Police forces from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru have arrested 839 individuals and seized over $280 million worth of illegal goods during Operation Green Shield 2026, a multinational effort to combat environmental crime in the Amazon Basin. The operation, which ran from July 15-31, involved more than 3,600 officers targeting illicit activities including illegal mining, logging, wildlife trafficking, fuel smuggling, and land grabbing.
Authorities seized more than 280,000 cubic meters of illegally harvested timber, 195 metric tons of minerals, and equipment used in illegal mining. Additionally, over 3,000 live animals were rescued, and at least 430 deceased animals linked to trafficking were recovered. The seized items included snakes, birds, lizards, and fish.
Environmental crime has become a significant illicit industry in the Amazon, driven by global demand for resources like gold and timber, as well as the wildlife trade. Criminal organizations often engage in multiple illegal activities, utilizing shared trafficking routes and financial networks that cross national borders. This transnational nature of environmental crime necessitates robust cross-border cooperation among law enforcement agencies.
The operation was coordinated from Bogota, Colombia, by the International Initiative of Law Enforcement for Climate (I2LEC), an initiative launched in 2023 with support from the United Arab Emirates and in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. The I2LEC aims to strengthen international cooperation against environmental crime.
This year's operation expanded on a similar multinational effort in 2025, which involved officers from Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. That operation was noted as one of the first large-scale attempts at coordinating intelligence sharing and simultaneous cross-border enforcement against environmental crime. The inclusion of Bolivia in Operation Green Shield 2026 marked a further expansion of this collaborative approach, with synchronized deployments in remote border and river regions.
Officials emphasized the importance of collaboration, with Colombian National Police Director Gen. William Oswaldo Rincón Zambrano stating that intelligence sharing was translated into coordinated enforcement. Peruvian police environmental chief Gen. J. Manuel Cruz Chamba highlighted that environmental crimes disregard borders, underscoring the need for international cooperation to protect natural resources.