ECO-SOLVE Regional Consultation Southeast Asia and Oceania

A group of investigative journalists, environmentalists and anti-corruption activists from Southeast Asia and Oceania gathered in Bangkok, Thailand, in February 2024 to discuss the role of corruption and elite protection in environmental crime, as well as the challenges and opportunities for investigative journalism.

The meeting was the second of three regional consultations organised as part of the ECO-SOLVE project, a three-year global programme implemented by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC) and funded by the European Union. It aims to monitor and disrupt illicit environmental flows while strengthening community resilience.

The discussion, held under the Chatham House rule, explored how the ecosystem of corruption has evolved over the past decade and how this has affected the work of civil society and environmental practitioners in the two regions. Out of this rich discussion emerged a strategy: a map for how to increase the likelihood of corruption being exposed and having an impact.