Climate change and organized crime are increasingly interconnected global challenges. In the Pacific Islands, where climate change is a tangible and immediate existential threat, their intersection has profound implications for resilience, sustainable development, livelihoods, food security, and the rule of law.

The war in Sudan has transformed far more than its own frontlines. It has reshaped the security economies of its neighbours, activating new supply nodes and embedding weapons and combatants into cross-border markets that now function as self-reinforcing "collateral circuits." 

Environmental crime, the third largest illegal activity worldwide, includes pollution, wildlife trafficking, and illegal fishing, all of which pose threats to the environment and human health. It grows at 5%-7% annually, causing estimated annual losses of $110-281 billion. The Western Balkans experience all major types of environmental crime, from illegal logging and pollution to smuggling animals and endangered species, as well as illegal poaching. Limited institutional capacity, low public awareness, and scarce investigative resources facilitate these illegal activities, leaving few traces, hindering investigations, and resulting in very low prosecution rates.

Sher Mohammed Gul (name changed), a mid-level Balochi Taliban commander based in south-west Afghanistan, needed money.

This webinar will take a deep dive into the results for the Mekong region and provide insights into recent trends and developments of three particularly notorious criminal markets.

The IUU Fishing Risk Index covers all 152 coastal countries of the world and a score is calculated based on a suite of 40 indicators.

Join us at the National Press Club of Australia for the Asia–Oceania regional launch of the third edition of the Global Organized Crime Index – the world’s most comprehensive dataset tracking criminal markets, criminal actors, and resilience across 193 countries.

With the fall of the Sudanese Armed Forces’ (SAF) last stronghold in western Sudan – coming two months after RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) declared a parallel state in Nyala – Sudan’s east–west split is now almost complete.

The UN’s first treaty to combat cybercrime received an unexpectedly high level of support at a dedicated conference in Vietnam in October, with 72 countries adding their signatures to the landmark document.

The 4th edition of the Africa Organised Crime Index showcases these patterns, drawing on more than eight years of data.

On 15 November 2024, the United Nations will for the first time observe an International Day for the Prevention of and Fight against All Forms of Transnational Organized Crime. This comes as the result of a resolution adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 21 March 2024.

The European Anti-Fraud Office and the Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU hosted a High-Level Conference on Customs Fraud in Copenhagen on 12-13 November 2025, continuing a well-established series of annual high-level events dedicated to tackling customs fraud in the EU.

The Amazon Basin is facing a surge in environmental crimes that threaten both ecosystems and communities. This report provides an in-depth analysis of the criminal economies driving deforestation and illegal mining across the region.

Across northern Ghana, artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) operates in a context of informality, porous borders and opaque financial flows, conditions that mirror the environments in which Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) has profited from the gold sector elsewhere in the Sahel.

On 3 December 2025, we will host the sixth edition of the 24-hour Conference on Global Organized Crime (OC24), a concentrated, high-impact, 16-hour online event that brings together the world’s leading voices on organized crime.

More than 7.8 million counterfeit and dangerous toys have been seized by customs authorities across 13 EU Member States during operations coordinated by the European Anti-Fraud Office.

Illicit financial flows (IFFs) in Africa are increasing in scale, complexity and impact, affecting countries that act as sources, transit points or destinations.

In September 2025, the Solomon Islands government – China’s closest security ally in the Pacific region – announced the launch of the Solomon Islands–China Police Cooperation Model Communities, raising concerns among Western circles.

Online illegal wildlife trade (IWT) continues to expand across social media and e-commerce platforms, with 13,254 wildlife advertisements detected between April 2024 and August 2025 across Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East.

The European Anti-Fraud Office and Europol have intensified their cooperation to address the growing threat of sanctions circumvention linked to Russia and Belarus.

From 24 November to 05 December 2025, Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), along with international organisations and civil society will convene in Samarkand, Uzbekistan for the 20th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP).

The volume of cocaine seized in north-western European ports has fallen significantly in the last two years, following a decade of steady increases.

As the 2025 results demonstrate, the world is at a crossroads. Illicit economies reflect broader socio-economic, political and geopolitical trends, with criminal actors often being the first to exploit disruptions such as geopolitical competition, rapid technological innovation, violent conflicts, trade wars and the erosion of democracy. The two indices are not merely tools for measuring crime; they also reflect what is happening within states and the international system.

Understanding the links between organized crime and climate change is crucial to developing effective global responses.

This report outlines key regional dynamics shaping organized crime across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), drawing on the main trends identified in the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC)’s Global Organized Crime Index (2023). The report looks at the political and socio-economic context of LAC, highlighting structural weaknesses that have been exacerbated by political volatility, limited state control over borders, high levels of violence and ineffective law enforcement.