Our response to environmental crime

Our Environmental Security Sub-directorate aims to tackle five environmental crime areas: wildlife crime, pollution crime and crimes in the fisheries, forestry and mining sectors.

We support our member countries in dismantling criminal networks involved in environmental crimes by providing technical expertise, coordinating international law enforcement operations, and helping bridge intelligence gaps through analysis and information sharing.

The unit brings together law enforcement agencies from our member countries, international organizations, civil society organizations and the private sector.

From our global duty stations, we can target hot spots, address regional needs and provide appropriate analytical and investigative support.

National Environmental Security Task Forces 

A National Environmental Security Task Force (NEST) allows law enforcement to stand alongside scientific experts whose knowledge and access to resources are invaluable in the fight against environmental criminals. It brings together police, customs, environmental agencies, prosecutors, non-governmental organizations and intergovernmental partners to focus on the networks and crimes that particularly affect a country.

A NEST draws on the mandates of each agency involved to combat environmental crimes from all angles – from on-the-ground illegal poaching to investigations into the financial and tax affairs of criminal networks. NESTs can be derived from or contributed to by other task forces which already exist in the country. INTERPOL has developed a guide to assist member countries in setting up a NEST.

Capacity building

We conduct extensive training and capacity building activities for our member countries to improve their effectiveness in fighting environmental crime. Regional and national level training events across the Americas, Africa and Asia have led to more successful environmental crime operations.

Analytical Support

INTERPOL can produce intelligence and analytical reports, using information supplied by member countries, partners and other sources to support targeted law enforcement activities, including environmental crimes.

This can include: analysis of criminal networks, electronic forensic data, images and biometrics, as well as mapping of the movements of vessels, vehicles and individuals, and establishment of links, timelines and trends.

The Illicit Market Analysis File is a database that holds criminal intelligence specifically related to transnational organized crime in the field of environmental crimes, illicit goods and global health issues.

More than 137 member countries participate in this Analysis file.

Regional Investigative and Analytical Case Meetings 

INTERPOL facilitates these meetings so that investigators from different countries can discuss transnational cases of mutual interest, share information and identify targets and priorities for follow-up operational action.

The meetings bring together countries with valuable insights and experience in national and regional priorities, border hotspots, trade routes, specific environmental crime cases and emerging trends. Intelligence reports from member countries are analyzed to find connections and bring together countries working on the same cases.

INTERPOL coordinates dedicated operational "task forces" of law enforcement agencies that address criminal networks operating transnationally on the illegal trade of specific environmentally sensitive commodities (eg. wildlife, fish, timber, minerals, waste).

INTERPOL Notices

INTERPOL Notices can be used to alert member countries and share information on environmental crimes. We use Red Notices to locate wanted environmental criminals, Blue Notices to collect information on suspects, Purple Notices to share information on new modus operandi, and Green Notices to provide warnings and intelligence about environmental criminals likely to repeat their crimes in other countries.

Operational Support Teams 

At the request of member countries, INTERPOL can deploy Operational Support Teams (OSTs). The OSTs consist of officers and analysts with specialized forensic, analytical and technical skills and crime area expertise who support national law enforcement authorities in ongoing investigations targeting environmental crimes.

Transnational Operations

INTERPOL leads coordinated, multi-jurisdictional operations at the global and regional levels to support law enforcement agencies in detecting, disrupting, and dismantling criminal networks involved in all forms of environmental crime. To ensure operations are fully effective and to empower member countries throughout the entire investigative cycle — from strategic planning and intelligence gathering to evidence collection and prosecution — at the request of member countries ENS provides targeted capacity-building training in advance and operational and forensic support afterwards. These efforts are designed to strengthen cross-border collaboration and enhance the use of advanced technologies to combat environmental crime.