title: Understanding illegality and corruption in forest governance.
abstract: This review synthesizes the literature studying illegality and government corruption in forest management. 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 provide 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 monitoring institutions of forest regulations is 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.
authors.affiliation: Quality of Government Institute, Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Sprängkullsgatan 19, 405 30, Gothenburg, Sweden. Electronic address: aksel.sundstrom@pol.gu.se.
authors.forename: Aksel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sundström
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D000066479:Criminal Behavior; D016468:Forestry / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration; D065928:Forests; D006076:Government
keywords: Corruption; Deforestation; Forest management; Governance; Illegal logging; REDD