Forest crime impunity is a national security threat — so how do we end it?
Today (25 June), EIA had the privilege of attending an invite-only event at London’s Churchill War Rooms, hosted by DEFRA’s Nature Security team during London Climate Action Week to understand about how tackling forest crimes through strong governance is essential to advancing nature security.
The session, “Cascading Risks, Connected Systems: Why Nature Security Matters Now”, confirmed that forests are central to nature security – the regulate the climate, sustain biodiversity and water cycles, protect soils and support the lives and livelihoods of millions of people, particularly for Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
A recent LSE report found that more than $1 trillion of annual GDP in China, Europe and the USA depends on forest-linked rainfall, so called ‘green water’.
Churchill War Rooms meeting room (c) Frankemann, used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
After the event, EIA Senior Forest Campaigner Kate Klikis said: “The discourse around nature security as a national security issue comes at a crucial time for forests.
“The UK Government’s own assessment shows that deforestation is not just an environmental issue, but a direct threat to economic stability, food security and resilience. If we are serious about nature security, we must be equally serious about ending impunity for the forest crimes and corrupt practices that drive deforestation.”
The event built upon the findings of a significant and influential UK Government report, National Security Assessment on Global Biodiversity Loss and Ecosystem Collapse, published in January 2026. The report found that every critical ecosystem, including forests, are on “a pathway to collapse” if current rates of biodiversity loss continue.
The Government acknowledges that such collapse threatens global food production and UK national security.
In the room were experts from across government, science, policy, civil society and operational fields to discuss nature loss as a practical resilience and security challenge. Attendees explored where climate and nature risks are already emerging, how they interact and how they already cascade across systems; for example, wheat crop failures due to extreme weather events have resulted in export bans, global price spikes and food insecurity.
The discussion also focused on the capabilities, partnerships and governance needed to anticipate, manage and reduce those risks collectively.
Speaker Professor Nicola Ranger (Earth Capital Nexus and London School of Economics) confirmed that forest ecosystem collapse could have economic ramifications worse than the 2008 global financial crisis.
The timing is significant. On 23 June, the UK Government announced it will move forward with long-delayed regulations aimed at preventing products linked to illegal deforestation from entering UK supply chains.
Following a public consultation, a UK proposal is expected to use powers established five years ago under the Environment Act 2021, alongside reforms to the UK Timber Regulation, and would require businesses trading in forest-risk commodities to carry out mandatory due diligence.
This is a welcome and ambitious step forward, going further than previous government proposals and reflecting many of EIA’s long-standing asks, including broader commodity coverage, mandatory geolocation requirements and stronger alignment with the EU approach. The focus now must be on turning these commitments into law as quickly as possible.
The 2025 UK National Security Strategy made no mention of ecosystem collapses. Future strategies must move beyond conflict and danger to include the threat of nature instability and breakdown. The UK will soon hold the presidency for the upcoming G20 summit in 2027, which provides an opportunity for the country to lead in taking meaningful action against nature security threats.
So where does forest crime fit into the broader nature security picture?
Illegal timber being transported in Vietnam (c) EIA
Despite being key for national security, forests continue to be targeted by organised criminal networks for timber, the minerals that lay beneath them and for land to be cleared for agricultural commodity production. These crimes destroy ecosystems, dispossess Indigenous Peoples and local communities, undermine legitimate businesses and move illicit profits through global markets.
Forest crimes are therefore not victimless, nor are they environmental offences alone. They are often linked to organised crime, corruption, money laundering and weak governance. The same routes used to traffic illegal timber can be used for other illicit goods and the same financial systems can help launder profits from wider criminal activity.
Where governance is weakest, forest crime can erode the rule of law and create conditions in which insecurity grows.
EIA has also signed the Clean and Green manifesto and participated in a dedicated roundtable discussion in Parliament. The manifesto calls for stronger enforcement, mandatory due diligence, greater corporate transparency, whistleblower protections and lobbying reform, all essential to improving the UK’s role in combatting corruption and improving corporate accountability.
If forest crimes threaten people, economies and national security, why do they so often go unpunished?
Weak laws, under-resourced enforcement agencies, low penalties and limited international cooperation all play a part. Even where forest crime is linked to corruption, money laundering or conflict financing, it is still too rarely treated as serious organised crime. The enforcement response has not yet matched the scale, sophistication or impact of the crimes committed.
Forested land in Indonesia (c) EIA
Protecting forests means recognising them not only as ecosystems of immense intrinsic value, but also as critical infrastructures for food security, climate stability and economic resilience. Law enforcement responses must therefore be stronger, better resourced and better coordinated across borders, with financial investigations, mandatory due diligence, supply chain transparency, beneficial ownership information and accountability at their core.
Forest crime impunity ultimately erodes nature security. When illegal exploitation goes unpunished, ecosystems are degraded, governance is weakened and the risks identified in the UK’s National Security Assessment, from food insecurity to instability and conflict, intensify.
The UK’s deforestation announcement is an important step; but the gold standard is for forest crimes to be treated on the same level as other forms of crime, such as financial crime, that threaten national security and resilience.
EIA’s investigations have shown that hidden supply chains can be exposed and law enforcement can be pushed to act.
Now the government must turn to robust, enforceable rules, backed by the anti-corruption, transparency and due diligence reforms needed to ensure forests, the people who depend on them and the systems they sustain are protected.
