CITES Secretary General highlights international nature of wildlife trade at UN Environment Meet in Nairobi

John E. Scanlon, Secretary-General, CITES Secretariat, has stated that wildlife trafficking increasingly involves transnational organized crime and in some cases rebel militia and rogue elements of the military, which has changed the dynamics of combating this highly destructive criminal activity. Mr Scanlon was speaking on 26 June, 2014 at Nairobi in Kenya at the recently concluded first UN Environment Assembly that saw the assemblage of environment ministers and officials from across the world.

Global environmental crime, worth up to US$213 billion each year, is helping finance criminal and militia groups and threatening the security and sustainable development of many nations, according to a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and INTERPOL. The occasion saw the release of The Environmental Crime Crisis, a rapid response assessment, was released during the first United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), where action to tackle environmental crime is high on the agenda for hundreds of environment ministers, law enforcement officers, the judiciary and senior UN officials.

“As we tackle the immediate threat posed to people and wildlife by poaching and smuggling, an Assembly of this nature may also wish to offer a global, longer-term perspective on the multiple threats facing our wildlife and how we can help equip the world’s Environment Ministers to offer coherent and effective solutions to their governments.” Mr Scanlon stated.

For more information, please visit http://www.cites.org/eng/UNEA_illegal_Wildlife_Trade

To access the Environmental Crime Crisis Report please go to http://www.unep.org/unea/docs/RRAcrimecrisis.pdf