As delegates descend on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the Rio+20 environmental sustainability conference, Insight Crime maps how Latin America’s criminal gangs contribute to ecological destruction throughout the region.
It is well documented that the production and processing of cocaine, a major source of income for many of the region’s criminal organizations, is a threat to the environment in all its stages, mostly due to runoff of the chemicals used to process the plant into its powdered form. But as criminal sydicates in Latin America expand into other illegal businesses, so too does their effect on the environment.
As the map below illustrates, from mercury poisoning to unlicensed gold mining to oil spills, animal trafficking to illegal logging, the impact is widespread and, in some cases, devastating. This map pinpoints areas of ecological damage related to organized crime.
View Organized Crime and the Environment in a larger map