Jakarta (Indonesia), 15 December 2020 - Money Laundering is a serious criminal offence that fuels and facilitates all forms of transnational organized crime. Since 2019, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has prioritized its focus on money laundering and environmental crimes starting from illegal wildlife trade for which a thorough report has been recently published. The FATF report, complemented by two brief publications for law enforcement agencies and the private sector, provides guidance to countries on measures they can take to effectively combat money laundering from the illegal wildlife trade.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), through its Global Programme against Money Laundering (GPML) together with the Global Programme for Combating Wildlife and Forest Crime, as well as the Indonesian financial intelligence unit Pusat Pelaporan dan Analisis Transaksi Keuangan (PPATK), provided inputs and case studies for the FATF project on money laundering and illegal wildlife trade. 
"In the framework of the partnership between UNODC and Indonesia for the prevention and fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, we have translated into the Indonesian language the FATF publications on money laundering and illegal wildlife trade for the widest use in the public and private sectors as well as for the benefit of non-governmental organizations and the civil society" stated Mr. Fabrizio Fioroni, UNODC AML/CFT Advisor for South East Asia and the Pacific.
FATF’s prioritization on environmental crimes is now focusing also on illegal logging and land clearing, waste trafficking and the mining sector through a project co-lead by UNODC, Canada and Ireland.
Under the Law Enforcement Assistance Programme (LEAP) to reduce tropical deforestation, funded by the Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative, in consortium with INTERPOL and RHIPTO, UNODC is also assisting Member States in South East Asia and the Pacific in preventing and fighting money laundering and terrorism financing related to illegal deforestation.
Mr. Fioroni also stressed that "Only when we stand together against transnational organized crime, we can protect the environment, reduce illicit financial flows from money laundering and environmental crimes, and support Member States in achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development".
