Targeting corruption and its proceeds: Why we should mainstream an anti-corruption perspective into follow the money approaches to natural resource crime

The briefing advocates for mainstreaming anti-corruption objectives into financial investigations of natural resource crimes. It argues that while 'follow the money' (FTM) techniques are emerging, they often focus on the proceeds of crime rather than the corruption that facilitates it. The authors suggest that integrating anti-corruption efforts can help identify high-level criminal actors and disrupt the supply chains of illegal wildlife, timber, and fisheries trade. The document highlights barriers such as inter-agency silos and political disincentives, and provides policy recommendations for public agencies, private financial institutions, and donors to enhance detection and enforcement through multi-agency taskforces and tailored risk assessments.

• Financial investigations are underutilized in natural resource crimes compared to other serious crimes like drug or arms trafficking, leading to missed opportunities to identify high-level criminal network members and corrupt facilitators.
• The 'follow the money' (FTM) approach is a broad strategy that analyzes the criminal supply chain from a financial perspective to strengthen prevention, detection, and enforcement, rather than being limited to a single financial investigation.
• A significant barrier to effective FTM implementation is the lack of collaboration and information sharing between environmental management authorities, anti-corruption agencies, and financial crime units.
• Technical capacity is not the only obstacle to financial investigations; powerful corrupt actors may actively obstruct investigations, and political dynamics can create disincentives for agencies due to fear of repercussions.
• Corruption risk assessments should be tailored to specific value chains and resources, identifying vulnerabilities in job roles or processes where value accumulates to create targeted financial controls.
• The document recommends that countries include natural resource crimes and related corruption in their National Risk Assessments (NRAs) to meet FATF mutual evaluation standards.

APA

Reid, A., Parry-Jones, R., & Keatinge, T. (2020). Targeting corruption and its proceeds: Why we should mainstream an anti-corruption perspective into follow the money approaches to natural resource crime. WWF International. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/134/1lwd4zdkox_Topic_Brief_Targeting_corruption_and_its_proceeds.pdf

Chicago

Reid, Alexandria, Rob Parry-Jones, and Tom Keatinge. Targeting corruption and its proceeds: Why we should mainstream an anti-corruption perspective into follow the money approaches to natural resource crime. WWF International, 2020. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/134/1lwd4zdkox_Topic_Brief_Targeting_corruption_and_its_proceeds.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Reid |first1=Alexandria |last2=Parry-Jones |first2=Rob |last3=Keatinge |first3=Tom |title=Targeting corruption and its proceeds: Why we should mainstream an anti-corruption perspective into follow the money approaches to natural resource crime |publisher=WWF International |date=October 2020 |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/134/1lwd4zdkox_Topic_Brief_Targeting_corruption_and_its_proceeds.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{reid2020targeting, author = {Reid, Alexandria and Parry-Jones, Rob and Keatinge, Tom}, title = {{Targeting corruption and its proceeds: Why we should mainstream an anti-corruption perspective into follow the money approaches to natural resource crime}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2020}, month = oct, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/134/1lwd4zdkox_Topic_Brief_Targeting_corruption_and_its_proceeds.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }