The long supply chains of contemporary global trade expose countries all over the world to the products and proceeds of environmental crime. This section identifies commodities traded in high-risk jurisdictions, particularly those operating in the following capacities:

Source Countries

Countries or regions that produce and export high levels of commodities, goods, and products with links to environmental crime.

Transit
Countries

Countries or regions serving as intermediaries for the transit/transport of the products of environmental crime or their associated illicit financial flows.

Destination Countries

Countries or regions that purchase high levels of goods linked to environmental crime.

Note: Countries can operate in more than one capacity
(e.g. as both source and transit countries).

Key monitoring areas

Financial institutions should pay close attention to the geographical source and destination of financial transactions, as well as the transit routes of any related physical products, which may indicate illicit activity (e.g. criminals may reroute illegally derived commodities through certain countries in an attempt to obscure their origins).

Some general geographic red flag indicators include:

  • High-risk geographic origins

    • Shipments or transactions from high-risk source countries or regions, as detailed below.

    • Involvement of locations identified as key transit hubs or destination countries for the products of environmental crime.

    • Transactions from countries with low penalties for environmental crimes.

  • Conflict and instability

    • Shipments from countries experiencing current conflict and rich in natural resources (e.g. minerals, timber).

    • Transactions from natural resource-rich countries with high drug cartel presence.

    • Activity from regions where crackdowns on drug crimes may have incentivised diversification into natural commodities.

  • Governance and security indicators

    • Involvement of politically exposed persons (PEPs) from higher-risk countries and regions.

    • Use of intermediaries or shell companies registered in offshore or higher-risk jurisdictions.

    • Shipments from natural resource-rich countries where local crime rates around forest-dense regions or protected areas have increased.

  • Money laundering risk

Scope

This resource focuses on 65 high-risk countries for deforestation, illegal mining, and the illegal wildlife trade. It also includes information on countries whose supply chains are linked to these high-risk jurisdictions.  

For more information on the financial crime risks typologies associated with particular commodities in specific countries, please see the Risk Assessment. This map is under constant development. New information is always emerging and there may be recent sources of data that have not yet been incorporated into this resource. It is intended to be used as an indicative guide only and to prompt further investigation and research.

Further information on sources can be downloaded here.

Interactive Environmental Crimes Map

Geographic/ jurisdictional indicators
Sectoral indicators
Financial transactions & services indicators
Client profile indicators
Transportation & trade-based money laundering indicators
Corruption indicators
Human rights indicators
Reporting regulatory requirements & best practices for FIs

The Environmental Crimes Financial Toolkit is developed by WWF and Themis, with support from the Climate Solutions Partnership (CSP). The CSP is a philanthropic collaboration between HSBC, WRI and WWF, with a global network of local partners, aiming at scaling up innovative nature-based solutions, and supporting the transition of the energy sector to renewables in Asia, by combining our resources, knowledge, and insight.

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