Based on extensive research and collaboration with global financial institutions, we have published this report, Financial Crimes and Land Conversion: Uncovering Risk for Financial Institutions, which brings attention to the issues of deforestation and land conversion through a financial crime lens.
It shines a light on:
The reputational, operational, and regulatory risks associated with land conversion for financial institutions.
The convergence of land conversion with an array of financial crimes.
The inextricable link to human rights violations across the world.
Land conversion refers to a substantial and sustained change of a natural ecosystem (including via the introduction of different land management practices) to another land use or a profound change in its species composition, structure or function. The definition encompasses all sorts of ecosystems, for example: forest, grassland, marshland, peatland, mangrove swamps, and savannah.
Deforestation is a specific type of land conversion and one that has, perhaps, hitherto attracted the most global attention: the conversion of natural forest to agricultural or other non-forest land use or to a tree plantation; or severe and sustained degradation of natural forest (for example, through the felling of trees for timber).
We urge financial institutions to consider the wider issue of land conversion—covering a more expansive range of land types and ecosystems—beyond just deforestation in their approach.
The Environmental Crimes Financial Toolkit is developed by WWF and Themis, with support from the Climate Solutions Partnership (CSP). The CSP is a philanthropic collaboration between HSBC, WRI and WWF, with a global network of local partners, aiming at scaling up innovative nature-based solutions, and supporting the transition of the energy sector to renewables in Asia, by combining our resources, knowledge, and insight.
