Cameroon: organizations strongly opposed to environmental crime, a scourge worth 280 billion USD
Environmental crime, particularly illegal logging in the Congo Basin, has become a massive global criminal industry generating 280 billion USD annually. Civil society organizations in Cameroon are calling for better protection as they face increasing risks while attempting to combat these sophisticated criminal networks.
Why it matters
Environmental crime is now a top-tier global illicit activity that threatens biodiversity and undermines the economic stability of developing nations.
The plundering of the forests of the Congo Basin is no longer just an ecological tragedy. It has become one of the most lucrative criminal industries in the world. This observation recently brought together in Bertoua, the capital of the East region, more than a dozen civil society organizations (CSOs) around the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), to share and adopt a common strategy for protecting CSOs engaged in the fight against environmental crime, as indicated by this non-governmental organization (NGO) specializing in nature conservation. The numbers justify the urgency. According to Interpol, environmental crime rose to the third most profitable activity for organized transnational criminal groups in 2023, generating up to 280 billion USD in profits per year, more than the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of many African countries.
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