Blogs

Between December 2023 and February 2024, the Government of South Sudan entered into a secretive oil-backed loan agreement with the UAE-based Hamad Bin Khalifa Department of Projects. Information about the agreement only became public in April 2024 through media reports and a publication by the United Nations Panel of Experts on South Sudan. The terms of this loan are hugely detrimental for South Sudan, as they tie up the country’s oil revenue for up to 20 years. Specifical

The Western Area Peninsula National Park (WAP-NP) is located in the Freetown Peninsula on the western end of the coast of Sierra Leone and forms part of the Upper Guinean Forest Ecosystem. It is one of Sierra Leone’s eight biodiversity hotspots and has been protected since it was gazetted in 1916. Communities in and around the WAP-NP rely largely on fishing, tourism, farming, and small-scale mining for their livelihoods. However, between 2010 and 2022, approximately 1,300 hec

Africa is rich in natural resources. However, the exploitation of these resources has not translated into equitable economic growth and development. Dubbed the “resource curse,” many countries across the continent have experienced armed conflict, political instability and economic fragility associated with resource extraction. This phenomenon is closely linked to issues of tax justice, as the failure to design and enforce fair and effective tax systems in resource-rich countr

The use of green bonds - debt instruments whose proceeds are used to fund initiatives that create benefits for the environment and contribute towards climate change prevention and mitigation - has grown in popularity across Africa, representing a commitment to accelerate and unlock climate finance and advance sustainable development. They can be used to fund projects across diverse sectors, such as renewable energy, efficient energy use, forest conservation and waste manageme

Sexual corruption, or sexual extortion - in which an abuse of power is coupled with a demand for a sexual favour – is widespread, yet it has long been a neglected and under-researched dimension of the global fight against corruption. To date, only four countries have explicitly criminalised this form of corruption in their domestic legislation, and perpetrators largely continue to act with impunity. Reporting sexual corruption is frequently met with indifference, a lack of em

Illicit wildlife trade is estimated to be worth hundreds of billions of pounds annually when accounting for trafficked mammals, fish, timber and other species. A growing body of research demonstrates strong links between wildlife trafficking and organised crime networks involved in drug trafficking, human trafficking and other serious transnational crimes. At the same time, biodiversity loss is accelerating rapidly. Despite the severity of this crisis, governments continue to

Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) refer to the cross-border movement of money that has been illegally earned, transferred or used. IFFs arise from different kinds of activities, such as cross-border tax avoidance, illegal commercial practices, criminal activities such as human trafficking, and illegal markets (e.g. arms and drug trafficking) as well as bribery and theft by corrupt government officials. IFFs have significant negative impacts on the economies of developing countri

Nature crimes across the Amazon pose a threat to conservation and sustainable development, harming the forests, local communities, Indigenous Peoples, civil society organisations (CSOs), and even governments. Generating up to $281 billion USD globally, nature crime is driven by high commodity prices, such as the price of gold, which provide economic incentives for illegal, extractive activities. Often linked to other types of crime - such as drug trafficking, human traffickin