INTERPOL Environmental Crime Unit — Global Enforcement of Environmental Law

Updated May 2026 196 member countries Environmental crime: $110–281B/year HQ: Lyon, France
INTERPOL's Environmental Security Programme (formerly the Environmental Crime Programme) is the coordinating body within the world's largest international police organisation for tackling crimes that damage the natural environment. Established in its current form in 2000 and substantially expanded after 2010, the programme works across four major crime categories: wildlife crime (trafficking of plants, animals, and their derivatives); illegal logging and timber trade; pollution crime (illegal dumping of industrial waste, illegal trade in hazardous substances, marine pollution); and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Environmental crime is now the world's fourth-largest criminal enterprise, generating an estimated $110–281 billion in illicit proceeds annually (INTERPOL/UNODC 2022). Unlike many crime types, environmental crime is frequently committed by organised criminal networks — approximately 70% of wildlife trafficking cases involve organised crime structures (UNODC). INTERPOL runs coordinated global enforcement operations under project names such as THUNDER (wildlife), 30 Days at Sea (marine/fisheries), SCALE (chemical waste), GREENLEAF and JAGUAR (illegal logging), and EMMA (illegal gold mining). These operations span multiple jurisdictions simultaneously, coordinated through INTERPOL's National Central Bureaus in member countries, and supported by National Environmental Security Task Forces (NESTs) — specialised multi-agency units that bring together police, customs, border control, and environmental regulators within each country.
$110–281B/yr
Estimated annual global environmental crime value (INTERPOL/UNODC 2022). Range reflects methodological uncertainty. Breakdown: illegal logging $51–152B; illegal gold mining $48–70B; wildlife trafficking $7–23B; IUU fishing $23.5B; waste crime $10–12B. World's 4th largest criminal enterprise after drug trafficking, counterfeiting, and human trafficking.
196 members
INTERPOL member countries whose National Central Bureaus participate in coordinated environmental operations. Environmental Security Programme coordinates National Environmental Security Task Forces (NESTs) in priority countries — multi-agency units combining police, customs, environment regulators. NESTs active in 30+ countries including Brazil, South Africa, Kenya, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Peru.
70% organised crime
Share of environmental crimes involving organised criminal groups (UNODC/INTERPOL). Wildlife trafficking and illegal mining are particularly dominated by sophisticated transnational criminal networks using the same routes, methods, and money-laundering techniques as drug trafficking. Corruption of officials is a key enabler — environmental crime requires persistent complicity at borders, customs, ports, and national park authorities.
4 crime streams
INTERPOL's Environmental Security Programme organises its work around four core crime streams: (1) Wildlife crime — fauna and flora, (2) Forestry crime — illegal logging and timber trade, (3) Pollution crime — industrial waste, chemical/hazardous substances, e-waste, (4) Fisheries crime — IUU fishing and seafood fraud. Cross-cutting themes: financial crime, corruption, use of technology in detection.
Op THUNDER
INTERPOL's flagship annual wildlife enforcement operation. THUNDER 2023: 136 countries, 4,800+ seizures, 30+ tonnes of ivory, 200,000 live animals, 17,000+ birds. Targets trafficking of live animals and plants, ivory, rhino horn, sea turtle products, shark fins, tropical timber, medicinal plants. Coordinated with CITES Secretariat, WCO, and national wildlife agencies.
IUU fishing: $23.5B
Annual value of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing globally (INTERPOL). "30 Days at Sea" operation series (2019–2023) has coordinated coast guard, fisheries inspection, and law enforcement across dozens of countries simultaneously. IUU fishing depletes fish stocks 20–35% faster than reported, disproportionately impacts small island developing states and artisanal fishers.

Environmental Security Programme — History & Mandate

Origins: INTERPOL began addressing wildlife crime in the 1970s and established a formal Wildlife Crime Working Group in 1992 alongside the CITES process. The Environmental Crime Programme was formalised in 2000 and significantly expanded in 2010 with dedicated programme staff and operational funding. A 2018 restructuring merged wildlife, forestry, pollution, and fisheries crime into the unified Environmental Security Programme.

Mandate: The Programme does not have enforcement powers of its own — it coordinates and supports law enforcement agencies in member countries. It provides: intelligence analysis and sharing, coordination of simultaneous multinational operations, training and capacity building, technical tools (databases, identification guides), and a secure communications channel (I-24/7) enabling police-to-police data sharing across 196 countries.

Structure: The Programme is part of INTERPOL's Organised and Emerging Crime Directorate. It is divided into four crime streams: Wildlife Crime, Forestry Crime, Pollution Crime, and Fisheries Crime. A Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Unit works cross-functionally on money laundering and bribery that enables environmental crimes. In 2022, INTERPOL established the Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Committee (EnCEC) to oversee global standards.
Source: INTERPOL Environmental Security Programme Annual Report 2023; INTERPOL Criminal Intelligence Analysis File on Wildlife Crime; UNODC World Wildlife Crime Report 2022.

