The United Nations announced that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, INTERPOL and the government of Norway together have launched the next stage of a major global effort to fight illegal tropical deforestation called LEAP: the Law Enforcement Assistance Programme to Reduce Tropical Deforestation.
Launched in 2018, LEAP has completed its first two phases. Phase I (2018–2022) mapped illegal logging and timber trafficking routes, identified priority areas and promoted cooperation between agencies.
Phase II (2023–2025) built on Phase I with targeted operations, intelligence-driven investigations and cross-border coordination to dismantle organized crime networks and strengthen national capacities.
The U.N. says Phase III will build on these results by helping countries share intelligence more effectively, strengthen regional cooperation and boost law enforcement’s ability to detect, disrupt and prosecute crimes that affect the environment.
Phase III will mainly focus on tropical forests in Brazil, Ecuador, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Peru, and will also address illegal mining, especially in the Amazon Basin, as a major cause of deforestation.
LEAP is funded by the Norwegian International Climate and Forest Initiative.
Read the full announcement here.
