Environmental and Organized Crime in South America

Do you ever think about where the chair you are sitting on came from? Or perhaps the electronic device you are using to listen to this podcast, where does the metals come from?

The illegal extraction of non-renewable resources, like gold, timber, and rare earth minerals, has become a very lucrative and widespread criminal sector across the world – but it is particularly prevalent in natural-resource rich South America, which scores highest for non-renewable resource crimes.

Organized criminal groups with their origins in drug trafficking have become part of this illicit market, and as a result the situation is only getting worse - and it affects all of us.

Presenter: Thin Lei Win

Speakers:

Flávia do Amaral Vieira, Senior Researcher at Plataforma Cipó in Brazil.

Bram Ebus, criminologist, investigative journalist, and consultant at the International Crisis Group. Bram is also a member of the GI Network of Experts.

Additional Links:

OCIndex.net

Brazil Country Profile

Venezuela Country Profile

Colombia Country Profile

Peru Country Profile

Ecuador Country Profile

Argentina Country Profile

Uruguay Country Profile

Chile Country Profile

Bolivia Country Profile

Paraguay Country Profile

Guyana Country Profile

Suriname Country Profile

Measuring organized crime: A series of 13 discussion papers, one for each illicit market considered during the development of the Index.

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Plataforma Cipó

International Crisis Group