Fighting Corruption a leading enabler of wildlife crime and trafficking

Corruption enabling poaching and illegal wildlife trade has been a threat to wildlife conservation for many years, permeating departments from (wildlife) law enforcement and border agencies, to private sector workers and government officials.

The issue has gained steady global attention, with recent landmark commitments such as those made by the G20 leaders in 2017, marking the scaling up of international efforts to address the issue. The 2018 London Conference, bringing together government leaders from across the world, has also embedded the fight against corruption in wildlife trade as a major priority.

Although such high-level traction is promising, translating strong words into tangible action is far more complex, particularly given the far-reaching motivations behind corruption. This involves addressing the enabling issues behind bribery and extortion, as well as wider factors including financial crime and ineffective legislation. In many source countries, wildlife protection and management services are woefully under-equipped and under-paid, making the opportunity to supplement ones income through illicit behaviour particularly alluring. The same issues can make successfully detecting corruption an ongoing enforcement challenge.

There are various tools available to combat such problems, including international conventions against corruption, legislation that criminalises and requires the penalization of corrupt activities, guidelines on anti-corruption laws and improving transparency, anti-corruption toolkits and training materials. It is essential that such approaches be prioritised in countries affected by corruption to avoid the issue further impacting on already stretched resources and threatened wildlife.