A summary of Juhani Grossmann’s remarks at Basel Gold Day II on corruption risks in gold supply chains. He highlights experiences from our Green Corruption team, explains why recycled gold might not be as ethical as it sounds, and ends with two broad recommendations for companies, state-owned enterprises and regulators in the gold trade.
Crimes involving wildlife, forests and fish are typically undertaken for profit. Understanding the financial aspects of such crimes and related corruption could help practitioners to tackle them more effectively, improving conservation outcomes.
Over the last years, the USAID-funded Targeting Natural Resource Corruption (TNRC) project has made significant progress in exploring and explaining illicit financial flows and their relation to natural resource corruption.
This introductory guide for the Targeting Natural Resource Corruption (TNRC) project:
- outlines the impact of illicit financial flows on conservation goals;
- explains approaches that can help conservation and natural resource management practitioners to strengthen their programming and related responses;
- offers guidance on risks and constraints to such financial approaches.
It leads the Illicit Financial Flows topic page of the TNRC Knowledge Hub and is designed to help practitioners find relevant resources.
The key takeaways are:
This blog has been prepared by Alya Nurbaiti, a consultant for the Basel Institute’s Green Corruption team. It is also published on the Targeting Natural Resource Corruption (TNRC) website, alongside numerous research papers and practical resources for more effective anti-corruption programming in relation to natural resources.
A guest interview with Bani Bains, Communications Manager at the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR), for the B20 Collective Action Hub.
Can social norm and behaviour change approaches help to reduce corruption related to illegal wildlife trade (IWT)?
Very possibly. SNBC initiatives have been shown to help combat diverse corruption problems, although for those related to IWT and other areas of conservation and natural resource management, the evidence for doing so is sparse.
Publication
Policy Brief 10: Using anti-money laundering frameworks to fight illegal wildlife trade in Uganda
In February 2020, Uganda made a high-level political commitment to work with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) to strengthen the effectiveness of its anti-money laundering (AML) regime. Among other commitments, Uganda undertook to demonstrate that law enforcement agencies and judicial authorities apply the money laundering offence consistent with the identified risks.
Where are the weakest links in the illegal wildlife trade enforcement chain? Lessons from corruption risk assessments with agencies in three countries is a Practice Note developed for the Targeting Natural Resource Corruption (TNRC) project. It:
This Problem Analysis is a review of the efficacy and opportunities for using social norm and behaviour change (SNBC) approaches to combat illegal wildlife trade (IWT) and other natural resource-related corruption.
We are grateful to the Principality of Liechtenstein for its decision to continue and substantially increase its core contribution to our Green Corruption programme.
The programme has gained significant momentum in 2021, responding to a clear need to address the “green corruption” that makes environmental crimes both possible and lucrative.