Environmental Crime and Criminal Convergence: Risks and Opportunities

Criminal convergence can be broadly understood as the diversification of organised crime groups (OCGs) into multiple lines of business as a rational endeavour to stabilise and de-risk their supply chain. As early as 2015, INTERPOL highlighted the “increasingly apparent and complex” role of environmental crime in criminal convergence. Studies have since shown that the growing scarcity of natural resources has led transnational OCGs to diversify from ‘traditional’ illicit markets such as drug trafficking and human trafficking into the illegal trade of natural commodities – such as timber, fish, protected wildlife, and critical minerals - in ways that complement their original business lines. Evidencing links between environmental crimes – such as illegal mining, illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and wildlife trafficking – with other more traditional illicit activities is imperative to provide authorities with a better understanding of how to weaken criminal networks and overcome the silos which exist in criminal enforcement and justice policy and response. Furthermore, understanding criminal convergence is essential for addressing risks to environmental security that threaten to undermine global efforts to preserve biodiversity and mitigate climate change.