TNRC - Partner Resource - TGNR - Corruption and criminality behind biodiversity loss in Colombia’s forests: Illegal logging

Corruption and criminality behind biodiversity loss in Colombia’s forests: Illegal logging

Transparent Governance of Natural Resources | May 2021 | Partner Resource

WWF Colombia, Transparency for Colombia (Transparencia por Colombia), the Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development (Fundación para la Conservación y el Desarrollo Sostenible — FCDS), and InSight Crime teamed up to identify the facts of corruption and criminality behind the main drivers of deforestation, forest degradation and biodiversity loss in Colombia’s Amazon and Pacific regions: illegal mining, land grabbing, illegal logging, and wildlife trafficking. All of them were tracked as part of a USAID-funded project, named Transparent Governance of Natural Resources (TGNR).

This video shares how illegal logging in Colombia’s Amazon and Pacific regions has been feeding a lucrative global market for illicitly sourced timber. It explores the methods used by criminal actors and explains what can be done by the broader society to help stop the exploitation of Colombia’s natural resources. Specifically, strengthening the capacity of communities (including indigenous and Afro-Descendent) to harvest their forests sustainably and without deception by corrupt external actors, and preventing the corruption and fraud undermining the integrity of legal timber permits. The latter will require empowering river and road transport authorities to resist bribery.