By Danjuma Amodu
Eighteen years after sounding the alarm, the Environmental Investigation Agency says little has changed. In a new report released Tuesday, EIA warned that environmental crime has grown more sophisticated, profitable and destructive because governments have failed to show the political will, resources and coordination needed to stop it.
The London-based watchdog said the problem can no longer be dismissed as isolated regulatory breaches, but must be treated as transnational organised crime that is accelerating climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.
In Crimes that Affect the Environment – Still a Critical Threat to Our Future, EIA said many of the weaknesses it flagged in its landmark 2008 report remain unresolved, including fragmented laws, weak deterrence, poor cross-border cooperation and lack of political commitment.
EIA Securing Criminal Justice Programme Lead, Justin Gosling, said criminal networks have continued to innovate while enforcement systems lag behind.
“Many of the structural weaknesses identified in 2008 — fragmented legislation, weak deterrence, limited cross-border cooperation and insufficient political will — persist today,” Gosling said. “The consequences of continued inaction are becoming increasingly difficult, and in some cases impossible, to reverse.”
The report links climate, pollution, waste, forest, fisheries and wildlife crimes as interconnected enterprises run by organised groups.
It cited illegal trade in hydrofluorocarbon refrigerant gases, which costs European governments an estimated €77 million annually in lost VAT, with legitimate industry losing over €400 million in 2020 alone.
Waste crime was flagged as one of the fastest-growing areas, including fraudulent recycling and the illegal shipment of plastic waste falsely declared as recyclable before being processed in unlicensed facilities.
EIA also warned that illegal logging, forest conversion and illicit mining are driving deforestation, with criminal mining linked to mercury contamination, corruption and violence against forest-dependent communities.
Illegal fishing was described as a multibillion-dollar enterprise, accounting for 15 to 30 per cent of global annual catches and generating up to $23.5 billion per year. Beyond lost revenue, the agency said it fuels labour exploitation and human trafficking, while destructive bycatch threatens endangered marine species.
Wildlife trafficking remains highly profitable. Data recorded about 4,000 species trafficked between 2015 and 2021, while more than 70 per cent of emerging zoonotic diseases are linked to wildlife.
According to EIA, corruption, weak prosecution of senior actors and the ability to move illicit goods through legitimate supply chains have made environmental crime a “high-reward, low-risk” business.
Gosling said the legal tools to respond already exist, including the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime.
“This is not a failure of available tools — the legal frameworks and cooperation mechanisms needed to act already exist,” he said. “The failure has been one of political will, resourcing and coordination.”
EIA is calling for stronger use of UNTOC against environmental crime, improved cross-border enforcement and renewed political commitment to treat it as a global security threat. The agency warned that failure to act will allow criminal networks to keep exploiting natural resources while shifting economic, social and ecological costs to governments, communities and future generations.
