<
https://theconversation.com/amazon-countries-are-stepping-up-measures-to-counter-illicit-financing-of-nature-crime-236043>
"With the announcement by the US of a new initiative to counter the illicit
financing of environment crime in the Amazon, there are signs the issue is
finally an international priority. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen launched
the Amazon Regional Initiative Against Illicit Finance last month with the
stated aim of boosting training, cooperation, and information sharing to help
authorities pursue money-laundering investigations against transnational
criminal organizations. The US is poised to step-up the fight against the
world’s third most profitable category of organized crime.
Nature crimes include a cluster of activities that enable illegal
deforestation, degradation and biodiversity loss. Among the most common are
land grabbing, illegal logging, illicit mining and irregular agriculture and
ranching – all of which are prolific across the 6 million km² Amazon basin. As
noted in the US’s latest strategy on fighting terrorist and other financing,
nature crimes are perpetrated by a bewildering array of actors, from organized
crime groups, drug cartels, and corrupt land brokers to legitimate companies in
the agriculture and cattle sector and large, medium and small-scale landowners.
Nature crimes are part of a wider ecosystem of criminality affecting the eight
countries sharing the Amazon rainforest. Alongside illicit timber extraction,
illegal gold mining, poaching, and wildlife trafficking are other criminal
practices such as targeted assassinations, harassment and intimidation,
extortion, fraud, and tax evasion, money laundering, and corruption. The
interconnectedness of nature crime with these other illegal activities make the
former particularly hard to police and prosecute, especially when committed by
hardened criminal syndicates that operate across borders.
One of the reasons why the US is stepping-up efforts to disrupt illicit
financial flows related to nature crime in the Amazon is precisely because of
the increasing involvement of transnational organized crime. Cartels, gangs,
and militia from Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, and other countries are
increasingly involved in laundering profits from the drug trade into
“legitimate” businesses in the Amazon. Many of them operate across borders,
including so-called triple frontier regions in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia,
Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. Some of these “forest mafia” are fueling
“narco-deforestation” through illegal land acquisition, mineral extraction, and
poaching."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
