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Addressing the Multiple Threats of Environmental Crimes in East Asia and the Pacific ______2009‐2012 Strategy for Technical Assistance ______

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Addressing the Multiple Threats of Environmental Crimes in East Asia and the Pacific ______2009‐2012 Strategy for Technical Assistance ______ Addressing the multiple threats of environmental crimes in East Asia and the Pacific ________________________ 2009‐2012 Strategy for Technical Assistance ________________________ Bangkok ‐ March, 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Challenges to environment................................................................................................ 2 2. Mandate of UNODC........................................................................................................... 4 3. Value added of UNODC interventions in East Asia and the Pacific...................................... 5 3.1 Law enforcement and border control ....................................................................... 5 3.2 Anti‐corruption and criminal justice ......................................................................... 6 3.3 Sustainable development......................................................................................... 6 4. Technical assistance that can be provided by UNODC in EAP ............................................. 7 5. Partnership with relevant actors........................................................................................ 9 Results and monitoring framework........................................................................................ 11 Fighting environmental crimes to foster human development ............................................... 12 1. Challenges to environment Environmental crimes directly affect the well‐being of the world, in different ways. Forests and oceans are the biggest retainers of carbon dioxide, which is responsible for global warming. By reducing their carbon sequestration capacities, environmental crimes fuel the ongoing process of climate change, which results into droughts, floods, extreme weather and altered habitats. Environmental crimes particularly affect economically‐marginalised communities, since their livelihoods are more immediately linked to dependence on natural resources. The direct effects of environmental crimes become immediately visible through increased poverty. Moreover, the loss of income from legal trade of natural resources erodes the revenue base of governments and undermines their ability to implement their development programmes and to maintain the rule of law. By over‐exploiting forests, wildlife, water (marine and inland) resources, and smuggling hazardous wastes and ozone‐depleting substances (ODS), criminal groups undermine the stability of the ecosystems, and their ability to provide clean air, hydrological stability and food provision for future generations. Annual change rate Country Therefore, fighting environmental crimes is a clear in forest area responsibility of national governments and international 1990‐ 2000‐ organizations in their pursuit towards human security. 2000 2005 % % The trade in illegally sourced timber hampers the economic, Philippines ‐2.8 ‐2.1 Cambodia ‐1.1 ‐2 social and environmental benefits that forests would otherwise Indonesia ‐1.7 ‐2 bring. Southeast Asia is undergoing the fastest deforestation in Myanmar ‐1.3 ‐1.4 the world, especially in Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, Timor‐Leste ‐1.2 ‐1.3 Myanmar and Timor‐Leste. It is estimated that the percentage Malaysia ‐0.4 ‐0.7 of illegally logged timber (out of the total harvest) in the Lao PDR ‐0.5 ‐0.5 Mekong Sub‐Region countries is 90% in Cambodia, 45% in Lao Thailand ‐0.7 ‐0.4 1 PDR, 40% in Thailand and 20‐40% in Vietnam . Viet Nam +2.3 +2 Total Southeast ‐1.2 ‐1.3 This is why, according to the World Bank, illegal logging Asia generates an enormous amount of illegal turnover ‘completely Solomon Islands ‐1.5 ‐1.7 outside the control of fiscal authorities and free to spread Papua New ‐0.5 ‐0.5 corruption contagion throughout the economy’.2 Guinea Total Oceania ‐0.21 ‐0.17 Indeed, the illegal logging industry depends on the complicity of officials across the entire production chain, from allocation Total Asia ‐0.14 +0.18 Total Africa ‐0.64 ‐0.62 of forest concessions to harvesting and transportation within Total World ‐0.22 ‐0.18 and eventually outside national borders. Even where “kingpin” Table 1. Forested Areas. Source: State perpetrators are apprehended, their influence amongst the of the World's Forest 2007, FAO higher echelons of public administration means that they are 1 Seneca Creek Associates and Wood Resources International, “Illegal Logging and global Wood Markets: The competitive impacts on the US Wood products”, November 2004. For a in depth review of estimates of illicitly sourced timber see Schloenhardt, Andreas, The illegal trade in timber and timber products in the Asia‐Pacific region, Research and Public Policy Series No.89, Australian Institute of Criminology, 2008. 