National Environmental Security Task Forces (NESTs)

NESTs are multi-agency national units established with INTERPOL support to provide sustained, dedicated environmental law enforcement capacity in member countries. Unlike one-off operations, NESTs provide permanent coordination between agencies that do not typically work together: police, customs, border agencies, wildlife rangers, fisheries inspectors, and environment ministry officials.

Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines)Priority region for wildlife trafficking; NESTs established 2015–2020; focus on exit ports (Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Jakarta); online wildlife trade monitoring; coordination with TRAFFIC and WWF intelligence units
East/Southern Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Zimbabwe)Ivory and rhino horn trafficking hubs; MIKE programme coordination (elephant monitoring); INTERPOL NEST+CITES monitoring; Operation THUNDER eastern Africa component; 40%+ of ivory seizures globally in East African transit countries
South America (Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador)Amazon illegal logging and mining (Op JAGUAR, EMMA); wildlife trafficking (macaws, reptiles, primates); GAECO (Brazil's organised crime task force) environmental unit; Peru's illegal gold mining producing $3–4B/year linked to INTERPOL operations
West Africa (Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Senegal)Logging crime, pangolin trafficking, illegal fishing in Gulf of Guinea; NEST capacity building programme active since 2019; coordination with UNODC container control programme at Lagos, Tema, Douala ports
Source: INTERPOL 2023 Environmental Security Programme Report; UNODC World Wildlife Crime Report 2022; WWF/TRAFFIC ROUTES Programme 2023.

INTERPOL Global Environmental Operations — Overview

INTERPOL runs simultaneous multi-country operations under project names, typically lasting 1–6 months, with a strike day or phase involving coordinated enforcement actions across dozens of jurisdictions simultaneously.

Operation THUNDER / THUNDERBALL

Annual global wildlife enforcement operation. 2023 edition: 136 countries, 4,800+ seizures, 160,000 live animals, ~30 tonnes ivory equivalent, 460+ arrests. Coordinates police, customs, and wildlife agencies. Targets all wildlife trafficking routes from source to destination markets.

2023: $190M+ estimated value of wildlife seized

Operation 30 Days at Sea

Multi-phase marine enforcement operation targeting IUU fishing, maritime pollution, and seafood fraud. Series launched 2019; 2022 edition covered 58 countries, seized 350+ tonnes of illegally caught fish, 200,000+ litres of illegal discharge, 7,000+ inspections of fishing vessels.

2022: $25M in fines issued; 500+ vessel detentions

Operation SCALE / Pollution

Targets illegal trade in hazardous chemicals, industrial waste dumping, and e-waste trafficking. 2021 edition: 40 countries, 2,300+ tonnes of illegal waste seized, 150+ suspects identified. Partners with Basel Convention Secretariat and WCO. E-waste trafficking worth $10–12B/year.

2021: 2,300 tonnes hazardous waste seized; 15 criminal networks disrupted

Operation GREENLEAF / JAGUAR

South American focus on Amazon region illegal logging, timber laundering, and deforestation crime. JAGUAR targets organized criminal groups controlling illegal logging corridors in Brazil, Peru, Colombia. 2022: 2,000+ seizures, 50,000 m³ timber, 14 major criminal networks identified.

2022: $80M in illegal timber seized; 200+ arrests across Amazonia

Operation EMMA (Illegal Mining)

Targets illegal gold, diamond, and mineral mining, particularly artisanal illegal gold mining linked to organised crime in South America and Sub-Saharan Africa. Peru and Colombia illegal gold mining estimated at $3–6B/year. EMMA coordinates with national mining regulators and financial intelligence units to trace money flows.

2023: 500+ arrests; $45M illegal gold seized across Amazonia operations

Operation DEMETER

Targets illegal pesticide manufacturing, trafficking, and use. Run jointly with the Pesticide Action Network and FAO. Counterfeit and unregistered pesticides estimated to represent 25% of the global pesticide market ($6.6B). Agricultural crime including theft of livestock and crops also in scope.

2022: 700 tonnes illegal pesticides seized; 190 suspects; 17 countries
Source: INTERPOL Operation Reports 2021–2023 (THUNDER, 30 Days at Sea, SCALE, JAGUAR, EMMA, DEMETER); INTERPOL Annual Report 2023; UNODC World Wildlife Crime Report 2022.

