The Climate Crisis
Wildlife crime is an underappreciated driver of the climate crisis
Environmental crime—including wildlife trafficking—accelerates biodiversity loss and weakens ecosystems’ ability to withstand climate change.
The climate crisis is placing unprecedented pressure on the natural world. Rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, warming oceans, and more frequent extreme weather events are already threatening ecosystems and the species that depend on them.
At the same time, organised criminal networks are accelerating these impacts by exploiting wildlife, forests, and marine species at an industrial scale. Wildlife crime not only threatens individual species but also undermines the ecosystems that regulate our climate and support life on Earth.
How wildlife crime fuels climate vulnerability:
It destroys ecosystems that store carbon
Forests, oceans, and wildlife play a critical role in absorbing and storing carbon. Illegal logging, wildlife trafficking, and marine species trafficking degrade these ecosystems, releasing stored carbon and reducing their ability to regulate the climate. Protecting these natural carbon sinks is essential in the fight against climate change.
It weakens nature’s ability to adapt
Healthy ecosystems help protect communities from climate impacts such as floods, desertification, and extreme weather. By removing species and damaging habitats, wildlife crime reduces ecosystem resilience and leaves both nature and people more vulnerable to climate change.
It removes keystone species
Many species play essential roles in maintaining healthy ecosystems. Elephants and rhinos help shape landscapes and carbon-storing habitats, while species such as pangolins, toucans, and hornbills perform ecological functions that sustain biodiversity. When these species disappear, ecosystems become less stable and resilient.
It damages the ocean’s role as a climate regulator
Marine ecosystems are among the planet’s most important carbon stores. Marine species trafficking disrupts food chains and threatens the health of oceans. The loss of key species, including apex predators such as sharks, can destabilise marine ecosystems and weaken their ability to absorb and store carbon.
Criminal networks are driving environmental destruction
The scale of these crimes is not driven by isolated individuals, but by sophisticated transnational criminal networks that profit from the exploitation of nature. These groups operate across borders, using complex supply chains to traffic wildlife, timber, and marine species while causing long-term damage to ecosystems.
Protecting the planet’s natural systems requires more than addressing the consequences of environmental destruction, it requires targeting the criminal networks responsible for driving it.
The Wildlife Justice Commission works to disrupt and dismantle the organised criminal networks behind wildlife trafficking, illegal logging, and fisheries crime.
We have a model that we know works; intelligence-led investigations, identifying key actors, mapping criminal networks, and supporting law enforcement agencies to take action against the individuals and structures enabling these crimes.
By targeting the networks profiting from environmental destruction, we help reduce pressure on vulnerable species and ecosystems, creating the conditions needed for nature to recover and remain resilient in a changing climate.
Wildlife crime and climate change are deeply interconnected, and tackling one means addressing the other.
Donations made to the Wildlife Justice Commission are tax-deductible under Dutch law, as we have ANBI status. EU citizens can also make their contributions tax-deductible. See our Donate section for more details on how you can help us to fight transnational organised wildlife crime. Donating from the USA? Click here.
