Corruption and conservation: the need for empirical analyses. A response to Smith & Walpole

Extract

Smith & Walpole (2005) focus on a heretofore little examined issue of unknown importance: the role of corruption in affecting biodiversity conservation outcomes. Unfortunately, there are no well-executed empirical studies of the relationship between corruption and conservation to guide practitioners. As noted by Smith & Walpole, however, the role of corruption in affecting other economic outcomes has been the subject of numerous theoretical and empirical analyses. These other analyses offer useful insights to conservationists precisely because the biodiversity context is representative of a larger class of contexts in which power is delegated to self-interested bureaucrats. Readers interested in the topic would do well to take a close look at the references in Smith & Walpole, as well as visiting the World Bank's website on corruption and governance (World Bank, 2005).