This post is part of the Natural Security Forum blog, which provides quick analysis from the Natural Security Forum team and outside contributors. For more information, visit the Natural Security Forum’s micro-site at www.naturalsecurityforum.org.
Written by the Natural Security Forum team
For years, environmental concerns have centered on climate change and conservation. Primary concerns have been about the effects of a warming planet and loss of biodiversity. These focuses, however, neglect the persistent and systematic threat posed by environmental crime.
Worldwide, environmental crime generates as much as $258 billion a year and grows by five to seven percent annually—two to three times the growth of the global economy. This makes it the fourth largest illicit market, behind the trade of narcotics, counterfeiting, and human trafficking.
Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing is one-fifth of the legal fishing trade, valued at $23 billion annually. Its environmental damage has been extensive, with over 90 percent of the world’s fisheries either overfished or fully exploited. The illicit mineral industry, propogated through unlicensed mining, is responsible for further annual worldwide resource losses calculated between $12 and $48 billion.
Click here to read more.
Energy, Water & Oceans, Energy, Water & Oceans
This post is part of the Natural Security Forum blog, which provides quick analysis from the Natural Security Forum team and outside contributors. For more information, visit the Natural Security Forum’s micro-site at www.naturalsecurityforum.org.
Written by the Natural Security Forum team
For years, environmental concerns have centered on climate change and conservation. Primary concerns have been about the effects of a warming planet and loss of biodiversity. These focuses, however, neglect the persistent and systematic threat posed by environmental crime.
Worldwide, environmental crime generates as much as $258 billion a year and grows by five to seven percent annually—two to three times the growth of the global economy. This makes it the fourth largest illicit market, behind the trade of narcotics, counterfeiting, and human trafficking.
Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing is one-fifth of the legal fishing trade, valued at $23 billion annually. Its environmental damage has been extensive, with over 90 percent of the world’s fisheries either overfished or fully exploited. The illicit mineral industry, propogated through unlicensed mining, is responsible for further annual worldwide resource losses calculated between $12 and $48 billion.
Click here to read more.
Recent & Related
Made in the Gulf, Designed in America: How the Iran War Has Incentivized Drone Production in the GCC
The Orphan of the Summit of the Future: The Declaration on Future Generations
Experts React: Takeaways from the Trump-Xi Summit
Kabuki Diplomacy Between US and Iran at UNGA
Is the Iran War Worth It? Six Months Later, Still No
Why Iran-Backed Iraqi Armed Groups Are Hedging on Disarmament
9 Issues to Watch at UNGA 81
Why the Houthi Capture of Mocha Matters Far Beyond Yemen
Nuclear Disruption: The US-Saudi 123 Agreement and the Future of Nuclear Cooperation in the Middle East
The Nation Is Not Alone. We Need Reflexive Multilateralism
“No, History Begins Today”: Why Washington Could Not Reshape Pakistan’s Interests After 9/11
What if the US Had Made Peace With Iran After 9/11?
Find an Expert
Home to more than 100 scholars and global affiliates, the Stimson Center is proud to be a magnet for the world’s leading experts on the most pressing foreign policy and national security issues of our time. Explore our experts and their work.