About this resource

This is a flexible and practical learning resource developed by the Green Corruption programme at the Basel Institute on Governance. It is aimed at:

• Private-sector companies exposed to risks of illegal wildlife trade and related crimes, including financial institutions, transport companies, traders and wholesale retailers
• Policy makers
• Law enforcement
• Practitioners in both conservation and anti-corruption fields

The aim is to broaden understanding of the threats that wildlife crimes pose to sustainable development and clean business. It provides relevant information, statistics and background knowledge to help enhance policies and processes aimed at curbing wildlife crime and associated risks. The focus is on financial crimes and supply chain vulnerabilities that facilitate the illegal trade in wildlife and thereby increase companies’ legal, financial and reputational risks.

This learning resource and many more are available as interactive learning tools on the Basel Institute’s LEARN platform as well as in PDF format.

The Green Corruption programme at the Basel Institute on Governance applies anti-corruption and governance tools to address environmental crime and degradation.

While we have made reasonable efforts to verify the information in this publication, we cannot take responsibility for its accuracy or reliability or for decisions taken by readers as a a result. We would be grateful for any corrections, suggestions and other feedback via our Green Corruption team, Twitter or LinkedIn.

This publication was funded by PMI IMPACT, a grant award initiative of Philip Morris International (PMI). In the performance of their research, the authors maintained full independence from PMI. The views and opinions expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of PMI. Neither PMI, nor any of its affiliates, nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained herein.

The work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).

It is based on content provided by Patricia Raxter with editing by Monica Guy, infographic creation by Alexander Berman and Shane McLean, and contributions by Manuel Medina, David Ward and Juhani Grossmann.

Citation: Basel Institute on Governance, 2021. Wildlife crime – understanding risks, avenues for action. Part 3: Forest crime and the illegal timber trade. Basel: Basel Institute on Governance, https://baselgovernance.org/publications/wildlife-crime-series

• CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
• EU European Union
• EUTR European Union Timber Regulation
• FAO Food and Agriculture Organization
• UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime