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KENYA / UNEA ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME CRISIS
STORY: KENYA / UNEA ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME
TRT:2:28
SOURCE: UNEP
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
DATELINE: 24 JUNE 2014, NAIROBI, KENYA / RECENT/FILE
RECENT-
1. Wide shot, conference centre
2. Med shot, UNEA sign
24 JUNE 2014, NAIROBI, KENYA
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP):
“This is a big story. This is a sad story. It is a story that has threatened communities, threatening national economies, and it requires a rethink. Because, despite everything we have put in place, at national and international level, these numbers clearly demonstrate to you that the forces of the market and the drivers that you will find described on page 15 here, are not allowing us to come to grips with this problem.”
4. Cutaway, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP):
“The people that engage in trafficking humans or in trading drugs are essentially able to use the same networks, the same techniques, the same contacts and the same payments…corruption-related payments…that also allow many of the issues that we are addressing in this report to happen.”
6. Cutaway, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) David Higgins, Manager, Environmental Crime Programme, INTERPOL:
“We need to now gather systematic law enforcement information and intelligence to be able to equip ourselves from an intelligence perspective, to become intelligence-led in our law enforcement responses. You need analytical processes, and you need strong investigative responses.”
8. Cutaway, journalists
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP):
“Clearly public awareness remains the fundamental strategy with which we try and shut down this trade. Many people do not realize the impacts of their actions. But we have enough information today – we live in a modern information age – therefore a key part of what UNEA is trying to contribute to is the global conversation on this issue.”
FILE - AMBURU NATIONAL RESERVE, RIFT VALLEY PROVINCE, KENYA
10. Various shots, elephants in the wild
11. Various shots, remains of poached elephants
FILE – RECENT, SOUTH AFRICA
12. Various shots, poached rhinos
Global environmental crime, worth up to US$213 billion each year, is helping finance criminal, militia and terrorist groups and threatening the security and sustainable development of many nations, according to a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and INTERPOL.
SOUNDBITE (English) Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP):
“This is a big story. This is a sad story. It is a story that has threatened communities, threatening national economies, and it requires a rethink. Because, despite everything we have put in place, at national and international level, these numbers clearly demonstrate to you that the forces of the market and the drivers that you will find described on page 15 here, are not allowing us to come to grips with this problem.”
The Environmental Crime Crisis, a rapid response assessment, was released during the first United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), where action to tackle environmental crime is high on the agenda for hundreds of environment ministers, law enforcement officers, the judiciary and senior UN officials.
One terrorist group operating in East Africa is estimated to make between US$38 and
US$56 million per year from the illegal trade in charcoal, says the report. In total, militia and terrorist groups in and around African nations with on-going conflicts may earn US$111 to US$289 million annually from their involvement in, and taxing of, the illegal or unregulated charcoal trade.
SOUNDBITE (English) David Higgins, Manager, Environmental Crime Programme, INTERPOL:
“We need to now gather systematic law enforcement information and intelligence to be able to equip ourselves from an intelligence perspective, to become intelligence-led in our law enforcement responses. You need analytical processes, and you need strong investigative responses.”
The report points to an increased awareness of, and response to, the growing global threat, but calls for further concerted action and issues recommendations aimed at strengthening action against the organized criminal networks profiting from the trade.
SOUNDBITE (English) Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP):
“Clearly public awareness remains the fundamental strategy with which we try and shut down this trade. Many people do not realize the impacts of their actions. But we have enough information today – we live in a modern information age – therefore a key part of what UNEA is trying to contribute to is the global conversation on this issue.”
The illegal trade in fauna and flora (other than fisheries and timber) has been estimated by different sources to be worth US$7 to US$23 billion dollars annually.
The trade involves a wide range of species including insects, reptiles, amphibians, fish and mammals. It concerns both live and dead specimens and associated products, which are used for pharmaceuticals, food, pets, and ornamental or traditional medicinal purposes. All of these have a significant value not only on the black market, but to national economies if managed sustainably.
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