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UNTOC COP Side Event - Crimes that Affect the Environment as a Security Challenge: Research Findings and Policy Implications

21 October 2026, 13:00 (CEST)
Room M5, UNTOC Conference of the Parties, Vienna, Austria

This side event of the UNTOC Conference of the Parties, organized by Germany with support from adelphi research, focuses on the security-political dimensions of crimes that affect the environment and the evidence base for integrated policy responses.

Crimes that Affect the Environment have evolved into one of the most profitable field of organised crime globally and are no longer a peripheral issue: illegal extraction of minerals and metals, drug crop cultivation, illegal fishing, illegal logging, illegal wildlife trafficking, and waste crime are deeply intertwined with conflict financing, state fragility, corruption, and human rights violations with direct consequences for peace and security. 

 

Yet crimes that affect the environment remain under-addressed in international and national security frameworks and policies. This side event focuses on the security-political dimensions of crimes that affect the environment and the evidence base for integrated policy responses. To do so, it draws on findings from a multi-year German federal research project that explores the nexus between Crimes that Affect the Environment, Security, and Environmental Policy.

Objectives 

To advance a shared understanding among states, international organisations, and practitioners of how crimes that affect the environment drives insecurity and what effective, coordinated responses across environmental, security, and development policy look like.

Details

This side event is part of the UNTOC Conference of the Parties - Vienna. It will be held on 21 October 2026 from 13:00-13:50 in room M5.

Format 

Duration: 50 minutes | Format: Roundtable discussion 

Featured keynotes by: 

  • Dr Marcus Schroeder, Head of Division, Federal Environment Ministry of Germany
  • H.E Colonel Dana Humaid, Director General of International Affairs, United Arab Emirates  

Moderated by: 

Scene-setting inputs by: 

  • Fynn Kaltenpoth, adelphi research — research findings: security dimensions of crimes that affect the environment
  • Faisal Shahkar, UN DPO — Crimes that affect the environment in peace operations and conflict-affected areas 
  • Tatjana Djurkovic, OSCE — Regional security perspectives and cross-border enforcement challenges 
  • Thomas Ungerbuehler, INTERPOL — Operational responses and international law enforcement cooperation 
  • Riikka Puttonen, UNODC— crimes that affect the environment, Border Management Branch 
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