TNRC Event Conservation, Corruption, and Civic Space

Virtual Panel:
Conservation, Corruption, Civic Space

About the event

There can be many barriers that conservation and natural resource management (NRM) practitioners face when looking to integrate anti-corruption dimensions into their programming. One such challenge can be with the very topic of corruption: NRM practitioners often must maintain relationships that the sensitive, political nature of an anti-corruption agenda could threaten. While many promising anti-corruption interventions for NRM involve open government (transparency, accountability, participation) changes to the system, it can also have its trade-offs. In this virtual panel, experts bridging the open government, anti-corruption, conservation, and civic spaces will discuss ways to better understand and address the complex social, political, and systemic factors that enable corruption to undermine conservation.

About the speakers

Brice Böhmer, Head of Programs, Transparency International
Brice Böhmer steers some global programs and leads Transparency International’s work on climate governance integrity. Brice joined TI in 2012, after seven years spent working as a consultant on sustainable development for the European Commission, environmental ministries, and the private sector. His role includes being an observer at the UNFCCC and the GCF as well as managing and monitoring different projects on transparency-accountability-integrity in climate finance and action, as well as developing the capacity of the countries implementing the programme in Africa, Asia, and Latin-America. Brice holds a Master’s degree from École Supérieure de Commerce de Reims, with a specialization in corporate social responsibility and environmental communications.

Delfin Ganapin, Governance Practice Leader, WWF-International
Delfin Ganapin Jr. leads the Worldwide Fund for Nature’s Governance Practice, providing strategic direction and leadership for WWF’s work on global conservation and sustainable development governance. Previously, he was the Global Manager for the Global Environmental Facility Small Grants Programme, designed to provide resources to poor and vulnerable communities. He held senior roles in a variety of NGOs as well as government, provided consultancy services for various development agencies, and served as council or executive committee member for environmental funding facilities. Delfin holds a PhD in Environmental Policy and Planning from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

Adna Karamehic-Oates, Senior Program Officer, Open Government Partnership
Adna Karamehic-Oates supports the cross-team efforts to mobilize coalitions, strengthen partnerships, provide knowledge resources and technical support to OGP governments, civil society and other stakeholders who leverage OGP to advance reforms in priority thematic sectors. Before joining OGP, Adna spent 11 years at the Open Society Foundations in Washington DC, in program management as well as advocacy roles focusing on the central/eastern Europe region as well as rule of law and transparency/accountability issues globally. After leaving Open Society and Washington, she continued working on the Millennium Challenge Corporation as an independent consultant and taught international affairs courses at Fontbonne University in St. Louis, Missouri. Adna holds a PhD in Globalization and Governance from Virginia Tech University.

Ruth Noguerón, Senior Associate, Forests Program, World Resources Institute
While at WRI, Ruth Noguerón has conducted research, managed projects and participated in multi-stake holder partnerships in Canada, the U.S., Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Guatemala and more recently, Guyana. As part of her Global Forest Watch work, Ruth works to promote the use of satellite forest monitoring data in forest management, conservation, and forest legality decision-making processes, including identifying and documenting the enabling conditions for the wide-spread adoption of this data. Ruth holds a Master’s degree on Environmental Studies from Johns Hopkins University.

Preston Whitt, Anti-Corruption Adviser, Targeting Natural Resource Corruption, WWF-US (Moderator)
Preston is a political economist specializing in open government and anti-corruption. He joined WWF from R4D, where he worked on their extractive resource anti-corruption program, among other international development projects. Before that, he coordinated the publication process for country reviews at the Open Government Partnership.