Lima, Peru – A new policy paper by Amazon Underworld, Amazon Watch, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, and InfoAmazonia details a roadmap for governments across the region to tackle the ruthless expansion of crime organizations and illicit markets in the most biodiverse region of the world.
The paper, which is based on information gathered as part of a two-year-long investigation into the impact of organized crime in the Amazon, details a series of policy recommendations for governments at the local, national, and regional levels as well as authorities beyond the Americas and international bodies.
Among the recommendations are: improving law enforcement cooperation, environmental security and diplomacy, strengthening Indigenous peoples’ own strategies of territorial control and governance, establishing mechanisms to protect those who speak out against organized crime, strengthening investigative capacity, and tackling corruption. The paper also calls on authorities to increase judicial scrutiny of those who finance environmental crimes as well as illegal markets and supply chains.
Bram Ebus, lead investigative journalist and coordinator of the Amazon Underworld project, said: “As organized crime prevails in many parts of the Amazon, governments and multilateral bodies must do better to support the local communities operating on the front lines of the Amazon’s most conflictive areas, where violent invaders destroy the rainforest and target Indigenous and environmental defenders. Criminal networks operate freely in the Amazon, as if country borders do not exist. If governments, civil society, and the international community want to protect the world’s most biodiverse ecosystem, cooperation is key.”
Herlín Odicio, Vice President of the Regional Organization of AIDESEP in Ucayali (ORAU), said: “Drug trafficking and illegal logging continue to advance as if nothing were happening. The encroachment continues in Indigenous territories, even with the support of political authorities. This is our greatest concern. How can we fight these mafias if there are people who are complicit with them? It’s not just the Kakataibo people; it’s all the peoples of the Amazon. That’s why our organizations are not resting. My organization, along with others, continues to denounce that governments allow the creation of population centers in our territories and make an impact at the national and international level, but so far we have not achieved any results. That’s why we are allying with other peoples to form our guards and confront the situation.”
Raphael Hoetmer, Western Amazon Program Director at Amazon Watch, said: “The report shows how Indigenous peoples are severely impacted by organized crime dynamics. However, it also makes clear that where Indigenous peoples have greater control of their territories, criminal economies can be limited by the social and political structures of the communities themselves, while at the same time allowing for more flexible coordination with government authorities. Just as Indigenous peoples have proven to be a buffer against deforestation, they can be a central component in strategies to contain criminal operations in the Amazon, if their own governance and territorial protection systems are supported, and collective land rights are fully acknowledged and protected.”
Livia Wagner, Network Coordinator and Thematic Lead on Human Trafficking, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, said: “The space for environmental activists has been significantly restricted over the past years. Nevertheless, there continues to be a vibrant community of civil society organizations working on issues related to resilience to environmental crime. The report shows a variety of resilience tools, such as resilience dialogues, exploring the effects of organized crime on communities and the existing responses from them. Similarly, different national or subregional organizations are producing and understanding the impacts of environmental crime gathering evidence and information about the way local communities are facing threats, and potential solutions to it.”
The Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest, covering some 7 million square kilometers and linking nine countries, has become one of the main sources and transit points for criminal economies in Latin America. From shipments of cocaine, gold, and timber moving down its hundreds of rivers, to the makeshift airstrips that facilitate the nightly movement of small contraband planes, the Amazon is now home to a complex underground economy that feeds growing global demand but also fuels violence and deforestation. The unchecked actions of increasingly powerful criminal organizations pose an existential threat to the planet’s most biodiverse region and the communities it shelters.
Background
Amazon Underworld is an alliance of media outlets founded in 2022 to investigate the presence of crime networks and illegal economies in the Amazon as well as the impact they have on the environment and local communities. In 2022/23 InfoAmazonia, La Liga Contra el Silencio y Armando.Info teamed up with Amazon Underworld to investigate these issues in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.
amazonunderworld.org
Amazon Watch is a nonprofit organization founded in 1996 to protect the rainforest and advance the rights of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. We partner with Indigenous and environmental organizations in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability, climate justice and the preservation of the Amazon’s ecological systems.
amazonwatch.org
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime is a global network close to 700 Organized Crime Experts around the world. The Global Initiative provides a platform to promote greater debate and innovative approaches as the building blocks to an inclusive global strategy against organized crime.
globalinitiative.net
InfoAmazonia is an independent media outlet founded in 2012, that uses maps, data, and geolocalized reports to tell stories about the endangered Amazon region. We are a nonprofit organization based in Brazil with a borderless view across the largest tropical forest, engaging local and international outlets in collaborative and innovative products.
infoamazonia.org
