COP29 in Baku is a crucial opportunity to integrate justice system responses into the climate and climate finance agenda.

Baku, November 15, AZERTAC

The world has gathered in Baku for the COP29 climate summit, with tens of thousands of registered government representatives and other participants seeking to agree bold solutions to advance climate action.

However, there is one group of actors polluting the planet and profiting from deforestation and biodiversity loss who will not be accountable for implementing commitments and agreements to save our planet.

Transnational organized crime groups in every region of the globe are engaging in unlawful activities that have devastating consequences for the environment. Unless we integrate strong criminal justice responses into climate efforts, the criminal exploitation of nature will continue to undermine those very efforts.

Crimes that affect the environment are a low-risk, high-profit illicit industry, and they are exacerbating biodiversity loss and climate change by destroying natural carbon sinks and altering ecosystems.

Illegal logging and timber trafficking are contributing to deforestation, generating billions in illicit profits while suffocating the lungs of our planet.

Wildlife crimes are targeting rare and endangered species of flora and fauna and smuggling them across borders, disturbing the balance of nature.

Poachers using cyanide and dynamite to capture fish can kill coral reefs, which provide habitats for an estimated 32 per cent of all marine species.

The 2024 World Wildlife Crime Report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) found that some 4,000 plant and animal species were being illegally traded in some 162 countries. More than 80 per cent of these species are listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Waste trafficking and illegal disposal are dumping the rich world’s garbage in developing countries, while activities like unregulated mining also dump toxic chemicals into soil and water.

Organized crime may not be the biggest threat to climate action, but criminal networks are undermining our solutions to the climate crisis. As the world comes together to push back against climate change, these criminal enterprises are pushing in the opposite direction, all while victimizing communities and converging with other very serious threats.

We see a vivid example of this in the Amazon basin, where drug trafficking groups are diversifying into crimes that affect the environment, and reinvesting drug proceeds into legal and illegal activities that drive deforestation.

Similarly, in Southeast Asia, organized crime syndicates are smuggling wildlife and endangered species, alongside other illicit activities like drug trafficking and online scams.

In these regions, as in many others, organized crime displaces local and indigenous communities and threatens their livelihoods. It also places them at greater risk of human trafficking and exploitation, including being forced or coerced to work on dangerous mines and logging operations.

It is time to take crimes that affect the environment more seriously, and to treat them as an integral part of the climate agenda.

As COP29 gets underway, Azerbaijan has shown a strong commitment through the Baku Call to Action on Mobilizing Law Enforcement for Enhanced Climate Action, which is being presented at the conference.

The Baku Call to Action is a crucial step forward, building on COP28, where UNODC launched a joint initiative with the host country, the United Arab Emirates, to enhance efforts by the global law enforcement community in the context of climate change.

COP29 presents a real opportunity to push for stronger justice responses, to protect our planet and our climate efforts. It is a chance to call for robust laws that establish serious penalties for crimes that affect the environment; stronger law enforcement capacities to detect, investigate, and counter these crimes; more effective financial investigations to follow the money and dismantle the criminal networks involved; and improved international cooperation to pursue justice across borders. Stopping the criminal exploitation of our planet also requires strong anti-corruption measures, to stamp out the fraud and bribery that enable criminal activities and to safeguard climate finance.

As countries prepare their next Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), this COP29 can underline the urgency of integrating justice responses to accelerate progress towards climate goals.

Reaching agreement on climate action has often proven to be a complicated endeavour, but the need to stop organized crime and corruption from preying on nature is one aspect that every participant at the climate summit can agree on.

With the world marking the first-ever International Day for the Prevention of and Fight against All Forms of Transnational Organized Crime this month, this is the right moment to come together on this critical issue.

UNODC is proud to be in Baku at COP29, building bridges and partnerships to safeguard the climate and climate finance agenda from criminal threats. Together, we can take joint action against transnational organized crime, while saving lives, safeguarding communities, and protecting our planet.

Ghada Waly is the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

15 November 2024 marks the first-ever International Day for the Prevention of and Fight against All Forms of Transnational Organized Crime, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly to raise awareness of the threats posed by all forms of transnational organized crime and to enhance international cooperation.