Companies dealing with metals and minerals cannot avoid corruption risks, which plague practically every extractive sector at every phase of development, every country and every stage of the supply chain. Both industrial and artisanal mining are vulnerable, though in different ways.

Smart use of technology, concerted cooperation both across and within sectors, and information sharing on risks and risky actors are key to combating the rampant trade in illegal goods, including wildlife, minerals and forest products.

These were strong takeaways of a virtual discussion on illicit trade and natural resources on hosted by the OECD and Green Corruption team of the Basel Institute on Governance on 27 January 2021.

We are delighted to welcome Liechtenstein as an inaugural core donor to our Green Corruption programme.

The programme applies anti-corruption, follow-the-money and governance approaches to critical issues of environmental degradation. Liechtenstein’s support and endorsement are particularly valuable as we ramp up and expand the programme, building on a strong base of evidence and experience gained through our efforts in the last years to tackle financial crime in illegal wildlife trade.

Please join us and our partners at the OECD on 27 January at 13:00 CET for a multi-disciplinary panel discussion on illicit trade in natural resources.

The event is part of the Corrupting the environment monthly dialogue series, which explores creative solutions to burning issues of environmental degradation through the lens of financial crime and illicit trade.

The Basel Institute's Green Corruption programme is launching an ambitious two-year research collaboration with the Targeting Natural Resource Corruption (TNRC) project. The aim is to fill crucial gaps in understanding and addressing the corruption that fuels illegal wildlife trade and other threats to our planet.

Business, conservation, anti-corruption, global trade, compliance and risk management. International law, organised crime enforcement, standard-setting, political economy analysis and social norms. The inaugural Corrupting the Environment dialogue used all these lenses to examine the “vicious triangle” that undermines sustainable development: corruption, illicit trade and environmental degradation.

Are we at a turning point in the fight to save our planet from the ravages of environmental crime and corruption?

Possibly. The ongoing pandemic, caused by a zoonotic disease, has brought home the fact that environmental degradation is already altering our lives. Hopes that this was a one-off disruption and that we could soon return to the way things were have been dashed. It is now frighteningly clear that the pace of abuse of our planet keeps accelerating and the next crisis looms around the corner.

Turning wildlife trafficking into a high-risk, low-profit trade is challenging. Our recent research on why and how wildlife trafficking happens in Uganda gives some insights into the factors that sustain the supply of large volumes of wildlife products moving from wildlife habitats in Africa to the hands of consumers all over the world.

Our recent policy brief on Curbing wildlife trafficking in Uganda: lessons for practitioners summarises the main findings from extensive field research on the drivers, facilitators and strategies of wildlife trafficking in Uganda.

Our recent policy brief on Curbing wildlife trafficking in Uganda: lessons for practitioners summarises the main findings from extensive field research on the drivers, facilitators and strategies of wildlife trafficking in Uganda.