Amazon countries step up measures to combat illegal financing of wildlife crime

With the US announcing a new initiative to combat the illicit financing of environmental crime in the Amazon, there are signs that the problem is finally becoming an international priority. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen last month launched the Amazon Regional Initiative Against Illicit Finance, with the goal of boosting training, collaboration and information sharing to help authorities conduct money laundering investigations against transnational criminal organizations. The US is poised to step up its fight against the world’s third-most profitable organized crime category.

Wildlife crime encompasses a cluster of activities that enable illegal deforestation, degradation, and biodiversity loss. Among the most prevalent are land grabbing, illegal logging, illegal mining, and irregular agriculture and ranching—all of which are prevalent across the 6 million km² Amazon. As noted in the latest US strategy to combat terrorism and other financing, wildlife crime is committed by a bewildering array of actors, from organized crime groups, drug cartels, and corrupt land brokers to legitimate agricultural and ranching companies and large, medium, and small landowners.

Wildlife crime is part of a broader ecosystem of crime affecting the eight countries in the Amazon rainforest. In addition to illegal logging, illegal gold mining, poaching and wildlife trafficking, there are other criminal activities such as targeted killings, intimidation, extortion, fraud and tax evasion, money laundering and corruption. The interconnectedness of wildlife crime with these other illegal activities makes the former particularly difficult to monitor and prosecute, especially when they are committed by hardened criminal syndicates operating across borders.

One of the reasons the U.S. is stepping up efforts to disrupt illicit financial flows related to wildlife crime in the Amazon is precisely because of the growing involvement of transnational organized crime. Cartels, gangs and militias from Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and other countries are increasingly involved in laundering drug trafficking profits into “legitimate” businesses in the Amazon. Many of them operate across borders, including so-called triple border regions in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela. Some of these “forest mafias” fuel “narco-deforestation” through illegal land acquisition, mineral extraction and poaching.

The latest initiative announced by the US builds on the growing determination of several Amazonian countries and Western partners to “follow the money” rather than simply throw more police and military resources at the problem. Groups such as the UN Office for Drugs and Crime and the Igarape Institute are already training law enforcement agencies and financial crime units in Brazil, Colombia and Peru to improve evidence collection and operational responses to environmental crimes.

While various types of environmental crime can be curbed by financial fines and sanctions on legal and illegal groups involved in criminal activities, the effectiveness of such measures depends on the quality of enforcement. This is a challenge in the Amazon, where security and justice institutions are weak and many actors involved in committing wildlife crime go unpunished, let alone pay fines when prosecuted. Due to entrenched corruption and informality, there are often strong political and economic disincentives to take action at the local level.

Scaling up the fight against money laundering related to wildlife crime also relies heavily on fluid transnational cooperation. Yet cross-border cooperation is frustratingly scarce in Latin America, particularly in Amazonian countries where political conflict is routine. Ideological tensions and mistrust routinely hamper regional efforts to combat environmental crime, even where there are clearly converging interests.

On a more positive note, there appears to be growing agreement on the shared threats that wildlife crime poses in the region, particularly in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. In the wake of the 2019 Leticia Pact, leaders from all Amazonian countries signed a Belem Declaration in 2023, describing wildlife crime as a threat to climate and environmental priorities, as well as governance and sustainable development. There is a clear change in tone and sense of urgency. The US announcement to tackle money laundering and transnational criminal organizations is no coincidence.

At the regional level, governments appear determined to strengthen the fledgling Amazon Treaty Cooperation Organization (ACTO), albeit a slow process. Brazil also launched an international police center (the CCPI-Amazon) in early 2024 to encourage cooperation, including on financial crimes. In addition to the US commitment, ad hoc actions have emerged to expand cooperation between police and prosecutors, including on financial crimes and money laundering, with support from the EU, Interpol and Europol.

Despite growing determination to combat wildlife crime, US-led sanctions and technical support to police in the region are only part of the solution. Drug cartels, large corporations, large landowners, and corrupt government agents involved in wildlife crime are the most likely targets of anti-financial crime units. However, low-level crime groups, small businesses, and landowners and landless people involved in illegal deforestation and degradation will not be deterred. Comprehensive responses are needed, including strategies to strengthen the rule of law and provide meaningful economic alternatives to slow extractive activities.

Law enforcement agencies in the Amazon face multiple obstacles in preventing and reducing wildlife crime, including tackling the complex illicit financial networks and practices that enable them. A persistent challenge for all countries is the shortage of technical expertise: there is a chronic shortage of experts in anti-money laundering and illicit financial flows. While they have some experience in disrupting money laundering related to drug proceeds, most police and criminal justice agencies have limited expertise in combating money laundering related to natural assets specifically.

Another challenge for law enforcement relates to the patchwork of money laundering standards and laws in the region. The definition of an offence varies from place to place. A key priority is therefore to harmonise money laundering legislation and policies across jurisdictions. Without at least some alignment of laws, procedures and standards between countries, law enforcement simply cannot prosecute cases across borders. This is true not only for countries in the Amazon region, but also for the US and the EU.

There are other obstacles to disrupting the illicit financial networks that fuel wildlife crime. For example, many of the actors involved in financing it are not based in the Amazon.

Ultimately, the main barriers to disrupting illicit financial flows associated with wildlife crime are political and economic. In particular, elected politicians and officials can benefit directly and indirectly from wildlife crime such as logging, mining, and poaching and have limited incentive to cooperate with police and criminal justice authorities. Similarly, large numbers of local businesses and residents often rely heavily on illegal and informal practices associated with wildlife crime linked to forestry, mining, and farming and ranching, posing challenges for law enforcement and prosecutors.

Dr. Melina Risso, Director of Research at the Igarapé Institute, contributed to this article.