Brussels, 2 June 2024 – To celebrate World Environment Day, UNODC together with UNEP and OHCHR, participated to the Fête de l’Environnement, a major public outreach event organized by the City of Brussels on a bi-annual basis. In a one UN spirit, the UN agencies engaged with the public on the importance of environmental action and current challenges, including the right to a healthy environment and the need to address crimes that affect the environment. The stand showcased UN initiatives and programmes that promote sustainable practices, as well as provided facts and figures on environmental issues, thereby encouraging attendees to adopt environmentally friendly habits. The event saw the participation of over 10,000 people throughout the day.

 

UNODC’s contribution to the stand mainly focused on wildlife trafficking by highlighting the recent trends, facts and figures presented in the new World Wildlife Crime Report 2024, launched during the 33^rd session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in May 2024, as well as by sharing information on the overall work done by UNODC. Details on a wide range of endangered species, including the pangolin, the rhinoceros, the orangutan, but also the orchid, were presented in the form of dynamic games for participants of all ages. All games were developed in English, French and Dutch to reach all parts of the Belgian public.

 

Given the high consumption of drugs (mainly cocaine) recently registered among young people in Belgium, UNODC also decided to provide key statistics on the links between drug production/consumption and environmental degradation. According to the World Drug Report 2022, the carbon footprint per kg of cocaine manufactured is significantly larger than that of other, licit agricultural crops such as coffee, cocoa beans and sugar cane (e.g. 30 times greater than for cocoa beans and 2,600 times greater than for sugar cane). Furthermore, the estimated total carbon emissions of global cocaine manufacture amount to 8.9 million tons of CO₂ per year, which is equivalent to the average emissions of more than 1.9 million gasoline-powered cars driven in one year, or more than 3.3 billion litres of diesel fuel consumed.

 

UNODC also emphasized the impact drug-related waste has on the environment and on biodiversity. For example, when synthetic drugs or chemical residues enter the soil or water, they change the pH level, which may affect the ecosystems of living organisms. This can affect aquatic organisms as well as livestock when surface water is used for irrigation or as drinking water for animals. A 2021 study on drug waste dumping and drug production sites in Belgium, showed that there is currently a low level of media reporting on the environmental harm of synthetic drugs production in the country.

 

Overall, UNODC topics gained significant interest from participants, who were very keen to learn more about wildlife trafficking, the links between drug production/consumption and environmental degradation, as well as other mandate areas of UNODC.