TNRC Her Story | Women targeting natural resource corruption
On International Anti-Corruption Day 2022, we recognize the determination of women who are taking remarkable steps to address corruption through conservation programming. Their challenges and contexts are all different, but their stories reinforce a common understanding--only by addressing corruption behind environmental crimes, supply chain threats, and natural resource governance challenges, can we safeguard a future for communities, wildlife, fisheries and forests. Their stories inspire us to think and program differently for strengthened results.
Renata Cao Counter Wildlife Crime Hub Lead for Latin America, WWF Mexico
Renata Cao's work focuses on supporting World Wildlife Fund (WWF) offices in the Latin America region to advance their counter wildlife trafficking agendas and to facilitate coordinated responses, build regional technical capacities, and forge strategic partnerships.
What does your role entail?
My role is to coordinate activities that address illegal wildlife trade (IWT) and to build partnerships to counter wildlife crime in Latin America. As part of my responsibilities, I coordinate a project that is targeting regional anti-corruption efforts and advancing financial investigations to counter wildlife trafficking in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, funded by the United States Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. I coordinate activities between countries and our partner, The Basel Institute on Governance. I’m also responsible for implementing regional activities aimed at strengthening capacities, sharing lessons learned and good practices for preventing corruption, and advancing financial investigations between regional coordination bodies of prosecutors and law enforcement agencies.
What drivers or facilitators of corruption are you working to address?
In the Latin American region, there’s evidence that weak governance and constrained public institutions with limited or non-existent enforcement facilitate wildlife trafficking. Our project is looking to identify points in the criminal procedure chain that are vulnerable to corruption and to help develop mitigation measures for identified risks. Our results and lessons learned will serve as case studies for regional work in Latin America to address the facilitators of IWT.
“Situation analysis is key to understanding corruption behind environmental crimes; it can help you to focus your efforts and design more effective conservation projects.”
Renata Cao
WWF Mexico
Is there a critical moment that set you on the course you’re on now?
I started my career in conservation working in Protected Area management, community development, and sustainable livelihoods. My past work on a Mexican strategy to promote sustainable use of wildlife by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities illuminated how corruption can undermine conservation and jeopardize communities and livelihoods. I discovered that corruption facilitates the laundering of specimens that may be illegally caught in the wild and falsely declared as captivebred or legally harvested. Having the opportunity to lead the development of WWF’s Counter Wildlife Crime Hub for Latin America has been a turning point for me, because it has created opportunities to build partnerships and test strategies to fight corruption.
What’s something unexpected that you’ve learned through your work?
Applying a corruption lens has helped me to better understand the different motivations and drivers behind IWT. I’ve also found that a gender lens (considering how social norms apply differently to men and women) adds an important further layer of detail to work with. For example, norms relating to masculinity may drive some men to engage in poaching. Gender-based violence may drive women to be accomplices in a crime. I’ve learned a lot from a recent effort that analyzed different case studies around the world, looking at how social norms and gender shape the IWT space, from poaching, trafficking, and demand for wildlife products, and on to policy making.
What would you say to other practitioners seeking to address corruption through their conservation programming?
Developing a situation analysis at the beginning of a project (such as a political economy analysis) has been a really helpful way for me to better understand the drivers and facilitators of corruption that are associated with IWT. I recommend WWF’s practical guide to political economy analysis for conservation impact (PEACI) because it’s easy to use and doesn’t require specialized expertise or an expensive consultant. My team recently worked with a graduate student to develop a PEACI before preparing a counter jaguar trafficking strategy. That analysis revealed a general lack of understanding about jaguar trafficking amongst relevant stakeholders. By failing to recognize that domestic (instead of international) trafficking is one of the main threats to jaguars, past conservation efforts have been hindered. These findings have helped us to focus our work on developing a common understanding of the real problems behind jaguar declines, so that we can design more effective interventions.
What gives you hope for the future?
Through my work, I’ve had the opportunity to meet many inspiring young professionals—men and women—who are committed to finding innovative solutions to solve the world’s most pressing problems. I think that young generations are, in general, more aware of how their choices as consumers affect the environment. I believe they will be important drivers of change.
