Director-General/Executive Director
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am pleased to join you for this important discussion, and I would like to thank the Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan and his team for organizing this event and being with us today in Vienna and for participating actively in the COP.
As we look to the UN Climate Conference – COP29 – in Baku next month, we must coordinate and step up our efforts to protect people and the planet.
The world is at a tipping point indeed.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2023 was the hottest year on record, and 2024 is on track to be even hotter.
At the same time, nature’s ability to mitigate climate change continues to decline.
The climate time bomb is ticking, as the UN Secretary-General has warned.
As the world struggles to change course and limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees, our natural carbon sinks – our forests, wetlands, grasslands, and oceans – have become more vital than ever before.
The ocean is estimated to absorb at least a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions and healthy forests take in another 30 percent, according to the IPCC.
But these ecosystems are being threatened and undermined, including by crimes that affect the environment.
Illicit logging and timber trafficking are contributing to turning our forests from carbon sinks into carbon sources.
Illegal pollution and waste dumping are suffocating our oceans, while harming fishing communities.
And wildlife poaching and trafficking are threatening our most fragile ecosystems, from the Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia to the Amazon basin in South America, with over 4,000 plant and animal species at risk globally.
According to the World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Risks Report, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse is the third biggest risk to the planet over the next decade, and organized crime takes advantage of any opportunity to profit.
We know that the high-profit, low-penalty profile of crimes that affect the environment makes them particularly attractive to criminal organizations.
In fact, they are among the most lucrative form of organized crime, generating billions of dollars annually and causing irreversible damage to people and ecosystems, particularly in the Global South.
And along with the environmental destruction they cause, the proceeds from these crimes can be used to fuel other activities such as arms smuggling, corruption and money laundering.
We need collaborative and evidence-based strategies to prevent and address these interlinked challenges.
UNODC is committed to supporting Member States in disrupting and dismantling organized criminal groups, in line with the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.
We are assisting law enforcement agencies to protect natural resources and investigate, prosecute, and adjudicate crimes that affect the environment.
In 2023, we trained over 2,400 criminal justice officials and supported over 100 wildlife crime investigations.
In Peru, we developed a Timber Identification Mobile App for national authorities, providing easy access to the technical information they need to detect illegal timber shipments.
And in Vietnam, we trained customs officers at the Port of Hain Phong to detect illegal wildlife shipments, leading to the port’s largest-ever seizure of seven tonnes of ivory last March.
But seizures and punitive measures alone are not enough to disrupt entrenched criminal systems.
Our collective efforts must have a multi-pronged approach that strengthens law enforcement, promotes conservation and advances sustainable development.
And we must work to raise awareness and improve our understanding of these illicit markets.
Earlier this year, UNODC launched the third edition of our World Wildlife Crime Report and the first chapter of a global analysis on crimes that affect the environment.
The good news is that the world is increasingly recognizing the link between criminal justice and action for the environment.
Last year, at COP28 in Dubai, the global stocktake highlighted the climate-biodiversity nexus, emphasising the urgency to prevent and begin reversing deforestation by 2030.
During the conference, I was proud to present our recently launched International Initiative of Law Enforcement for Climate, in partnership with the UAE.
The project was designed to identify the challenges faced by law enforcement in response to the climate crisis and to provide a platform for international coordination and stronger responses.
And at COP29 next month, we will partner with the Office of the Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan to take these discussions to the next level and bring the criminal justice and environmental sectors even closer together.
Ladies and gentlemen,
As we forge a path from Vienna to Baku, we need all stakeholders working together to integrate justice responses into the climate agenda, from law enforcement and judicial authorities to civil society groups, governments, and the private sector.
The UNTOC COP is the ideal forum to come together for stronger, more sustainable solutions.
And I am pleased to see two resolutions focusing on crimes that affect the environment tabled at this year’s session, to take stock of the UNTOC, identify gaps in implementation, and strengthen international cooperation.
If we hope to meet our climate targets and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, we must all join forces towards healthier ecosystems and a more resilient planet for all.
Thank you.
