The Dec. 8 editorial, “Here’s a realistic path to protecting the Amazon rainforest,” outlined how increased regulation and incentives for conservation can stem the tide of deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. This is not Brazil’s problem to solve alone. The United States has an important role to play.
Illegal mining and other nature crimes are major contributors to deforestation. The perpetrators of these crimes and their enablers often rely on the secrecy afforded by the U.S. financial system to launder money. A recent Financial Accountability & Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition report, “Dirty Money and the Destruction of the Amazon,” showed how weaknesses in U.S. anti-money-laundering regulations — particularly for U.S. shell corporations and in the U.S. real estate industry — have allowed the proceeds of illegal mining, illegal logging and other nature crimes to enter the United States.
The United States can be a partner in staving off the destruction of the Amazon, in part, by cleaning up its own house. The Corporate Transparency Act will require certain U.S. businesses to name their true owner to the federal government. Authorities in Latin America could use this information to investigate the money fueling these crimes. The United States must finalize nationwide regulations to combat money laundering through real estate, and Congress should pass the bipartisan Forest Act, which would add crimes such as illegal deforestation to the list of predicate offenses in money-laundering statutes.
As the world’s largest economy and premier supplier of financial secrecy, the United States must undertake comprehensive reforms to deny financial haven to criminals who would degrade the Amazon.
The writer is executive director of the FACT Coalition.