Daniela Gomel Public Policy and Governance Specialist, Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina
Daniela Gomel is a public policy and governance specialist at Fundación Vida Silvestre, a WWF partner organization in Argentina. She manages the policy and governance dimensions of several projects related to forests, protected areas, plastics and climate change. Daniela also coordinates a Targeting Natural Resource Corruption (TNRC) pilot project that focuses on promoting transparency and sharing learning to address corruption that undermines effective governance in the fisheries sector, particularly at the capture stage.
What does your role entail?
I coordinate a pilot project that has developed an electronic system (known as an e-logbook) for reporting fishing information at the capture stage. This involves working with ship captains and owners who are willing to test and provide feedback on the system. To scale up the e-logbook, I’m also working to advance policy on traceability and to prioritize the issue on the public agenda in Argentina. As part of our outreach efforts, I’ve worked with my team to create advocacy materials, request meetings with key decision makers, participate in Congressional debates, release media contents, and organize and/or participate in events to advocate for the adoption of a traceability regulation.
What drivers or facilitators of corruption are you working to address?
I’m working to address illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing—specifically discards and bycatch of endangered species. In some cases, fishing vessel captains and inspectors collude to hide their actions to avoid penalties. The lack of information about these practices hinders efforts to establish policies that prevent such activity. At Vida Silvestre, we are working to tackle the lack of regulations and insufficient implementation of existing regulations by promoting supply chain transparency to reduce discards and bycatch. While the e-logbook is one solution at the capture stage, implementing traceability regulations is also important to improve the rest of the supply chain.
“Targeting corruption opens new windows of opportunity to address environmental challenges.”
Daniela Gomel
Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina
Is there a critical moment that set you on the course you’re on now?
As a political scientist, I have been involved in the design and implementation of various environmental policies. When I joined the Vida Silvestre team, I started to focus specifically on fishery issues and institutional needs to improve marine conservation outcomes. I realized that we had vast experience working at the field-level but were doing less work on policy reforms that are important for scaling good practices. Moreover, we needed to strengthen our consideration of international context, as new requirements from importing countries are being launched or drafted. We’ve found that some other countries in the region have relevant experience in fishery traceability that could be adapted in Argentina. Our TNRC pilot project has enabled us to bring new stakeholders together to try a new approach to working on fishery sector challenges stemming from corruption and lack of transparency.
What’s something unexpected that you’ve learned through your work?
I’ve learned that captains and ship owners are willing to talk about corruption in protected environments, but there is limited current incentive to address this issue, since the costs of doing so are high. I was originally concerned that gender barriers may hamper our efforts (most of our pilot design team are women, whereas we’re chiefly working with men on implementation). But in general, the process has been a great experience.
What would you say to other practitioners seeking to address corruption through their conservation programming?
I would offer two pieces of advice: First, find ways to adapt your narrative to context. Some partners can be uncomfortable with the word “corruption”. Using other accepted language is ok –the impact of the work is what matters. Second, there’s a lot of information out there to support different approaches for measuring impact. Do not be afraid of new indicators and evaluation methods. These can help you more effectively tackle conservation problems in new ways.
What gives you hope for the future?
When working directly with people, it’s possible to find common ground and bring out their own desires to change practices. There’s also strong potential to build consensus in the policy arena to develop better regulations that benefit both people and our environment.
Nicola Okes Project Manager (Khetha), TRAFFIC
Nicola Okes represents TRAFFIC International, based in Southern Africa. She currently works across the global TRAFFIC network to coordinate engagement on issues relating to the illegal wildlife trade, with a focus on rhinos and elephants. She has previously worked on marine conservation and trade, analyzing both legal and illegal trade with the purpose of providing sustainable solutions to environmental concerns.
What does your role entail?
I engage government and non-governmental organization stakeholders on elephant and rhino conservation and trade. Together with offices across our network, I employ broad, evidence-based research and analysis at national and regional levels to inform mechanisms that can reduce illegal trade in these species.
What drivers or facilitators of corruption are you working to address?
I see corruption as a barrier to the success of many initiatives that aim to reduce or mitigate the impacts of illegal trade. The drivers and facilitators of corruption are highly complex and often cannot be tackled from siloed conservation or law enforcement initiatives. My work today focuses on the illicit rhino horn trade. My hope is that a better understanding of market dynamics and the conditions that facilitate corruption will lead to more focused and informed interventions. An essential first step is to understand where key vulnerabilities to corruption lie.
