The Growth of Corruption Leads to an Increase in the Number of Human Victims of Natural Disasters

The head of the international Laboratory of Landscape Ecology commented on the results of a study by the International Monetary Fund on the relationship between the level of corruption and the number of human casualties as a result of global disasters.

The expansion of corrupt practices leads to an increase in the number of human victims of natural disasters. This is the conclusion reached by experts of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the report "Corruption kills. Global evidence based on natural disasters." According to observations, bribery is becoming the main reason for non-compliance with safety requirements in infrastructure construction, worsens the work of emergency services, and makes medical care unavailable.

 

 

Robert Sandlersky, Head of the Laboratory of Landscape Ecology at the Faculty of Geography and Geoinformation Technologies at the Higher School of Economics, is convinced that the researchers' conclusion about the connection between corruption and the consequences of natural disasters cannot be disagreed with. In addition to stealing funds to maintain infrastructure or medicine, corruption also plays a key role in increasing the number of victims when allowing construction – usually housing – where it is dangerous, he points out.

 

A big problem is the anthropogenic impact on the environment in the form of direct destruction of vegetation cover – the most important regulator of climate and runoff, Sandlersky believes. Illegal deforestation, excavation, construction of infrastructure facilities – all this most often happens with the knowledge of local authorities and law enforcement agencies, he notes.

You can view the full material by clicking on the link: https://www.vedomosti.ru/economics/articles/2023/11/09/1004843-v-mvf-otsenili-svyaz-mezhdu-korruptsiei-i-posledstviyami-prirodnih-bedstvii