Illegal logging and mining are often enabled by corruption: officials looking the other way for personal gain, companies using their influence to bend or ignore rules, and criminals – along with their profits – being protected. Forests cannot survive if those crimes are allowed to thrive.

A new Norway-funded initiative, “Leveraging Partnerships to Tackle Forestry-related Corruption and Crime”, targets the problem at its roots.

Under the banner “Together for forest integrity”, the initiative will work with authorities, businesses and civil society, including Indigenous Peoples and local communities in Indonesia and Peru, to tackle the corruption that enables forest crime. It will also turn practical experience from both countries into tools and lessons that can be used elsewhere in the world.

Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI) is funding the project, which will last until the end of 2028. The Basel Institute’s Green Corruption programme leads the project consortium with TRAFFIC, Transparency International and WWF.

The goal is to disrupt the corruption that drives forest crime, from illegal logging and timber trafficking to illegal mining and fraud linked to carbon markets. By creating obstacles to corruption, the project aims to strengthen forest governance, contributing to the protection of forests and the climate for all.

Start with the people who know the problem

Effective solutions need both local knowledge and specialist expertise. National and local partners in Indonesia and Peru will help shape the work around the problems they see, the reforms they need and the approaches most likely to last.

The consortium will bring technical expertise and experience from different countries and sectors to support locally identified priorities. It will:

• work with public authorities, businesses and civil society to identify priority corruption risks and strengthen prevention;
• help build capacity to detect, investigate and respond to forestry-related corruption and financial crime;
• work with civil society, Indigenous Peoples and local communities to strengthen independent monitoring on forestry-related corruption.

Local ownership is central to the approach. The aim is to build systems, skills and tools with the people who will continue using them long after the project ends. Local partners will also help develop knowledge products, so that the programme captures and shares their experience and expertise.

Test ideas, then help the good ones travel

Indonesia and Peru are strategically important forest countries where corruption linked to logging, mining and other pressures on forests can have major consequences.

But the project will also serve as an incubator and a platform to exchange experiences.

Some approaches will work better than others. The point is to test them in practice, learn quickly and turn the strongest into useful models for others.

With our global reach, the consortium will share practical tools and lessons from Indonesia and Peru, as well as experiences from other parts of the world. We will connect practitioners involved in conservation and anti-corruption, and provide a space for exchange and mutual support to help practitioners learn and adapt effective approaches.

The Countering Environmental Corruption Practitioners Forum will help carry that learning further. Launched by the Basel Institute, TRAFFIC, Transparency International and WWF in 2022, the Forum now brings together more than 800 members from the anti-corruption and conservation communities to exchange experience, tools and ideas.

The project will also share these experiences in international fora, with the aim of fostering further dialogue and action to address the linkages between corruption and forest threats.

Backed by Norway

The project brings together Norway’s long-standing commitment to forest protection with the consortium’s anti-corruption, conservation and enforcement expertise, and the knowledge of partners working closest to the problem.

We are grateful to the Government of Norway and Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI) for funding the project and for entrusting the Basel Institute with leading its implementation.

Can locally shaped approaches in Indonesia and Peru make it harder for corruption to enable forest crime, and can the best of those approaches work elsewhere too? We believe so, and look forward to working together to show how.

Learn more

• Interested in the project and wider community? Join the Countering Environmental Corruption Practitioners Forum for free to stay informed and take part in future events and discussions.