Environmental crime is big business, often listed among the world’s top five criminal activities, just behind counterfeiting and drug crime. So it would be reasonable to think it is a big priority for global law enforcement.But our new research suggests this is not the case. For each country using a global list to track down wanted individuals, less than 2% of the crimes they were wanted for were environmental, on average. Interpol’s red notices are one of the few ways to understand international law enforcement priorities. When nations submit a red notice, these alert Interpol’s 196 member nations of the details of a wanted person, including physical characteristics and a description of the crime.Once approved, Interpol publishes this on its list of red notices, and requests that law enforcement agencies including police forces assist in locating the named person – then provisionally arrest them pending extradition or other legal action.Red notices do help. Recently, Simon Leviev, an alleged fraudster dubbed the “Tinder Swindler”, was arrested after a red notice was issued for allegations of defrauding multiple women he met on the dating app of large sums of money. The notice flagged him as a wanted person when making an international border crossing, promoting cross-border cooperation between police and border forces. He was arrested at the Georgian border for crimes committed predominantly in Norway. Our research examined how frequently this is used to combat environmental crime, compared with other crimes such as fraud or murder. By analysing red notices, we wanted to know if environmental crime is a global priority. Our results showed that this tool is rarely used for environmental offences. Of more than 4,400 active Interpol red notices when we did the study in December 2023, just 21 were categorised as environmental crimes. That’s less than 0.5% of the total. Read more: Explainer: what is an Interpol red notice and how does it work? Figure by Sally Sinclair, based on Interpol red list data. CC BY If you’re thinking maybe this tool only works for high-profile individuals, that isn’t the case. Earlier this year, Interpol coordinated a global operation involving 138 countries and regions to arrest 365 suspects and seize 20,000 endangered animals.And in 2023, Tanzania requested the publication of two red notices which led to cooperation between Tanzania, Thailand and Egypt to track down a wanted individual for tortoise trafficking. The publication of the red notice flagged their wanted status as they crossed an international border, leading to their arrest. Red notices can evidently be a useful tool in the fight against growing environmental crime. Why this mattersEnvironmental crime is vast, including illegal logging, mining, waste trafficking, and the poaching and smuggling of wildlife. Together, these activities generate billions of dollars each year, often ranking just behind the global trade in drugs and arms. They drive deforestation, pollution and biodiversity loss, while fuelling corruption and violence as they converge with other violent, organised crimes. They can be incredibly harmful not just to the environment but people too.There is a growing recognition of the impact of pollution on people’s health, for example. Without tackling this crime, growing global commitments to protecting biodiversity, such as through the 30x30 target – where nations commit to protecting and conserving a minimum of 30% of land and sea for biodiversity by 2030 – risk becoming symbolic. The near-absence of environmental criminals from Interpol’s red notice list matters because it reflects how low environmental enforcement still ranks in global policing priorities. As long as these crimes are treated as less important, they will continue to thrive in the shadows, with enormous social and ecological costs.Strengthening cooperation between national police forces through means such as Interpol red notices could make a big difference, especially in the face of cuts to international development funding, which may leave some enforcement agencies under-resourced. Environmental crime isn’t a niche issue, it’s a threat to global security, public health, and issues such as pollution and water quality that the public depend on. If governments truly consider it a crisis, why aren’t more of its perpetrators on the world’s most-wanted list?The problem may not simply be that governments don’t care. Environmental crime often crosses borders and legal systems. It’s not always clear who is responsible, or even which laws apply.A crime such as illegal fishing or waste dumping may affect multiple countries, making prosecution difficult. Some nations still treat environmental offences as minor, while others lack the capacity to investigate the crime enough to find out who is responsible.It is important to understand why nations aren’t using Interpol’s red list more effectively to prosecute environmental crime. Finding out if it’s lack of will, resourcing, or understanding of how to prosecute the perpetrators could be key to tackling environmental crime more effectively. Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.Diogo Veríssimo receives funding from the UK Government's Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund.Sally Sinclair receives funding from The Leverhulme Trust Space for Nature Doctoral Scholarships.