Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member States participated in an operational workshop on illegal logging and timber trafficking in Latin America and The Caribbean at Polícia Federalin Manaus, Brazil from 24-25 September 2025.

The workshop was organised by the European Union (EU) – Latin America and the Caribbean Partnership on justice and security (EL PAcCTO 2.0). This landmark initiative brought together regional and international partners to strengthen intelligence sharing, build capacity and reinforce cooperation against illegal logging, timber trafficking and related forestry crimes that put the Regions’s natural resources at risk.

Illegal logging is estimated to be the third most profitable transnational crime in the world, surpassed only by drug trafficking and counterfeiting, and it is the most profitable natural resource crime on the planet. Transnational organised criminal groups are profiting significantly from natural resource exploitation in the Caribbean Region and CARICOM Member States’ valuable natural resources are being depleted at an alarming rate.

The CARICOM Environmental and Natural Resources Policy Framework clearly states that protection and sustainable use of our environment and natural resources are imperatives for the Region’s prosperity and growth. To confront this emerging and evolving threat that jeopardises regional prosperity, the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) has partnered with the Council of the European Union's EL PAcCTO 2.0 to fight environmental crime in the Caribbean through a regional approach that will strengthen CARICOM’s pursuit of overall development goals.