Corruption and the environment sector

Corruption in the environmental sector diverts funds allocated for environmental prog rams to private pockets through embezzlement and bribery. It facilitates trafficking in wildlife and other natural resources and leads to depletion of natural resources and pollution of environment through bribery in environmental inspections and permitting system. Corruption also contributes to the development of environmentally damaging policies and practices and to unfair allocation of environmental resources that contributes to environmentally harmful practices. The causes of corruption in the environmental sector includes typical causes attributed to any other sectors: insufficient legislation, lack of respect for the rule of law, weak democracy, wide authority given to public officials, minimal accountability and transparency, poor enforcement, low levels of professionalism, and perverse incentives. In addition, corruption in the environmental sector is also triggered by conflicts between private interests in revenue that can be gained from environmental resources and public interests in a healthy environment. Corruption may occur across a number of transactions, starting from bribery and cronyism in developing national policy and embezzlement in implementing environmental programs to bribery in issuing permits and licenses and collecting "rents" while enforcing environmental regulations. It can be well organized from top to bottom and linked to organized crime (for example, in mineral, timber and wildlife trafficking), and it can be widely represented through a number of governmental agencies and services. The areas most vulnerable to corruption include environmental and natural resources policy and regulatory development; utilization of environmental resources; permitting and certification processes; and environmental enforcement (inspections and policing). Strategies to address corruption in the environmental and natural resources sector include a combination of enforcement, prevention and awareness elements. For sustainability, anti-corruption efforts need to emphasize preventive reforms and public awareness components because these ultimately reduce the opportunities for corruption. Recommended strategies include: reforms to improve transparency and accountability, legislation to reduce loopholes and bureaucratic discretion, reasonable environmental standards and requirements, reduced bureaucratic red tape by simplifying and streamlining administrative processes, citizen participation and oversight through establishment of citizen watchdog groups and public -private dialogues, professional and responsible investigative reporting in the media, and comprehensive public awareness campaigns on the causes and costs of corruption to promote citizen intolerance to corruption. (Author abstract)