Takeaways on 7th Plenary Session: Tackling Crime Convergence - the Amazon Challenge

Speakers: Melina Risso, Director of Research at the Igarapé Institute, Mauricio Cabrera Leal, Vice Minister of Environmental Policies and Regulations at the Ministry of Environment of Colombia, and Marcelo Oliveira, Senior Programme Officer at WWF-Brasil. Moderator: Renata Cao de la Fuente, Project Leader for Latin America at TRAFFIC.

• Environmental crimes and criminal economies in the Amazon are deeply intertwined, with illegal activities like deforestation, mining, and land grabbing converging with organized crime, drug trafficking, money laundering, and corruption—resulting in complex and widespread social harm across the region

• Illegal gold mining in the Brazilian Amazon is deeply linked to organized crime, including money laundering, drug trafficking, forced labor, and environmental violations, with critical support from corrupt political figures, civil servants, and logistics networks involving smuggled mercury and aviation fuel.

• The failure of coordination among regulatory and enforcement agencies, combined with weak oversight, has allowed illegal gold mining operations to flourish, highlighting the urgent need for systemic reform, stronger international cooperation, and robust supply chain traceability measures.

• Weak legal frameworks and enforcement capacity across Amazon Basin countries hinder effective responses, as differing legal definitions of environmental crimes, corruption in local institutions, and changing regulations enable impunity and make coordinated action against these converging threats difficult.

• In Colombia, the fight against environmental crime and corruption has seen a major success through the establishment of CONALDEF (National Council to Combat Deforestation), a high-level coordination body created in response to a 2018 Supreme Court ruling demanding stronger protection of the Amazon. CONALDEF brings together government entities and other actors to develop and implement policies, strategies, and joint actions aimed at halting deforestation and safeguarding Colombia’s forests. With a focus on priority areas like the Amazon, CONALDEF tackles key drivers of environmental crime, such as illegal mining, while also protecting environmental defenders and engaging local communities in policy design.

The event included interactive breakout rooms where participants could dive deeper into key themes. Below are a few key takeaways from the discussions:

🔹 Transparency, Accountability & Open Data

• Although there have been improvements, access to open data in the natural resources sector remains uneven due to a lack of accessibility and transparency. Both natural resource agencies and law enforcement bodies should share more data to engage citizens, civil society, Indigenous peoples, and international partners in the oversight of our biodiversity. Transparency is a powerful tool that helps reduce corruption risks and increase accountability.
• It is necessary to build capacities, funding, and partnerships to process and analyze data. Releasing information is only the first step—users must know how to transform that data into powerful narratives about our environmental trends and environmental crimes.

🔹 Law Enforcement & Prosecution

• Generally, the level of application of financial investigation and asset recovery strategies in environmental crimes is low, due to various factors: a) lack of personnel with experience in these matters, b) heavy workload of investigators of these crimes that prevents them from expanding the scope of the investigation, c) need to quickly conclude cases, in order to show immediate results and d) regulatory deficiencies.
• Cross-border investigations face many challenges: a) legal: verifying the compatibility of substantive and procedural rules between the jurisdictions involved; b) operational: related to the operational capabilities of the investigative teams (tools, budget, etc.); and c) subjective: since the exchange of information requires not only the existence of regulatory tools but also the creation of trust between the different teams in charge of the investigation.

🔹 Community engagement, Border Regions & Local Monitoring

• Communities in the Amazon border regions are exposed to serious threats that deter them from reporting crimes. Protecting these communities and their representatives is essential to effectively counter the influence of criminal groups.
• Strengthening trust between local communities and governments in the Amazon region is essential for effective governance and sustainable development. In this context, the role of non-governmental and civil society organizations is crucial, as they serve as trusted intermediaries that facilitate dialogue, and promote transparency.

Useful resources:

Countering Environmental Corruption Practitioners Forum, 2024, Takeaways on the US role in illicit financial flows related to environmental crimes in the Amazon.

Basel Institute on Governance, 2022, Targeting Profit: Non-Conviction Based Forfeiture in Environmental Crime

FACT Coalition, 2024, Money Laundering from Environmental Crime: Typologies and Trends in Countries in the Amazon Region

WWF, Crime Convergence: Natural Resource Exploitation and Transnational Organized Crime

Igarapé Institute, 2024, Dynamics of the Ecosystem of Environmental Crime in the Legal Amazon

Igarapé Institute, 2023, FOLLOW THE MONEY: how environmental crime is handled by anti-money laundering systems in Brazil, Colombia, and Peru

The full recording of the presentations from the 29 April 7th Plenary session is available here. To enable English subtitles, please click the 'CC' button on the video: