When we think of organized crime, we picture drugs, weapons, human trafficking. But according to Interpol, environmental crime is already the third most profitable form of organized crime in the world - right behind the drug trade and counterfeits.

The figures are staggering. Criminal networks earn hundreds of billions of dollars a year through illegal waste smuggling, unlawful logging, illegal fishing and mining, pollution and wildlife trafficking. Germany's environment minister Carsten Schneider warns that the damage exceeds one trillion dollars a year and that cross-border environmental crime „is no longer a marginal problem“.

What makes it so profitable is its invisibility. Drugs are hidden, weapons are hidden - but a factory quietly dumping toxic waste into a river or a boat fishing illegally operate out in the open, and the fines are laughable compared to the earnings. „Hundreds of billions of dollars“ end up with criminal networks every year, says the Interpol secretary general.

To counter it, the GAIA project was launched in 2024 - a collaboration between Interpol, the WWF and the German government, with an initial 5 million euros. In the first year alone, over 500 investigations and 262 criminal entities were identified. That sounds like a lot, but it's a drop in an ocean of hundreds of billions.

For the Balkans, this isn't an abstract topic. The region has for years struggled with illegal dumps, unregulated logging and river pollution - and now we know that behind much of it stands not just negligence, but organized crime that turns a profit. The question every citizen can ask is familiar: when the damage is this big and the profit this high, why do the fines stay so small?