CORRUPTION in the Wildlife and Forest Sectors

Rob Parry-Jones & Lamine Sebogo, WWF;

Sone Nkoke, TRAFFIC

UN Convention against Corruption and its review mechanism

Addis Ababa, 17-20 February, 2015

• WWF and TRAFFIC: who are we?

• Wildlife and Forest Crime: what is it?

• Corruption in the WLF sectors: what does it look like

• Indicators of corruption in the WLF sectors

• It’s just a reptile – does WLF corruption really matter?

• WLF corruption – impacts

• WWF / TRAFFIC approach to corruption

Presentation Outline

WWF IN SHORT

WWF is in over

100 countries, on

5 continents

+100

WWF was founded

In 1961

1961

WWF consists of over

5,000 conservationists

+5000

WWF has over

5 million supporters

+5M

SPECIES

OCEANS

FORESTS

FRESH WATER

CLIMATE & ENERGY

PLACES FOOTPRINT

Presentation to MAVA Foundation Date 16th September 2010

WWF: a brief introduction

• TRAFFIC is the leading non-governmental organization working globally on trade in wild animals and plants in the context of both biodiversity conservation and sustainable development

• TRAFFIC’s mission is to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature.

• TRAFFIC aims to identify and highlight specific wildlife trade problems and offer solutions to conservation threats

• TRAFFIC’s key focus areas include implementation and enforcement of CITES & related legislation

TRAFFIC is a strategic alliance of and

TRAFFIC: a brief introduction

Wildlife and Forest crime

Illegal rhinoceros killings

Wildlife Crime

Pillars & Cross-stream of WWF/TRAFFIC’s response

International Policy – cross cutting

Stop the

Poaching

Stop the

Trafficking

Demand

Reduction

Stop the

Trafficking

Corruption in the wildlife & forest sector

What does it look like?

Can be difficult to distinguish between

- Corruption versus poor implementation?

- Rumour versus truth?

- Difficult to prove when suspected corruption encountered

Appears in many forms

Bribery, forgery, theft, tip-offs …

CORRUPTION!

Live animals found in suitcases of one man in

Bangkok, flying to Dubai May 2011

CORRUPTION!

500kg indicator of corruption

Export vs Import data discrepancy (logs, m3)

Tanzania total exports Country Y imports from Tanzania

2002/03 4,920 2003 45,432

2003/04 8,529 2004 41,699

2004/05 5,867 2005 21,374

Quantitative measure of illegality

Relative

scale

0

20

40

60

80

100

Harvesting Hammering Transporting Processing Packing Exporting

Illegal or irregular products

Legal or regular products

Average

‘Timber Trade Bribery Index’

Regulatory interventions normally

applied where bribery most prevalent

Infractions occur along the entire chain of custody

CORRUPTION!

CORRUPTION!

CORRUPTION!

Examples of Corruption along the trade chain

Transportation & export / import

Checkpoint inspectors Border officials Customs officials

Turning a blind eye Concealing shipments

Bribery Document fraud

Illegally collected wildlife: -Passes checkpoints -Enters foreign markets -Is ‘legalised’

Investigation and prosecution of wildlife criminals

Police Wildlife wardens and rangers Prosecutors Judges Government officials

Failure to investigate Tip-offs for investigations Losing / selling evidence Delaying cases Releasing suspects Low penalties

-Wildlife criminals not prosecuted -No deterrent -Motivation for criminal activity

- Demotivates LE officers

Trade stage Impacts Forms of corruption Officials involved

WLF Crime : a victimless crime ?

It’s just a reptile

It’s only a fish

It’s just a few trees

Corruption in the wildlife & forest sector: why does it matter?

18-Feb-15 / 23

Presentation to Company Name

www.panda.org

Thank you

USD 58 million per year

Lost development opportunities

Lost potential for self reliance

1,900 primary

schools

11 million

mosquito nets

Impacts of corruption

Illegal and unregulated fishing

deprives the Indonesian Government of

USD2 billion every year (ADB-CITES

Symposium, 2013)

Countries that tackle corruption … can

increase … national incomes by … four

times …, and reduce child mortality

(by) …. 75 percent (World Bank, 2013)

Corruption is central in supply of

wood-based products from East

Asia / Pacific to consumer markets.

Estimated value of illegal trade in

wood-based products US$17 billion,

comprising 30-40% of trade (UNODC,

2013)

Undermines - efforts to protect & regulate wildlife trade

- development of systems enabling transparency & accountability

Driver for steep wildlife population declines

Cascade effects: habitats & ecosystems; water supply; food

production

Social risks: Health, poverty, community conflicts

Revenue loss: tax, permits & licences, concessions

Corruption in the wildlife & forest sector: why does it matter?

WWF / TRAFFIC and Corruption:

1 question. 3 options

Options

1. Accept that conservation success will always be limited ?

2. Form alliances and fight corruption head-on ?

• Mission drift?

3. Build strategic alliances, feed environmental dimensions

into anti-corruption mechanisms, processes and dialogues

• Develop our understanding

WWF / TRAFFIC’s approach to addressing corruption

Thank you