Environmental Crime Funnels Billions To Organized Crime, Terrorist Groups: UN

Illegal ivory sales, poaching of endangered species, and other environmental crimes aren’t debated very often, and when they are it’s usually framed as an issue that only diehard environmentalists could get work up about. But according to a report released today by the UN Environmental Program (UNEP), the annual value of international environmental crime could be as high as $213 billion per year, and that money is being redirected mostly from governments in dire need of revenue to organized crime, insurgents, and terrorist organizations like the Al Qaeda affiliated Al Shabaab operating in Somalia. Illegal African charcoal industry alone worth…