In April 2021, the European Commission publicly expressed its support for a Protocol against illicit wildlife trafficking in the EU Strategy to tackle Organised Crime 2021-2025.

On 17 May 2021, the Presidents of Costa Rica and Gabon made a joint announcement, calling for an additional Protocol under UNTOC against illicit trafficking of wildlife.

On 21 September 2021, the President of Angola announced that Angola would join with Gabon and Costa Rica in promoting an additional Protocol against illicit wildlife trafficking.

On 16 February 2022, the President of Malawi also joined the call for an additional Protocol against illicit wildlife trafficking, urging other countries to do the same.

In April 2022, to advance the discussion on an additional Protocol, Angola, Kenya and Peru submitted a draft resolution to the 31st Session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ).

On 20 May 2022, the CCPCJ adopted a resolution by consensus inviting Member States to share their “views on possible responses, including on an additional Protocol under the UNTOC, to address any gaps that may exist in the current international legal framework to prevent and combat illicit trafficking in wildlife”. The resolution was tabled by Angola, Kenya, and Peru, and co-sponsored by twelve other Member States, namely: Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Honduras, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Paraguay, the Philippines and the United States of America.

In November 2022, the European Commission reaffirmed its support in the revised EU action plan against wildlife trafficking.

On 18 October 2024, the 12^th UNTOC COP adopted a Resolution by consensus requesting the UNODC to convene an open-ended intergovernmental expert group on crimes that affect the environment, including wildlife trafficking, with a mandate to identify gaps in the international legal framework and the possible responses to those gaps – including the possibility, feasibility and merits of any additional Protocol to the UNTOC.

On 23 May 2025, the CCPCJ referred a draft resolution tabled by Brazil and co-sponsored by seven other States on ‘Tackling illicit trafficking in wild fauna and flora, including timber and timber products, the illegal mining of and illicit trafficking in minerals and precious metals, the illicit trafficking in waste and other crimes that affect the environment’. The resolution was later transmitted to the UN General Assembly and adopted on 18 December 2025.

The UNTOC open-ended intergovernmental expert group (IEG) on crimes that affect the environment (CAE) established pursuant to UNTOC COP Resolution 12/4 met for the first time between 30 June and 2 July 2025, with a mandate to consider the ‘possibility, feasibility and merits’ of any additional protocol(s) to the UNTOC on CAE.

On 14 October 2025, the UNODC published its analysis of the international legal framework on crimes that affect the environment (CAE), in support of the work of the UNTOC open-ended intergovernmental expert group on CAE. The analysis highlights that there is no global treaty focused on preventing and combating wildlife crime, or an authoritative definition of ‘wildlife crime’.

On 4 November 2025, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil launched the ‘Coalition for Multilateral Action against Crimes that Affect the Environment’, at an event attended by the Brazilian Ministers of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, and of Indigenous Peoples, Sônia Guajajara. The Coalition works to “promote multilateral action against crimes that affect the environment and to establish a binding legal framework under the UNTOC to address this challenge” and it includes fifteen State members. EWC is a founding civil society member of the Coalition.