Understanding illegality and corruption in forest management: A literature review

Abstract

This review synthesizes the literature studying illegality and government corruption in forest man-agement. After discussing the theoretical connections between different types of corruption and illegal forest-related activities it describes the major trends in previous studies, examining cross-national patterns as well as local in-depth studies. Both theory and available empirical findings pro-vide a straightforward suggestion: Bribery is indeed a “door opener” for illegal activities to take place in forest management. It then discusses the implications for conservation, focusing first on international protection schemes such as the REDD+ and second on efforts to reduce illegality and bribery in forest management. Key aspects to consider in the discussion on how to design monitor-ing institutions of forest regulations are how to involve actors without the incentive to engage in bribery and how to make use of new technologies that may publicize illegal behavior in distant localities. The review concludes by discussing avenues for future research. Keywords: corruption, bribery, illegal logging, forest management, deforestation