“Corruption is ultimately about people, their needs and their choices. Empathy is key to fully grasping the complexities of how and why corruption occurs.”
Nicola Okes
TRAFFIC
Is there a critical moment that set you on the course you’re on now?
I began my career working on marine conservation and trade. In that space, the link between social and environmental dimensions is clear—without stable fish stocks, there can be no food security. That intersection is something I hadn’t explored in the terrestrial environment until recently. In 2020, I started work on a Khetha Programme project, a partnership between WWF South Africa and USAID. The project aimed to build integrity into conservation law enforcement and understand the types of corruption that are relevant to protected areas in Southern Africa. As I assessed the state of knowledge of corruption and talked to experts in many fields (including experts on social and behavioral change), I learned that understanding people and their motivations is key to affecting change.
What’s something unexpected that you’ve learned through your work?
Listening to and appreciating a wealth of perspectives and experiences has allowed me to think more broadly about the complex, daunting, and often taboo topic of corruption. People are at the core of corruption events, but they are also integral to any sustainable solution.
What would you say to other practitioners seeking to address corruption through their conservation programming?
Because of the complex nature of corruption, it can seem overwhelming to tackle. I would encourage conservation practitioners to seek out experts with different mindsets and skill sets to help assess risks and relevant approaches.
What gives you hope for the future?
The fact that many dedicated professionals are working to contribute their diverse skill sets and experiences from different backgrounds and fields (including conservation, criminal law, behavioral and social sciences) makes this an exciting field to work in. Being part of a broader community working on these issues is really encouraging. Broadening our engagement with different government agencies and regional bodies means there are even more opportunities to develop solutions.
Shambhavi Poudel Campaigns and Education Officer, WWF Nepal
Shambhavi Poudel leads the Campaigns and Education Unit at WWF Nepal. She works closely with children and young people, placing them at the core of conservation interventions. She recently helped to design a new pilot activity under the TNRC project that focuses on mobilizing youth to promote good community forest governance.
What does your role entail?
My role involves working with youth on anti-corruption interventions in Nepal. This includes engaging young people both as duty bearers and rights holders. Community forests have been highly successful in Nepal, but in certain cases, poor governance has created opportunities for corruption. Since many Community Forest User Group members are youths (often female), they can be an important force for change. We recently began a pilot effort working through a community-based organization to strengthen the interface between youth champions and Community Forest User Executive Committee members, to support more regular sharing of information and help enhance ownership. The pilot will also strengthen the skills, knowledge and capacity of over one-hundred Nepali youths on principles of good governance, bookkeeping and financial management.
What drivers or facilitators of corruption are you working to address?
Identifying corruption is the first step to fighting it. That said, it can be quite difficult to pin down the drivers of corruption, since they are often diverse and can depend on multiple factors. My hope is to empower rights-holders to call for greater transparency and access to information so that they can increase accountability. This will make the governance of community forests more participatory and transparent, particularly in decision-making and financial transaction processes.
“Engaging young people is key to strengthening natural resource governance and countering corruption. I’m inspired by them every single day.”
Shambhavi Poudel
WWF Nepal
Is there a critical moment that set you on the course you’re on now?
I have worked on youth empowerment and engagement since the beginning of my career, including in the areas of social entrepreneurship and environmental protection. In the past few years, I’ve had the opportunity to design and implement behavior-change campaigns. These have taught me that achieving change requires interventions that carefully consider the context in which you are working. My hope is to help address the root causes of corruption sensitively and sensibly through well-designed efforts.
What’s something unexpected that you’ve learned through your work?
I’ve learned that the problem and solution are two sides of the same coin. It’s people who are corrupt, and it’s also people who can make change happen. Placing people at the center of interventions is therefore key.
What would you say to other practitioners seeking to address corruption through their conservation programming?
Let’s continue to innovate. We must bring future professionals to the table today—because tomorrow is too late!
What gives you hope for the future?
Engaging youth in conservation in Nepal has shown outstanding results in achieving zero poaching. The Government of Nepal has emphasized the importance of youth involvement in the preparation and implementation of multiple policies and plans, including the National Youth Policy (2015), Forest Act (2076), and Local Government Operationalization Act (2074). The power and passion of young people to change the world for the better gives me hope.
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