The U.S. Department of State has joined its fellow founding participants in announcing the Nature Crime Alliance – a new, multi-sector approach to fighting criminal forms of logging, mining, wildlife trade, land conversion, crimes associated with fishing, and the illegal activities with which they converge.
Nature crime constitutes one of the largest illicit economies in the world, inflicting devastation and destruction upon people and planet. The Alliance recognizes that these crimes cannot be eradicated without multi-sector cooperation, and that there is a pressing need for greater coordination and collaboration among the diverse actors fighting nature crime. A new approach is needed.
The Alliance participants include the governments of Gabon, the Kingdom of Norway, the United States of America; the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); the Global Environment Facility (GEF); Indigenous Peoples Rights International; Amazon Conservation Association; Earth League International; Environmental Investigation Agency U.S.; Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI); Global Initiative to End Wildlife Crime; Indigenous Peoples Rights International; Instituto Igarape; Mongabay; Rainforest Foundation U.K.; Sustainable Fisheries Partnership; TRAFFIC; Wildlife Conservation Society; Wildlife Justice Commission; and World Forest ID.
The Alliance will work to raise political will, mobilize financial commitment, and strengthen operational capacity to fight nature crime. Through a range of initiatives – from solutions-focused working groups convening representatives across different sectors, to structured communications channels that enable open dialogue and the sharing of best practice – the Alliance is building a new, international, collaborative response to nature crime.
This is the first time that such a multi-sector approach to this global challenge has been developed on this scale, with the Alliance marking a key moment in the fight against nature crime. The participants encourage governments and organizations that share the Alliance’s determination to end environmental injustice and protect people and planet to join the Nature Crime Alliance.
Read more at the Department of State
