Berlin, Germany - The Federal Environment Ministry of Germany, INTERPOL and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) are joining forces to combat the devastating impact of environmental crime. With a EUR 5 million investment from the German government's International Climate Initiative (IKI), the three-year project aims to identify and prevent transnational crimes impacting the climate, biodiversity and the environment across five key areas: fisheries crime, forestry crime, illegal mining, pollution crime, and wildlife crime. Environmental crime, which is estimated to be the third most profitable form of criminal activity worldwide, generates hundreds of billions of dollars in illegal profits each year. Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke said: "Transboundary organized environmental crime exacerbates the triple planetary crisis of biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution. So it is important to me to ensure that protecting the environment goes hand in hand with combating environmental crime. "Criminal organizations are causing massive damage to the natural foundations of our lives. For example, they kill and trade in critically endangered species, clear forests that provide key carbon reservoirs and habitats, and poison landscapes with illegally dumped waste, making them uninhabitable. By cooperating with INTERPOL and WWF, we will join forces and make a valuable contribution in the fight against transboundary environmental crime."