"UNEP-INTERPOL Report: Environmental Crime on the Rise"

"NAIROBI, Kenya – 'More than one quarter of the world’s elephant population has been killed in a decade,' according to the International Police, INTERPOL, and the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, in a new report that emphasizes the financial machinations behind environmental crimes such as poaching.

Published today on the UN-backed World Environment Day, the 'rapid response report' finds that the value of environmental crime has risen by 26 percent since 2014.

In fact, environmental crime is the world’s fourth largest criminal enterprise – after drug smuggling, counterfeiting and human trafficking, Interpol and UNEP say environmental crime dwarfs the illegal trade in small arms, which is valued at about US$3 billion annually."

Environment News Service had the story June 5, 2016.