The unholy nexus between tax havens & deforestation

A new report reveals that tax havens not only allow individuals and firms dodge taxes and stash ill-gotten assets offshore but also subsidize the destruction of the environment by routing billions of dollars for deforestation and illegal fishing in the Amazon rainforests and across the world.

The study, published in the journal “Nature Ecology & Evolution,” is the first to assess the environmental impact of tax havens like the Cayman Islands and Belize, which funneled nearly $18 billion foreign capital to companies carrying out deforestation in the Amazon between 2000 and 2011, writes the BBC.

While the report acknowledges that the use of tax havens by certain firms isn’t illegal, the loss of tax, which could have been invested in environmental protection, amounts to subsidizing the destruction and the U.N. should put this issue on its agenda, reports The Independent.