BELÉM – Today, at a roundtable in Belém, the gateway to the Amazon, Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen announced the Amazon Region Initiative Against Illicit Finance to combat nature crimes, a partnership with the Amazon basin countries of Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Suriname. This new initiative will harness the expertise and resources of the United States and regional partners to combat the financing of nature crimes and counter the transnational criminal organizations benefiting from it.
“Nature crimes generate hundreds of billions of dollars of illicit revenue while harming local communities and threatening critical ecosystems,” said Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen. “These crimes fuel corruption and destabilization wherever they occur. By launching this initiative, we will help protect the integrity of the international financial system while also fighting back against a major threat to local economies and the environment.”
Globally, nature crimes are estimated to generate proceeds in the hundreds of billions of dollars annually and often entail misusing and abusing the U.S. financial system. Given the importance of the U.S. dollar and financial system to international trade and finance, nature crimes present a unique money-laundering threat with respect to proceeds transiting the U.S. financial system.
As spotlighted in Treasury’s 2024 National Money Laundering Risk Assessment, nature crimes overlap with corruption, drug trafficking, and transnational organized crime. In May 2024, Treasury published the 2024 Illicit Finance Strategy, which included actions to enhance Treasury’s efforts to counter nature crimes, such as criminal forms of logging and wildlife trade.
More broadly, the strategy called for prioritizing targeted measures and interagency and multilateral coordination to disrupt illicit finance activity, which includes nature crimes. In April 2024, Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued guidance for financial institutions to remain vigilant to environmental crimes, including the subset of nature crimes, which frequently involve transnational criminal activity.
Through the Amazon Region Initiative, the United States will work with regional partners to build on the Belém Declaration and strengthen international cooperation in the fight against nature crimes. The initiative includes four key components:
- Treasury, in coordination with Brazil, will convene a regional meeting to boost cooperation on disrupting illicit finance linked to nature crimes. The event will bring together representatives from government authorities in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and the United States. The U.S. will seek to strengthen the framework for regional cooperation, aligning on how to productively leverage ongoing work and set priorities.
- Treasury will organize “follow the money” trainings in the region to strengthen the capabilities of financial intelligence units, law enforcement, and other key stakeholders to pursue money laundering investigations against transnational criminal organizations, drug cartels, and other illicit actors involved in nature crimes.
- Treasury will enhance information sharing with regional partners to identify illicit finance associated with nature crimes. Illicit finance does not respect national boundaries, which makes it necessary to find collaborative solutions that break down barriers between national authorities. The prominence of the U.S. dollar and financial system in international trade and finance means the United States has an important role to play.
- The initiative will act as a catalyst to increase information sharing in support of joint investigations involving corrupt actors, criminal organizations, drug traffickers, and others engaged in illicit activity that often accompanies nature crimes.
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