Director General/Executive Director
Mr. Samper,
Mr. Xinsheng,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you for inviting me to speak at this event on promoting nature conservation for sustainable peace and development.
Across the world, ecosystems are under threat, animals face extinction, people and communities confront adversity and hardship.
Nature conservation is desperately needed to prevent floods, stop desertification and halting life-threatening droughts.
I congratulate both the Wildlife Conservation Society and the International Union for Conservation, as well as my colleagues from UN Environment and other parts of the UN system, who have dedicated themselves to these efforts.
Our world in all its rich beauty and diversity deserves to be fully protected. Habitats, rain forests, and animals must be defended.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime works to end all forms of wildlife and forest crime, protect fisheries and promote alternative livelihoods for communities previously involved in illicit crop cultivation.
I see UNODC's role as standing on watch: cooperating with partners, strengthening criminal justice responses, encouraging implementation of relevant international conventions, and delivering the training that can enable conservation to be sustained and hopefully to prosper.
All of our work is delivered within the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which offers a series of clear targets.
To mention just three:
Wildlife and forest crime are viewed as a low risk, but highly profitable activity for transnational crime organizations. The scale of slaughter and destruction is tragically on an industrial scale.
Last year, UNODC's Global Wildlife Crime Report found 7,000 different species in more than 164,000 seizures that affected 120 countries.
Forestry crime has caused widespread destruction in poorer source countries who have faced numerous challenges in controlling the trade in tropical hardwoods, which has exploded in recent years.
These countries have not always been able to successfully monitor forest losses, and excessive logging. In the face of catastrophic deforestation, countries have sought to impose a prohibition on logging exports, protections of certain species, and sometimes a general logging ban.
UNODC has responded by helping to strengthen national law enforcement efforts, building capacity in the areas of prosecutors and judges, and supporting methods for the identification of timber methods, among other activities.
All of these efforts are dedicated to preserving and sustaining natural resources and helping to build resilience in communities.
Indeed, the support of local communities, vulnerable to the predations of the criminals, is an essential part of the solution.
Fisheries crime is also an evolving threat. Safguarding fish stocks is part of the activities to ensure protection of people's health.
The sector is beset with widespread illegality due to overfishing, and a range of other crimes, including corruption, document fraud, tax crimes and human trafficking.
Next week, UNODC will host the Third International Symposium on Fisheries Crime in Vienna.
We are countering fisheries crime through our close cooperation with FAO, ILO, Interpol, and OECD. In 2016, we launched an ambitious four-year programme to enhance the capacity of developing countries to address fisheries crime and support member states in their own efforts.
The promotion of alternative livelihoods for farmers involved in illicit crop cultivation, is also aimed at creating solutions to environmental concerns such as deforestation and the massive pollution caused by laboratories and the chemicals used in the manufacturing process.
In my own missions to countries such as Peru and elsewhere, I have been fortunate enough to meet families determined to escape the clutches of the criminals and illicit drop cultivation. People determined to create sustainable alternatives such as the cocoa crop. We must do everything to help them.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Safeguarding forests, wildlife, fish stock and promoting sustainable livelihoods are only some of the challenges within the area of nature conservation.
But, it is an important one. There is a real need to criminalise illegally sourced wildlife and wood products and I encourage every nation to make use of the UN Conventions against Corruption and Transnational Organized Crime.
We must also do everything possible to reduce global demand by building livelihoods for affected communities that are sustainable.
Tragically, animals are dying, forests are being laid to waste, and land is fast disappearing. All of us must act quickly and decisively, we have much to lose, if we fail.
Thank you.