Open Governance Targeting Natural Resource Corruption

The document argues that corruption is a primary obstacle to sustainable nature conservation, thriving in environments of secrecy and opaque government processes. It advocates for 'open governance' as a fundamental means of addressing this, detailing how transparency (e.g., beneficial ownership and traceability), accountability (e.g., court monitoring and safeguard standards), and participation (e.g., free, prior, and informed consent) can reduce opportunities for the abuse of public office. The guide emphasizes that these reforms require an enabling environment characterized by political will, the rule of law, and a robust civil society to be effective, while cautioning that interventions must include safeguards to protect participants from reprisals.

• Corruption facilitates environmental crime and is exacerbated by 'closed governance,' such as the use of 'confidentiality' to hide natural resource contract negotiations and the remote location of extraction operations which makes monitoring difficult.
• Transparency reduces corruption risks through several mechanisms: beneficial ownership transparency (BOT) prevents the use of legal structures to hide owners of companies (e.g., in fisheries), and traceability systems deter the laundering of illegal products in supply chains.
• Accountability in natural resource management can be strengthened through social accountability strategies, such as public auditing of revenue and expenditure, and through court monitoring, which can reduce the likelihood of corruption undermining legal cases.
• Participation, including the use of free, prior, informed consent (FPIC) mechanisms, ensures that affected people are included in decision-making, which helps avoid political capture and identifies 'red flags' of potential corruption in infrastructure projects.
• The effectiveness of open governance reforms is dependent on an enabling environment that includes the rule of law, political leadership, and legal frameworks such as Freedom of Information (FoI) laws and whistleblower protection systems.
• Regional and global frameworks can support national environments; specifically, the Escazú Agreement in Latin America and the Caribbean mandates access to environmental information, participation, and environmental justice.
• Open governance interventions must incorporate safeguards to ensure that transparency does not violate privacy, that accountability mechanisms protect the identity of complainants to prevent reprisals, and that participation does not expose individuals to risks from powerful actors.

APA

WWF International (n.d.). Open Governance Targeting Natural Resource Corruption. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/284/kujd917th_Open_Governance_Synthesis_English.pdf

Chicago

WWF International. Open Governance Targeting Natural Resource Corruption. n.d. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/284/kujd917th_Open_Governance_Synthesis_English.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=WWF International |title=Open Governance Targeting Natural Resource Corruption |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/284/kujd917th_Open_Governance_Synthesis_English.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wwfinternationalndopen, author = {{WWF International}}, title = {{Open Governance Targeting Natural Resource Corruption}}, institution = {WWF International}, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/284/kujd917th_Open_Governance_Synthesis_English.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }