Wildlife trafficking and environmental crime on the agenda in Latin America

On 3 and 4 October 2019, Heads of State and Government and Ministers of Environment from several countries met at the first high-level conference of Americas on wildlife trafficking (Primera conferencia de alto nivel de las américas sobre comercio ilícito de vida silvestre) in Lima, Peru to share initiatives and propose common strategies to fight environmental crime. On this occasion, Europol’s Analysis Project (AP) EnviCrime presented intelligence-led investigations and information-sharing via SIENA, Europol’s Secure Information Exchange Network Application, as an example of good international cooperation.
 
The conference was followed by a regional seminar on environmental crime in Latin America, organised by El PacCTO. The main objectives of this seminar was to foster international police and judicial cooperation of the Jaguar Network/Red Yaguareté and discuss ongoing operations against wildlife trafficking.  A special focus was given to the illegal trafficking of mercury which is a dangerous contaminant used in illegal mining in the Amazon rainforest.