Director-General/Executive Director
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Our world is at a tipping point. Protecting people and planet represents one of the greatest and most urgent challenges we face.
Organized crime poses a major threat to our environment, with organized criminal groups around the world engaging in wildlife trafficking, crimes in the fisheries sector, waste trafficking and illegal mining, among other illicit activities. This exploitation has a serious impact on our ecosystems, on our national security, and on the lives of millions of people who depend on these natural resources for their livelihoods.
Through the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, as well as the Kyoto Declaration adopted at the 14th Crime Congress, Member States have reaffirmed their commitment to preventing and combatting crimes that affect the environment.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime is supporting countries to put these pledges into action by strengthening international cooperation, and assisting them to close legal loopholes that enable organized criminal groups to continue their exploitation.
Our Office has developed a series of legislative guides, including the Guide on Drafting Legislation to Combat Wildlife Crime. Today, UNODC is pleased to present the forthcoming Legislative Guide on Waste Trafficking.
UNODC stands ready to engage with legislators and policymakers around the world to translate this guidance into practice, in order to build resilient and comprehensive legal frameworks against organized crime that affects the environment.
I thank the governments of France and Norway for their support. UNODC looks forward to advancing our work with you to protect our environment against organized crime.
Thank you.