The Open Government Partnership and Anti-Corruption in Conservation: Templates for Collective Action

The document argues that the Open Government Partnership (OGP) is an underutilized platform for conservationists to drive transparency, participation, and accountability in natural resource governance. It provides three specific templates for creating OGP commitments: beneficial ownership transparency to combat deforestation, openness and integrity in wildlife law enforcement, and participatory governance for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The guide emphasizes that these reforms help prevent 'open washing' by using multi-stakeholder forums and independent reporting to track government progress.

• The Open Government Partnership (OGP) provides a mechanism to prevent 'open washing' through mandatorily open and collaborative action plans developed via multi-stakeholder forums (MSF) and monitored by an Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM).
• Beneficial ownership transparency (BOT) is identified as a critical foundational step to prevent corruption in forestry, as hidden ownership allows companies to avoid taxes, hide illicit proceeds, and enable public officials to benefit from environmental decisions.
• Corruption in wildlife law enforcement is often addressed through open engagement with civil society, which the OECD suggests creates positive linkages to better outcomes in illegal wildlife trade cases.
• Many Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are ineffective, described as 'mere lines on a map', due to a crisis of rent-seeking, weak institutional performance, and political short-termism.
• The Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI) collaborates with OGP to reduce corruption and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing by requiring countries to publish laws, policies, and foreign fishing access agreements.

APA

Whitt, J. P. (2023). The Open Government Partnership and Anti-Corruption in Conservation: Templates for Collective Action. WWF International. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/282/15jaa8o219_TNRC_OGP_Guide.pdf

Chicago

Whitt, J. Preston. The Open Government Partnership and Anti-Corruption in Conservation: Templates for Collective Action. WWF International, 2023. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/282/15jaa8o219_TNRC_OGP_Guide.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Whitt |first1=J. Preston |title=The Open Government Partnership and Anti-Corruption in Conservation: Templates for Collective Action |publisher=WWF International |date=February 2023 |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/282/15jaa8o219_TNRC_OGP_Guide.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{whitt2023open, author = {Whitt, J. Preston}, title = {{The Open Government Partnership and Anti-Corruption in Conservation: Templates for Collective Action}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2023}, month = feb, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/282/15jaa8o219_TNRC_OGP_Guide.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }