Accomplished leader in environmental protection, nature conservation, and sustainable development, with extensive experience spanning multiple continents, disciplines, and organisations.
Held senior ...
IUCN COMMISSION GROUP
IUCN WCEL Crimes that Affect the Environment Specialist Group
Group leadership
Dr John SCANLON
Chair
Accomplished leader in environmental protection, nature conservation, and sustainable development, with extensive experience spanning multiple continents, disciplines, and organisations.
Held senior leadership positions across the private sector, government, the United Nations, international institutions, and not-for-profit organisations. Orchestrated transformative organisational reforms and helped shape influential strategies on law, policy, and governance at the international, national, and sub-national levels.
Recipient of a number of national and international honours and awards.
Providing advisory services to a wide-range of clients, and currently: CEO, Elephant Protection Initiative Foundation; Chair, UK Government Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund; Chair, Global Initiative to End Wildlife Crime; Director, Global Wildlife Fund; Executive President, International Council of Environmental Law; Board Member, Accounting for Nature; Advisory Committee Member, Campaign for Nature; Steering Committee Member, IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL), and CEO, Scanlon Advisory LLC
Ms Ana MOTAMAYOR
Deputy Chair
Ana Motamayor currently serves as Policy Advisor for the Global Initiative to End Wildlife Crime, and as Executive Officer at the International Council of Environmental Law.
She holds an LL.M in Public International Law from Utrecht University with a specialization in Oceans, the Environment and Sustainability. She also holds an LL.B in International and European Law from The Hague University of Applied Sciences. Ana speaks Spanish, English and Norwegian.
Ana Motamayor currently serves as Policy Advisor for the Global Initiative to End Wildlife Crime, and as Executive Officer at the International Council of Environmental Law.
She holds an LL.M in ...
Overview and description
The IUCN WCEL Crimes that Affect the Environment Specialist Group (CAESG) aims to support and contribute to the implementation of IUCN Resolutions and Recommendations relevant to addressing crimes that affect the environment.
It provides a platform for experts working at the intersection between criminal law, the environment, and human rights, to promote strengthening of the international legal framework to prevent and combat crimes that affect the environment.
Introduction
The IUCN WCEL Crimes that Affect the Environment Specialist Group (CAESG) was established in response to the adoption of IUCN Resolution 8.048 Crimes that Affect the Environment (CAE) at the 2025 IUCN World Conservation Congress.
The main focus of the CAESG will be to support the implementation of Resolution 8.048 CAE, related IUCN Resolutions and Recommendations, and engage with intergovernmental processes on CAE.
Work of the Specialist Group
Key projects of the CAESG include:
- Support the development of an IUCN Strategy on CAE for the 2026-2029 quadrennium;
- Actively participate with intergovernmental fora and multilateral processes relevant to CAE, including the United Nations Crime Congress, the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ), the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) and UN Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA);
- Advance expert legal and policy analyses and recommendations on strengthening the international legal framework to prevent and combat CAE.
- Engage and increase partnerships with the broader international community working on CAE issues.
Crimes that Affect the Environment SG - Terms of Reference (TORs) 2025-2029
RESOURCES:
Position Paper: IUCN WCEL CAE SG