This Anti-Corruption Helpdesk brief was produced in response to a query from a U4 Partner Agency. The U4 Helpdesk is operated by Transparency International in collaboration with the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre based at the Chr. Michelsen Institute.
Query
The implementation and fulfilment of various pledges of the three Rio Conventions increase demand on land: the “green land rush”. Which corruption challenges exist and or can be anticipated in relation to these land-based solutions? What are the anti-corruption tools that can counteract these challenges?
“Nature-based” solutions to climate change require the acquisition of large swaths of land for reforestation, afforestation, conservation and renewable energy sources. However, corruption in the land sector is already widespread and this additional demand for land may aggravate pre-existing corruption risks, as well as causing new ones. National governments and project implementers of land-based solutions should therefore implement anti-corruption measures in projects and, most importantly, ensure that they take into account the communities (such as Indigenous Peoples) who may already live on the land.
Contents
- Background
- Reforestation and afforestation
- Vulnerabilities to corruption
- Weak governance
- Interaction with affected communities
- Scarcity of land
- Tenure insecurity
- Lack of transparency
- Time and financial pressures
- Large amounts of funding
- New market actors
- The associated corruption risks
- Political corruption
- Cronyism, favouritism and elite capture
- Bribery, kickbacks and embezzlement
- Fraud
- Potential anti-corruption measures
- By national governments
- By project implementers
- By affected communities
Authors
Caitlin Maslen (TI)
Reviewers
Saul Mullard (U4)
Alice Stevens, Jonathan Ochom and Gvantsa Gverdtsiteli (TI)
Date
11/12/2023