Wildlife Crime — Scale & Key Commodities

Ivory (elephant)~$400/kg retail Asia; CITES Appendix I (trade banned 1989); ~20,000 elephants poached/year peak 2011–2016; decline since ivory ban enforcement; ivory trafficking routes: Central/East Africa → China/Vietnam via transit hubs (Malaysia, Singapore)
Rhino horn$60,000–70,000/kg — more valuable by weight than cocaine; South Africa holds 70% of global rhino population; Vietnamese demand drives trafficking; ~500 rhinos poached/year in South Africa; CITES Appendix I
PangolinsWorld's most trafficked mammal; 8 species, all CITES Appendix I since 2016; 100,000+ pangolins seized/year; demand for meat and scales in East/Southeast Asia; illegal trade estimated $2.5B/year; COVID-19 transmission vector concerns elevated enforcement
Live animal tradeParrots (Spix's macaw, African grey), tortoises, primates, large cats; smuggled alive via mail, air freight, personal baggage; 50–90% mortality rate in transit; Operation THUNDER 2023: 160,000+ live animals recovered
Shark finsShark fin soup drives ~100M shark deaths/year; 80+ shark species now CITES Appendix II; ocean freight the primary route; CITES non-detriment finding requirements increasingly enforced; WCO customs codes updated 2023
Source: UNODC World Wildlife Crime Report 2022; CITES Trade Database; WWF 2023 Living Planet Report; TRAFFIC 2023 Market Analysis; INTERPOL THUNDER operation reports.

Pollution & Forestry Crime

Illegal Logging: The single largest environmental crime by value, estimated at $51–152 billion/year globally. Major source regions: Southeast Asia (particularly Indonesia, Myanmar), Amazon Basin, Central and West Africa, Russia's Far East. Illegal timber is laundered through paper companies, mixed with legal timber, and falsely certified. The EU Timber Regulation (2013) and US Lacey Act (2008) require due diligence, but enforcement remains patchy. INTERPOL estimates 20–40% of global timber trade involves some element of illegal harvesting.

Illegal gold mining (garimpo) is the defining environmental enforcement challenge in the Amazon. An estimated 20,000–50,000 illegal miners operate in Brazil's Yanomami Indigenous Territory alone. Mercury from illegal gold processing contaminates river systems across hundreds of kilometres. EMMA operations coordinate with IBAMA (Brazil), SUNAT (Peru), and financial intelligence to trace gold laundered through legitimate refineries.

Pollution Crime: Illegal dumping of industrial waste, shipbreaking pollution, e-waste trafficking, and illegal trade in ozone-depleting substances (ODS). E-waste alone generates 50+ million tonnes/year globally, with 70–80% illegally exported to Africa and Asia under falsely labelled "second-hand goods". INTERPOL's SCALE operation targets chemical waste networks. The Basel Convention (1989) governs transboundary movement of hazardous waste — enforcement requires customs-law enforcement coordination.

Source: INTERPOL 2022 (Environmental Crime Threat Assessment); World Bank 2022 (illegal logging economic assessment); UNODC 2022 (World Wildlife Crime); Basel Convention Secretariat 2023; Global E-Waste Monitor 2024.

Key Institutional Partners

CITES SecretariatConvention on International Trade in Endangered Species — 183 parties; lists 40,000+ species; provides permit databases, LEMIS (Law Enforcement Management Information System), and species identification to INTERPOL operations; joint training programmes
UNODCUN Office on Drugs and Crime — joint authors of World Wildlife Crime Report; UNODC Container Control Programme; shared databases on environmental crime financial flows; UNTOC (organised crime convention) linkage for prosecution support
WCO (World Customs Organization)185-country customs network; Green Customs Initiative; CEN (Customs Enforcement Network) database; ENVIRONET (environmental intelligence); joint training on CITES permits, ODS identification, timber regulation
TRAFFIC / WWFTRAFFIC: wildlife trade monitoring network co-managed by WWF and IUCN; provides market intelligence, route analysis, and species identification support to INTERPOL operations; ROUTES Partnership: airport wildlife trafficking interdiction
Basel/Rotterdam/Stockholm SecretariatsMultilateral environmental agreement secretariats providing legal frameworks for hazardous waste (Basel), chemicals (Rotterdam/Stockholm); INTERPOL SCALE operation coordinates with these bodies on priority waste streams and chemical trafficking
Source: INTERPOL Partnership Framework Documents 2023; Green Customs Initiative Annual Report 2022; TRAFFIC Programme Overview 2023; UNODC Container Control Programme Annual Report 2023.

Technology & Intelligence Tools

I-24/7 Secure Communications: INTERPOL's encrypted global communications network connecting all 196 National Central Bureaus. Environmental enforcement officers can request real-time checks on vessels, vehicles, suspects, and seized items across member countries. Connects to Stolen Works of Art, Stolen Motor Vehicles, and CITES permit databases.

