Aims of this guide
At the 11th session of the Conference of the States Parties (CoSP11) to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), held in Doha, Qatar in December 2025, States Parties adopted Resolution 11/9, “Preventing and combating corruption as it relates to crimes that affect the environment” (CAE) -—a landmark consensus commitment to use the world’s most widely ratified anti-corruption treaty against the corruption that drives environmental crime. The resolution builds on the groundwork laid by UNCAC CoSP8 Resolution 8/12, “Preventing and combating corruption as it relates to crimes that have an impact on the environment”, adopted in 2019, which first formally recognized the relationship between corruption and CAE and called on States Parties to take measures to prevent, investigate, and prosecute corruption offences linked to these crimes. Civil society organizations (CSOs) played a key role in advocating for a strong resolution with meaningful commitments to tackle environmental crime and corruption, many of which are reflected in the adopted resolution.
This guide is an advocacy tool for CSOs and other non-state actors to use at the national and global levels to help move the commitments made in Resolution 11/9 from policy commitments to implementation and tangible action.
At the national level:
This guide is intended to help CSOs understand what each commitment in Resolution 11/9 requires, why it matters, what meaningful implementation could look like in practice, and the role that civil society can play in these efforts. It can be used by civil society to:
- advocate with governments for concrete national action to prevent and address corruption related to CAE and for regular reporting on progress made with implementation;
- contribute to implementation, including by identifying gaps, sharing evidence and expertise, and engaging in technical assistance and capacity-building efforts.
At the global level:
This guide is intended to help civil society contribute to and document implementation progress, gaps, and emerging good practice across countries and to use this evidence in engagement with governments, UNCAC subsidiary bodies, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), including the implementation reports of UNODC, technical assistance discussions, and other relevant international processes.
The guide includes good-practice examples from governments, international organizations, the UNODC, civil society, and the private sector; it provides direct links to relevant resources.
By building a stronger evidence base on implementation, the guide can support accountability for the commitments in Resolution 11/9 and strengthen the case for stronger commitments at CoSP12 and beyond, as well as in other relevant international and regional forums.
The guide is aimed at CSOs and coalitions, community-based organizations, Indigenous Peoples, journalists, researchers, practitioners, environmental human rights defenders, and other non-state actors working on preventing and combating corruption linked to CAE. It can also be used in relation to corruption linked to environmental protection, climate governance, and natural resource justice. It outlines how organizations can use Resolution 11/9 within their own mandates to advance work on this issue, and how to tailor it to their country contexts. It can also be used by government officials, parliamentarians, the private sector, and technical assistance providers seeking to translate the resolution into national action.
