The relationship between terrorist financing and environmental crime and examples

Terrorist financing refers to the methods terrorists use to generate and move money to support their activities, such as planning and executing attacks, acquiring weapons and equipment, and maintaining their infrastructure.

Terrorist groups may raise funds from a variety of sources, including donations from sympathetic individuals, businesses, or charities; illegal activities such as drug trafficking, kidnapping, and extortion; and state sponsors. They may also use legitimate businesses and charities to conceal their activities.

To combat terrorist financing, many countries have implemented measures such as anti-money laundering laws, regulations for non-profit organizations, and sanctions against individuals and entities suspected of supporting terrorism. International cooperation and information sharing are also crucial to disrupt terrorist financing networks.

The relationship between terrorist financing and environmental crime and examples

Terrorist participation in illicit trade is about more than just making money. It achieves multiple goals, including forgetting history, lowering community morale, eroding social cohesion, and harming people’s health and well-being. It also supports the social services provided by terrorist organizations.

According to the United Nations and INTERPOL, operations aimed at exploiting natural resources and damaging the environment are becoming increasingly important and are enriching terrorist and international criminal organizations. After drugs, arms and human trafficking, illegal mining, logging and waste management have become the fourth largest criminal industry in the world.

Terrorists focus on various illicit trades that offer high profits with minimal risks. They illegally trade gold, cigarettes, and other natural resources such as coltan and charcoal. To survive, terrorists, like transnational criminal organizations, another important category of malign non-state actors, have expanded their illicit goods. For example, the FARC is said to have made more money from illegal gold mining than from drug sales.

IUU fishing is part of a larger network of international criminal operations and does not occur in a vacuum. IUU fishing vessels help facilitate other illegal activities, including drug, human, and arms trafficking. Smuggling and human trafficking are profitable industries. These horrific smuggling operations have an impact far beyond the region in which they occur, as the money they generate can be used to support terrorist acts around the world. For example, narcotics trafficking was used to fund the Al-Qaeda terrorist attacks in Spain in 2004, and illegal fishing has become a major source of funding for Al-Shabaab.

Several sources have estimated the annual value of illegal trade in flora and fauna, excluding fisheries and timberlands. Somalia has the longest coastline in Africa and an abundance of marine resources. However, Somalia’s efforts to fully exploit the productive capacity of these resources have been hampered by poor governance, a lack of infrastructure, and illegal, unreported, and unregulated IUU fishing by foreign countries.

Local fishermen have been forced to resort to piracy due to overfishing by IUU vessels, which has reduced the domestic catch. Terrorist activities by Al-Shabaab have increased in tandem with the increase in piracy. Although these two entities have separate goals, they have come together due to the use of piracy proceeds to finance terrorist activities.

Illegal logging is estimated to cost African countries $17 billion annually. This is part of a global market valued at $30-150 billion. It is estimated that the illegal charcoal trade in Africa alone generated a net profit of $9 billion.

Threats to national security from violent extremist groups and criminal enterprises have also increased as a result of the timber trade. For example, in 2019 it was estimated that illegal logging generated US$2 million per month for smuggling networks in Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo linked to the Ahlu-Sunnah Wa-Jama and other militant organizations in Mozambique.

According to the study, a terrorist organization operating in East Africa can expect to earn between US$38 and US$56 million annually from the illicit charcoal trade. Militias and terrorist organizations can earn between US$111 and US$289 million annually from their participation in and taxation of illicit or unrestricted charcoal trade in and around African countries with ongoing conflicts.

Other organizations that profit from the illegal wildlife and timber trade are also estimated to earn between US$4 and US$12.2 million annually from the sale of elephant ivory in the Central African subregion, contributing to a sharp decline in elephant populations across Africa.

The illegal timber trade can contribute to conflict and instability by providing resources to violent individuals and encouraging corruption. Timber smuggling was one of the main sources of funding for warlord Charles Taylor during the Liberian civil war. It also made it easier for Taylor to aid the Revolutionary United Front near Sierra Leone.

International timber traders paid the rebel group Seleka at least €3.4 million in security payments to continue their activities in the Central African Republic, or CAR, between 2013 and 2014. This encouraged the rebels’ presence and facilitated the arms trade. Anti-balaka militants were paid to provide security after the Seleka lost control.

The connection between crime and security issues is also unique. Nellemann noted that 7 million people have died in the long-running violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is increasingly seen as a struggle fueled by criminal interests rather than a political insurgency. US$722 million to US$862 million worth of resources are exploited annually. Only 2 percent of that is allocated to armed combatants; the rest is pocketed by organized criminals.

Final thoughts

Environmental crime, such as illegal wildlife trade, illegal logging and illegal fishing, can generate significant profits for organised crime groups. These profits can then be used to finance terrorist activities or other criminal enterprises. In this sense, environmental crime can indirectly contribute to the financing of terrorism. In addition, some terrorist groups have been known to commit environmental crime themselves to generate money.

For example, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has been accused of illegally trading in antiquities and looting archaeological sites in Syria and Iraq to fund their activities. It is important to note that terrorist financing is a serious criminal offense that is separate from environmental crime. While the two may be linked in some cases, they must be addressed separately through effective law enforcement, intelligence gathering, and international cooperation.