Programme Cooperation Agreement 2012 – 2013

fies options for reducing both deforestation and carbon emissions. 87

SIGNIFICANT OUTCOME: Project LEAF takes a lead in combatting environmental crime in two continents Under the auspices of INTERPOL’s Environmental Crime Programme and project LEAF the Law Enforcement Against Deforestation (LEAD) operation was undertak- en with INTERPOL from 17 September to 17 November 2012. LEAD brought together law enforcement agencies to combat forestry crime in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colom- bia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatema- la, Honduras, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela. Under the operation, officials carried out inspections and investiga- tions on transport vehicles, retail premises, and individu- als, as well as surveillance at ports and transport centres. In the first phase, the seizures of wood and related prod- ucts were estimated at more than 50,000 m 3 of wood, equivalent to some 2,000 truckloads of timber. The total value of the seized timber is estimated at around USD 8 million. In phase two, approximately 292,000 m 3 of wood was seized, equivalent to around 19,500 truckloads of timber, and valued at USD 39 million. See: http://www.interpol.int/News-and-media/News- media-releases/2012/N20120913 As part of INTERPOL’s Project Wisdom and Project LEAF, more than 240 kg of elephant ivory and 856 tim- ber logs were seized and 660 people arrested during an INTERPOL-coordinated operation combating ivory trafficking and illegal logging across Southern and East- ern Africa. Also seized were 20 kg of rhino horns, 302 bags of charcoal, 637 firearms, nearly 2,000 rounds of ammunition, 30 chainsaws, 200 kilos of cannabis and khat, 65 pellets of heroin, 47 animal parts and 44 vehi- cles. The month-long operation, from 26 September to 26 October 2013, supported by the Wildcat Foundation and the Norwegian Agency for Development Coopera- tion (NORAD), involved wildlife enforcement officers, forest authorities, park rangers, police and customs of- ficers from five countries - Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. See: http://www.interpol.int/News-and-media/News- media-releases/2013/PR151 In 2012-2013 three UNEP Rapid Response Assessments on environmental crime were launched, all co-funded by UNEP and donor countries. All received extensive global media coverage and are repeatedly quoted worldwide, in- cluding in the UN General Assembly. Green Carbon, Black Trade: Illegal Logging, Tax Fraud and Laundering in the World’s Tropical Forests , was released on 27 September 2012 during World Forestry Week hosted by the FAO in Rome. The report, jointly edited and launched by GRID-Arendal and the INTERPOL Environmental Crime Programme, focuses on the increasingly sophisti- cated tactics being deployed in illegal logging and identi-

SIGNIFICANT OUTCOME: Evidence underpinning action The UNEP Rapid Response Assessment - Green Carbon, Black Trade revealed that illegal logging has a global val- ue of USD 30-100 billion and is responsible for 50-90% of the deforestation in key tropical countries. In addition, illegal logging represents 8-14% of global CO 2 emis- sions. Major countries, including Brazil, referenced the report in media when announcing decisions to enhance the effort against organized crime and illegal logging. Nadia Pontes, http://www.dw.de/brasil AFP, October 10, 2012 Two more Rapid Response Assessments were produced during the first quarter of 2013. The UNEP report Stolen Apes: The Illicit Trade in Chimpanzees, Gorillas, Bono- bos and Orangutans 88 analyzes the scale and scope of the illegal trade in apes and highlights the growing links to sophisticated trans-boundary crime networks, which law enforcement networks are struggling to contain. The re- port was prepared by GRID-Arendal and the Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP). Another report, prepared by GRID-Arendal for UNEP, CITES, IUCN and TRAFFIC, Elephants in the Dust: The African Elephant Poaching Crisis , 89 provides an overview of the current state of the African elephant and recommendations for action to ensure its protection. Both reports were launched in early March, at side events at the 16 th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties of CITES held in Bangkok, Thailand 90 and were in- tended to influence decisions at the COP. SIGNIFICANT OUTCOME: National ivory action plans On the very last day of the CITES COP16, an agreement was reached on concrete actions to be taken by a group of eight countries identified as the worst offenders in the illegal ivory trade chain (the supply states Kenya, Tanza- nia and Uganda; the consumer states China and Thailand; and the transit countries Malaysia, Viet Nam and the Phil- ippines). According to this agreement, the countries are committed to quickly develop national ivory action plans and to take urgent measures to implement and report on these plans. The Whilst the Elephants in the Dust report cannot claim attribution for this new policy, it is likely to have been an important resource for raising awareness as it was launched prior to the COP discussions on this issue. Nadia Pontes, http://www.dw.de/brasil AFP, October 10, 2012)

87. http://www.grida.no/regional/news.aspx?id=5313 88. http://www.grida.no/publications/rr/apes/ 89. http://www.grida.no/publications/rr/elephants/ 90. http://www.unep.org/newscentre/Default.aspx?DocumentID=2708 &ArticleID=9434&l=en

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