Environmental Crime Intelligence Database: Aggregated intelligence on wildlife trafficking networks, illegal mining operations, and pollution crime. Fed by national agencies and INTERPOL field operations. Used to identify recurring criminal networks across multiple seized consignments.

Wildlife Seizure Database (WISE): INTERPOL/UNODC joint database of wildlife seizures from 170+ countries since 2005. Over 180,000 seizure records. Enables pattern analysis of trafficking routes, species trends, and criminal group movements. Key source for UNODC World Wildlife Crime Reports.
Project Scale / Pollution Intelligence: Chemical waste crime intelligence network connecting pollution enforcement bodies in 60+ countries. Tracks illegal waste shipment routes, counterfeit hazardous chemical labelling, and illegal ODS trading networks. Links to Interpol's financial crime databases to trace illicit proceeds.

Species Identification: INTERPOL maintains and distributes species identification guides (CITES Appendix species, target commodities, derivative products) to law enforcement. Increasingly supplemented by AI-based identification tools and DNA forensics protocols for ivory, timber, and pangolin scale identification.

Source: INTERPOL I-24/7 Technical Documentation; WISE Database — INTERPOL/UNODC 2023; CITES e-permitting documentation; INTERPOL Environmental Security Programme Technology Overview 2022.

Environmental Crime & Climate Change — Bidirectional Relationship

Deforestation as climate crime: Illegal logging and land clearing account for approximately 10–12% of annual global CO₂ emissions — equivalent to the entire EU's annual emissions. The Amazon, Congo Basin, and Southeast Asian forests are the three largest carbon sinks under threat from criminal deforestation. INTERPOL operations targeting illegal logging in these regions are, in effect, climate enforcement operations.

Carbon credit fraud: An emerging area for INTERPOL. As voluntary carbon markets grew to $2B/year and REDD+ credits multiplied, fraudulent forest protection claims followed. Projects claiming to protect forests that were never at risk ("phantom forests"), or double-counting of carbon credits across multiple registries, constitute both environmental crime and financial fraud. INTERPOL's financial crime unit began systematic attention to carbon market fraud in 2023–2024.

Climate-driven wildlife crime: Climate change alters species ranges, puts new populations in human contact zones, and increases the vulnerability of species already stressed by habitat loss. The same conditions that push species toward range shifts or extinction can increase the value of remaining individuals on the illegal market — creating an incentive for poaching of increasingly rare animals.

Illegal mining & climate: Artisanal illegal gold mining causes both deforestation and mercury pollution that is climate-sensitive — warming increases mercury methylation rates in aquatic systems. In the Amazon, illegal mining has deforested an area equivalent to half of Switzerland since 2000, with compounding climate effects from lost forest carbon storage and changed hydrological cycles.
Source: IPCC AR6 WG3 Ch.7 (land use); Global Forest Watch 2023; INTERPOL/UNODC Environmental Crime Threat Assessment 2022; Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) 2023; Nature (Asner et al., 2023) illegal mining Amazon.

Organized Crime, Corruption & Enforcement Gaps

The corruption enabler: Environmental crime at scale is impossible without the complicity of officials. Customs officers who wave through wildlife shipments, park rangers who share patrol routes with poachers, land registry officials who launder illegal logging proceeds — corruption is the essential infrastructure of large-scale environmental crime. INTERPOL's anti-corruption work in the environmental space is politically sensitive but operationally necessary.
Prosecution gapEnvironmental crime is chronically under-prosecuted. In many jurisdictions, penalties are disproportionately low relative to profits, making it a low-risk/high-reward criminal activity. INTERPOL advocates for harmonising national penalties and elevating environmental crime to serious crime status under UNTOC.
Financial investigation gapMost environmental crime investigations focus on the physical seizure — the ivory, the timber, the waste. The money laundering that converts environmental crime proceeds into legitimate assets rarely receives equal investigative attention. INTERPOL's Green Fingers Unit targets financial flows.
Online wildlife tradeRapid shift of wildlife trade to social media platforms, dark web, and encrypted messaging apps (Telegram, WhatsApp) since 2015. INTERPOL's Cyber Crime directorate collaborates with the Environmental Security Programme on platform monitoring and dark web intelligence. Facebook/Instagram removal requests increased 10x 2018–2022.
Jurisdiction complexityEnvironmental crimes frequently cross 3–5+ jurisdictions (source country → transit → destination). No single country can investigate the full chain. INTERPOL's value is enabling cross-border intelligence sharing and coordinated arrest operations that national agencies cannot conduct alone.
Source: INTERPOL Environmental Crime Threat Assessment 2022; FATF (2021) — Money Laundering from Environmental Crime; Transparency International 2022 — Corruption in the Wildlife Trade; UNODC 2023 — Organized Crime in the Amazon.