response.

    Elevate the severity of nature crimes in national policies and legislation

    Unfortunately, despite their devastating impacts, nature crimes are commonly considered to be crimes of lesser importance in many countries’ legislation. Redefining nature crimes to align with other more serious trafficking crimes will allow for tougher sentences and increased enforcement attention and resources. The United States has been a leader on this score through presidentially mandated federal strategies and laws such as the END Wildlife Trafficking Act.

    Target criminal organizers, not harvesters

    Enforcement agencies should focus their efforts on the higher-level criminals in nature crime supply chains, including ringleaders of criminal organizations, as well as those behind money laundering schemes associated with these crimes. Enforcement efforts should move away from targeting harvesters, or other lower-level workers, which has little impact on the overall criminal operation.

    Support socio-economic development

    It is important to enhance opportunities for local communities in remote rural areas who have little access to health, education, and economic opportunities, and who are vulnerable to being co-opted by criminal factions who exploit areas where the state is absent.

    Tackle corruption and fraud

    Both corruption and fraud are enabling crimes that are deeply ingrained into illicit supply chains. Not only do corruption and fraud undermine the government's ability to investigate and prosecute nature crimes, but they also have far-reaching impacts on the economy and on the security of those who depend on nature for their livelihoods. To enhance the integrity of government operations and reduce the negative impact of corruption on law enforcement, it is important to better understand and assess the strength of internal controls in government agencies responsible for enforcing environmental legislation.

    Prioritize transnational cooperation

    Criminal networks are versatile and agile. In the Amazon, for example, as soon as enforcement is strengthened on one side of the border, criminal activity shifts across to the other. Law enforcement officials, public prosecutors, and environment agencies need to engage with their counterparts in neighboring countries to combat nature crimes and other associated serious crimes more effectively. Bilateral relationships between enforcement authorities of neighboring countries can help in the establishment of leads in the early stages of an investigation. For example, WWF partners with the Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs in regions spanning Africa, southeast Asia, Central America, and South America to enhance the capacity of law enforcement officials in technology solutions and forensics applications, prosecution of wildlife trafficking cases, and interagency coordination.

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