Corruption and biodiversity conservation

• Changes in national populations of African elephants and black rhinos, both during a period of decline (1987-1994) and during a period of recovery (1994-1998), were strongly related to mean national corruption scores.
• National corruption scores, rather than poverty levels or human population pressure, best explained observed changes in elephant and black rhinoceros populations in a number of African countries.
• Countries that are targetted for extra funding because they contain areas of high conservation value (based on species richness, endemism and threat) tend to be the most corrupt.

This page provides links to the article and other related information and discusses questions that investigate the role that political corruption plays in affecting the success of conservation projects.

Published articles

Smith et al. (2003). Governance and the loss of biodiversity. Nature, 426, 67-70.

Press release produced for the publication of the Nature article

Smith, RJ & Walpole, MJ (2005). Should conservationists pay more attention to corruption? Oryx 39, 251-256.

Walpole, MJ & Smith, RJ (2005). Focusing on corruption:a reply to Ferraro and Katzner. Oryx 39, 263-264.

Links to articles that describe our work

National Geographic News - "Corruption top threat to African mammals, study says"
SciDev.Net - "Corruption thwarts conservation efforts"
Nature Science Update - "Corruption is undermining conservation"

Frequently asked questions

Your results focussed on African elephants and black rhinos. Is this because Africa has a particular problem with corruption?

Our analysis needed time-series data on species that were found in several countries and the only available information was on African elephants and black rhinos. We are very keen to stress that we are not saying that Africa has particular corruption problems. African countries should be applauded for their success in conserving these two species and for collecting such important data on national population trends. We would also encourage people to look at the 2003 Corruption Perception Index scores to see that African countries show a range of corruption scores and that Botswana, for example, is seen as being less corrupt than two European Union countries.

How were the corruption levels of the countries that you looked at in the analysis measured and is it possible to accurately measure something as complicated as corruption?
The corruption scoring system we used was based on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI), which is produced annually by an organisation called Transparency International. The CPI system is based on interviews with business people and local analysts and it gives a maximum score of 10 to the least corrupt countries (ie those with the best governance).

There are obviously problems in using such a system to measure corruption but most people would argue that it provides invaluable information to measure and understand the problem. It is also interesting that these data can be effectively used to predict population changes in African elephant and black rhinos, despite this system being based on information provided by business people.

Do you have any examples of conservation projects that have been affected by corruption?
Many conservationists have worked on projects that have been affected by corruption but it is very difficult to quantify the problem or name the responsible parties without risking legal action or damaging relations between conservation partners. Instead, it would be better for organisations to design projects from the outset to minimise these problems. However, there are some published articles that discuss these problems more generally and they are listed in the reference section below.

What can be done to reduce the effects of corruption on conservation projects?
There are several ways that these problems can be reduced and many of them have been used successfully in different conservation projects. The most obvious are to develop a motivated, well paid staff and to set up appropriate management structures, so that corrupt practices can be identified. Corruption can also be reduced by engaging the private sector in management partnerships and improving auditing and accounting procedures. Finally, journalists can play an important role in exposing corrupt practices. There is a huge amount of good will towards conservationists but this sometimes means that problems associated with corruption or poor management are not investigated or publicised.

What equation did you use in your analysis to calculate CPI scores from the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG)?
The equation is as follows:

log CPI score = ("Corruption in government " score * 0.07402) + ("Bureaucratic quality" score * 0.05714) + ("Rule of law" score * 0.02815) + 0.03773

Where each of the ICRG scores is a number between 0 and 6

What is the source of your elephant population data?
Data for the analysis came from:

Said, M. & Chunge, R. (1994). African Elephant Database. A preliminary update. IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland & Cambridge, UK.

Barnes, R.F.W., Craig, G.C., Dublin, H.T., Overton, G., Simons, W. & Thouless, C.R. (1999). African Elephant Database 1998. IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland & Cambridge, UK.

Links

Transparency International, the NGO that produces the Corruption Perception Index

The World Bank's anti-corruption website

The Internet Center for Corruption Research

"Corruption: the facts" by D. Kaufmann (originally published in the journal Foreign Policy)

"Wild Logging: The Rise and Fall of Logging Networks and Biodiversity Conservation Projects on Sumatra's Rainforest Frontier" by John F. McCarthy

References

Archabald, K., Naughton-Treves, L. 2001. Tourism revenue-sharing around national parks in Western Uganda: early efforts to identify and reward local communities. Environmental Conservation 28, 135-149.

Barnes, R. F. W., Blom, A., Alers, M. P. T. 1995. A review of the status of forest elephants Loxodonta africana in Central Africa. Biological Conservation 71, 125-132.

Huber, O. 2001. Conservation and environmental concerns in the Venezuelan Amazon. Biodiversity and Conservation 10, 1627-1643.

Jepson, P., Jarvie, J. K., MacKinnon, K., Monk, K. A. 2001. The end for Indonesia's lowland forests? Science 292, 859.

McCarthy, J. F. 2002. Turning in circles: District governance, illegal logging, and environmental decline in Sumatra, Indonesia. Society & Natural Resources 15, 867-886.

Robertson, J. M. Y., van Schaik, C. P. 2001. Causal factors underlying the dramatic decline of the Sumatran orang-utan. Oryx 35, 26-38.

Walpole, M. J., Leader-Williams, N. 2001. Masai Mara tourism reveals partnership benefits. Nature 413, 771-771.

Whitten, T., Holmes, D., MacKinnon, K. 2001. Conservation biology: a displacement behavior for academia? Conservation Biology 15, 1-3.