The impacts of corruption on forest loss: A review of cross‐national trends

Abstract

This research lays out the debates and contradictory findings regarding the impacts of corruption on forest loss in a cross‐national context, specifically in low‐ and middle‐income nations. After, I describe how these inconsistent findings may be due to difficulties in untangling the complexities of corruption definitionally and then operationalizing it in a cross‐national context. Then, I review the advances in corruption data collection and measurement. Finally, I discuss how these developments in data collection and operationalization have led to an expansion of research on corruption to other aspects of governance, bringing forward several avenues for future research, but also potentially conflating definitions of corruption with governance. Overall, I aim to capture how scholars are studying corruption and forest loss from a cross‐national context and what their findings tell us.

Corruption and Palm Oil in a Cross-National Perspective: How India Contributes to Forest Loss in Peripheral Nations

“…In recent years, there has been increasing attention directed at how corruption impacts forests-see Sommer (2022), Fischer et al (2020) and Sundström (2016) for recent reviews of the literature. From such reviews, there are several reasons emerge for why corruption may be related to increased forest loss.…”

“…Thus, the government is not seen as an ‘honest broker’ or ‘trustworthy partner’ that provides stability to make long-term investments not only feasible but profitable (Evans & Rauch, 1999). Towards this end, companies, indigenous communities, households and individuals, avoid making commitments that promote reforestation and environmental protection as citizens see the government from the top down as diverting public funds for other activities (Sommer, 2022). When this is the case, actors are more likely to exploit forests in the short term to maximize profits.…”