TNRC Associate Awards leveraged and contributed to TNRC's knowledge agenda, while responding to specific programming priorities agreed between USAID missions/operating units and TNRC. Five Associate Awards were programmed with details below.
In April 2020, USAID/Colombia awarded a cooperative agreement to WWF US for a political economy analysis in Colombia to investigate political, structural, and institutional factors that create opportunities for or vulnerabilities to corruption that contributes to deforestation. WWF Colombia partnered with Transparency International to deliver the analysis, which also provided an opportunity for robust learning related to the knowledge, skills, and partnerships that NRM practitioners should be aware of before embarking on a political economy analysis.
This executive summary presents the main topics addressed in the research project for the study of the drivers, the scope of the recommendations to counteract acts of corruption and its link with organized crime, as well as the relevance of addressing the prioritized actions.
Transparent Governance of Natural Resources (TGNR) is a project funded by USAID and executed by WWF with three organizations that contributed information and the methodology for the analysis. The project’s primary aim was to generate clear and feasible recommendations for mitigating corruption and organized crime that are the cause of deforestation, forest degradation, and biodiversity loss in the Amazon and the Colombian Pacific. To this end, the TGNR identified and prioritized four drivers associated with this environmental problem: illegal gold mining, illegal logging, wildlife trafficking and land grabbing.
Este resumen ejecutivo presenta los principales temas abordados en el proyecto de investigación. Para el estudio de los drivers, el alcance de las recomendaciones para contrarrestar actos de corrupción y su vinculación con el crimen organizado, así como la pertinencia de atender los temas priorizados comportamiento.
A pesar de la amplia extensión de los bosques naturales en Colombia y su importancia en la provisión de múltiples servicios ecosistémicos de los cuales dependen los colombianos de manera directa e indirecta, la deforestación representa uno de los principales desafíos medioambientales del país. Muestra de ello no son sólo las cifras de deforestación, las cuales reportan una pérdida neta de bosques de cerca de 4,5 millones de hectáreas entre el año 2000 y 2019 (Ideam, 2020), sino también otros complejos fenómenos políticos, sociales, económicos y culturales que se expresan a través de la deforestación y la degradación forestal.
Following a series of co-design workshops with USAID, WWF US received an Associate Award for a four-year project to Strengthen Natural Resource Governance in Ecuador. The project has a phased approach that will first identify the linkages among conservation crime, corruption, deforestation, forest degradation, and biodiversity loss. A second phase will involve a participatory process to identify and implement interventions to reduce corruption and improve governance. A key feature of the approach will be to design research and activities to be highly context-specific, addressing the unique challenges of two fragile and vital landscapes – the Amazon and the Coastal/Galapagos regions of Ecuador.
In mid-2022, USAID awarded WWF US an Associate Award for a five-year project to increase equitable and transparent environmental governance in Honduras. This project will begin with a deep analysis to identify the main drivers of key environmental crimes, the linkages between conservation crime, corruption, deforestation, forest degradation, and biodiversity loss, and identify potential interventions. The project will then implement pilot activities to strengthen institutional oversight mechanisms that improve transparency, strengthen the capacity of judges, prosecutors, and investigators, and increase the awareness and participation of citizens to reduce conservation crimes. This project places a strong emphasis on engaging Government of Honduras actors, civil society (formal and informal – especially groups, networks, and coalitions representing marginalized and vulnerable populations), and the private sector, as well as adopting conflict-sensitive approaches that protect vulnerable stakeholders.
In June 2021, USAID awarded a cooperative agreement to WWF US for a three-year program in Madagascar that focuses on anti-corruption and combating wildlife trafficking. WWF Madagascar will lead a consortium of TRAFFIC and Transparency International-Madagascar, and also expects to collaborate with the Government and local organizations to implement activities related to judiciary effectiveness and law enforcement capacity improvement, building on existing work.
After a series of co-design workshops with USAID in September, WWF US was awarded an Associate Award for a three-year “Mekong of the Future” project. The project will work across Myanmar, Lao PDR, Thailand, Viet Nam, and Cambodia to improve natural resource governance in the Greater Mekong. Strengthening civil society's ability to engage in natural resource governance and improving their access to and understanding of environmental data from public and private actors will be key approaches.
Image attribution: © naturepl.com / Jen Guyton / WWF; © Brian J. Skerry / National Geographic Stock / WWF; © Georgina Goodwin / Shoot The Earth / WWF-UK; © Hkun Lat / WWF-Aus
