Corruption fuels environmental destruction and violence against Indigenous communities

Bribery, theft, and conflicts of interest are undermining climate action, enabling environmental exploitation, and driving violence against Indigenous land defenders, a new report finds.

Taylar Dawn Stagner reports for Grist.

In short:

• A study by Transparency International links high levels of corruption to weak environmental laws, illegal resource extraction, and violent suppression of Indigenous land defenders.
• Countries with strong democratic protections, like freedom of expression and access to information, are better equipped to combat corruption, while authoritarian regimes often facilitate exploitation.
• Despite low corruption levels, some nations still fail to uphold Indigenous rights, leaving communities vulnerable to land grabs and environmental destruction.

Key quote:

"You can think of corruption as a tax on everyone. So it’s an additional cost to the services provided by the government."

— Oguzhan Dincer, director of the Institute for Corruption Studies at Illinois State University

Why this matters:

Corruption allows corporations and governments to sidestep environmental protections, leading to deforestation, pollution, and displacement of Indigenous communities. In many cases, land defenders who resist these forces face violence or death. Indigenous peoples, despite stewarding vast ecosystems, often lack legal protections, making their lands prime targets for exploitation. Countries with weak institutions and authoritarian rule tend to have the highest levels of corruption, exacerbating the climate crisis by prioritizing private gain over sustainable policies.

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