New Capacity Building and Information Sharing Efforts Will Help Protect the Amazon
WASHINGTON, DC – The Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition welcomes the recent announcement by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen of the new Amazon Region Initiative Against Illicit Finance, which will target the proceeds of nature crimes such as illegal logging and mining through increased collaboration, information exchange, and technical assistance with countries in the Amazon region.
“When it comes to environmental crimes in the Amazon, the U.S. is a destination country for both illegally sourced products and the dirty money associated with them,” said Julia Yansura, FACT program director for illicit finance and environmental crime. “It’s time for the U.S. to change this dynamic, and the Amazon Region Initiative is a major step in the right direction.”
Environmental crimes are the world’s third most profitable crime. As Secretary Yellen said in her remarks announcing the initiative, “Globally, nature crimes are estimated to generate proceeds in the hundreds of billions of dollars annually and often entail misusing and abusing the U.S. financial system.”
In one particularly illustrative case last September, criminal rings allegedly used a New York company to import illegal gold from Brazil into the United States. FACT’s latest report, Dirty Money and the Destruction of the Amazon, outlines policy recommendations to address the role of U.S. financial secrecy vehicles in enabling environmental criminal profiteering, including through a mix of domestic anti-money laundering reforms and increased U.S. leadership and cooperation with partner governments. Treasury’s announcement promises progress on several of FACT’s key recommendations from the report, including increased technical assistance and improved information sharing.
“Since environmental crimes are a major driver of Amazon rainforest destruction and the profit from these crimes is their main motivation, the measures announced by the United States to address illicit finance from environmental crime in the Amazon basin are very welcome,” said Melina Risso, Research Director of the Brazil-based Igarapé Institute, a FACT Coalition partner. “After all, it’s no secret that environmental criminals see the United States as a safe place to stash and grow their illicit investments.”
As part of the initiative announced on Friday, the United States has pledged to co-host a regional meeting of Amazon Basin countries with Brazil to boost cooperation in fighting the illicit finance that fuels nature crimes, conduct “follow the money” trainings with law enforcement from these countries, and enhance the U.S.’ own role in facilitating investigations and prosecutions.
“This is a groundbreaking announcement, and the U.S. needs to follow through on its promise,” said Yansura. “These crimes are transnational, and therefore require transnational cooperation to investigate and prosecute. To truly curb nature crime, law enforcement must follow the money that fuels environmental destruction. We hope the U.S. plays a constructive role in that effort.”
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Notes to the Editor:
- For more information on Brazil’s Operation Emboabas, which uncovered the illegal gold smuggling through the New York firm mentioned above, see the September 2023 press statement from Brazil’s Ministry of Justice.
- Click here for the Treasury Department’s official announcement.
- For more U.S.-Amazon case studies and policy recommendations that the U.S. can pursue to tackle the threat of illicit finance from nature crimes in the Amazon, see FACT’s report, “Dirty Money and the Destruction of the Amazon: Uncovering the U.S. Role in Illicit Financial Flows from Environmental Crimes in Peru and Colombia.”
- The Igarapé Institute has also explored the transnational nature of illicit finance deriving from environmental crime in South America. To learn more, see their recent research paper, “Follow the Money: Connecting Anti-Money Laundering Systems to Disrupt Environmental Crime in the Amazon.”