2 World Bank, “The Many Faces of Corruption: Tracking Vulnerabilities at the Sectoral Level”, April 2008, pp 92‐93. Addressing the multiple threats of environmental crimes in EAP 2 rarely prosecuted or significantly penalised,3 which additionally points to a compromised justice sector. Therefore, despite some commendable national efforts, the deforestation rate remains high, and it becomes clear that one of the main factors leading to the disruption of forests is undoubtedly represented by the illegal logging through criminal syndicates. The extent of illegal logging, coupled with weak national capacities to enforce national and international regulations, represent a major threat to sound and sustainable development. Illegal fishing is another serious concern that must be rapidly Growth in captures addressed in Asia and the Pacific in order to avoid further Country in marine and inland waters poverty, food insecurity, and economic stagnation. While at 1995‐ 2000‐ global level fishery production is shrinking, Asia is the region 2000 2006 with the highest amount of traded production (marine and (%) (%) inland flora and fauna) and a growth rate of catches that is Cambodia 176.1% 69.7% second only to the Pacific. China is by far the world’s largest China 35.2% 1.3% 4 fishery producer (FAO 2007) , but the increase in the catch‐rate Indonesia 13.2% 15.6% for countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar and Papua New Malaysia 15.8% 0.5% Guinea is alarming. Myanmar 45.4% 83.6% Philippines 1.8% 22.3% The illegal and unregulated activities of criminal syndicates are Thailand ‐1.1% ‐7.4% not only causing the depletion of the fish stock – which might Vietnam 49.6% 20.7% lead to a collapse in some fish populations– but they are also Total Asia 13.0% 4.7% affecting the diversity in flora and fauna, as it is demonstrated Papua New 183.7% 146.0% by deteriorating condition of the Southeast Asian coral reefs. Guinea The ecological impact would have significant adverse economic Total Oceania 5.5% 14.5% consequences, and the marine ecosystem would be affected in its capacity of storing carbon. Total Americas ‐6.7% ‐12.7% Total Africa 14.4% 2.9% The increasing demand for exotic pets, rare foods, and Total World 3.5% ‐3.9% traditional medicines at the global level has fuelled a significant amount of wildlife trafficking in Southeast Asia. The availability Table 2. Statistical query through FIGIS of reliable statistics on the phenomenon is still poor, but data‐base, FAO, Dec. 2008. according to TRAFFIC International (a joint programme of WWF and IUCN which monitors the licit trade in wildlife) the global value of the imported illegal wildlife in the early 1990s was around USD 160 billion. It is almost impossible to calculate the real figure of illicit wildlife trade, but the figure must run into hundreds of millions of dollars5. It is estimated that in many countries of Southeast Asia some large animal species, such as elephant, tigers, and wild cattle have become extinct or virtually extinct, due to hunting and wildlife trade. Studies reveal that Southeast Asia is a major hub for a globally significant and rising problems of illegal trade in ODS and illegal trade in wastes. In 1997 parties to the Montreal Protocol had established a licensing system to control illegal trade involving annual import quotas and designated importers, yet the trade is still significant. Based on independent studies, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) reported between 2000 and 2007 numerous instances of Chinese‐ produced ODS turning up on the black market around the world – from South East Asia and the Middle East to South America. The scale of the problem is exacerbated by the discrepancies in official customs data: for instance, the reported exports from China to Indonesia of 3 Telepak and the Environmental Investigation Agency, “The Thousand‐Headed Snake: Forest Crimes, Corruption and Injustice in Indonesia”, March 2007, pp 1, 3. http://www.eia‐international.org/files/reports135‐1.pdf 4 FAO, Year Book of Fishery Statistics, 2007 5 TRAFFIC, http://www.traffic.org/trade/ , 20 March 2009 Addressing the multiple threats of environmental crimes in EAP 3 Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in 2004 were more than 1,000 tonnes higher each year than Indonesia’s reported imports of CFCs from China6. Official estimates from the reports to the Basel Convention suggest that there are at least 8.5 million tonnes of hazardous waste moving from country to country every year. Much of this amount is a source of business and many countries are unable to deal with these wastes properly. In a project carried out by 13 European countries, over half of the waste shipments verified were found to be illegal7. Much of this illicit commerce is facilitated by porous borders. Moreover, environmental crime laws are usually weakly enforced, have low penalties
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