17th IACC

If corruption is not addressed with new intensity, we will lose our wildlife, forests and fish. Corruption is an existential threat: it destroys our environment, robs states of development opportunities and undermines human rights. It occurs along the entire natural resource value chain, enabling illicit access to, extraction and trade of resources. Bribery, laundering of corrupt money and illicit financial flows (IFFs) exacerbate poverty and economic disparities, undermine resource management plans and legal trade regimes; IFF-recipient countries facilitate plundering of natural resources. Perpetrators of corruption often have impunity due to impenetrable financial structures and networks, political influence or lack of jurisdiction. The anti-corruption and conservation communities must join forces and move beyond standard ‘mainstreaming’ responses, to address normative practices facilitating natural resource-related corruption. This workshop, framed within the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, unites the conservation and anti-corruption movements, linking natural resource supply chains to the corruption and financial crime agendas. Focusing on wildlife trafficking, an expert panel will discuss critical challenges, drawing on successful initiatives in other natural resource supply chains and identifying potential contributions. The workshop is a rallying call to the anti-corruption movement to capitalize on advances and take this critical issue to the global community.