South Africa backs UN push for new global treaty on illegal mining and wildlife trafficking
A resolution co-sponsored by South Africa at the UN crime conference in Vienna opens the way to a new protocol covering illegal mining, wildlife and timber trafficking and illicit waste, Environment Minister David Maynier says.
South Africa has welcomed a decision at the United Nations to strengthen international law enforcement against the networks behind transnational organised environmental crime, opening the way to a new legal instrument covering illegal mining, wildlife and timber trafficking and illicit waste.
The decision was adopted at the Thirteenth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, known as COP13, held in Vienna, Austria, from 19 to 23 October 2026.
According to Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister David Maynier, the resolution was adopted with 87.37% of votes cast in favour and was co-sponsored by South Africa. It establishes a process to elaborate an additional Protocol to the convention addressing illicit trafficking in wildlife and timber, illegal mining and illicit trafficking in minerals and precious metals, and illicit trafficking in waste.
“This is a significant achievement for South Africa and the international community. Environmental crime is organized crime, and we need to tackle the complex international networks facilitating illicit wildlife trafficking in coordination with other countries,” Maynier said in a statement on Thursday.
The department said South Africa advanced the initiative through a coordinated, whole-of-government approach involving the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, the National Prosecuting Authority and the South African Police Service. That collaboration, it said, combined practical environmental enforcement experience with criminal justice and prosecutorial expertise alongside diplomatic engagement.
The decision builds on momentum from South Africa’s 2025 Group of Twenty presidency, when the Cape Town Ministerial Declaration on Crimes that Affect the Environment was adopted for the first time. The declaration was subsequently welcomed by G20 leaders and recognised the threat posed by these crimes and the need to strengthen national responses.
In the negotiations, South Africa highlighted the difficulty countries face in investigating and prosecuting sophisticated criminal networks. The department said those networks exploit differences in national legislation, weaknesses in cross-border cooperation and legitimate supply chains to commit environmental crimes and conceal the proceeds. An additional protocol, it said, could address those legal gaps by strengthening criminalisation and international cooperation while respecting national sovereignty and complementing existing agreements.
“Our experience has demonstrated that combating transnational environmental crime requires an integrated response, both nationally and internationally. The overwhelming support for this resolution represents an important step towards ensuring that our international legal frameworks keep pace with the increasingly sophisticated criminal networks exploiting our natural resources,” Maynier said.
The department said the decision builds on earlier international deliberations, including the work of an intergovernmental expert group established under COP12 to examine gaps in existing legal frameworks.
While negotiations on the protocol are under way, Maynier said South Africa would keep working with international partners on cross-border cooperation, intelligence sharing, joint investigations and efforts to disrupt the criminal networks and illicit financial flows associated with environmental crime. “These practical partnerships remain essential to delivering meaningful enforcement outcomes while the international legal framework is being strengthened,” he said.
He added that South Africa remains committed to shaping the additional protocol so that the realities faced by enforcement authorities and prosecutors are reflected in a framework capable of delivering results.
This report is based on the SAnews (South African Government News Agency) account of the statement, published at https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/sa-welcomes-un-decision-advance-global-response-environmental-crime. The resolution text and the full COP13 record were not part of the material supplied, so the vote figure and the resolution’s terms are carried as the minister and department described them.
