17 November 2010: The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has released a report titled “Staying on Track: Tackling Corruption Risks in Climate Change,” which focuses on corruption risks involved with adaptation and REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries, and the role of conservation, sustainable use of forests and enhancement of carbon stocks).

On adaptation, the report outlines three corruption risk areas: State capture and abuse of discretion that could direct funds towards areas prioritized by vested interests rather than areas of greatest vulnerability; bribery, clientelism and cronyism leading to poorly designed programmes; and petty corruption in programme delivery. For REDD+, the authors highlight: powerful individuals or lobby groups influencing the design of national REDD+ frameworks; petty corruption, political corruption and grand corruption in the implementation phase resulting in fraudulent documentation and disregarding breaches of REDD+ laws; and corruption affecting the distribution of REDD+ revenues.

To reduce these risks, the authors recommend: avoiding fragmentation of funding; encouraging developing countries to ratify and implement global and regional anti-corruption instruments; carrying out corruption risk assessments; using multi-stakeholder accountability mechanisms; improving country capacity to administer anticipated funding; strengthening civil society’s capacity to act as a “watchdog”; supporting anti-corruption bodies to raise awareness and develop preventive mechanisms; and strengthening transparency and accountability of local governance institutions. [Staying on Track Report]