Making a Market for Sustainability: The Commodification of Certified Palm Oil

Richardson, Ben

doi:10.1080/13563467.2014.923829

Cited by 31 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…If we consider the full range of actors that have subscribed to different versions of the principle, it should be clear that these things are generally being turned into commodities or taken to new markets. What this means is that a demonstration or proof of FPIC is one element of their market value, even if that is only because the 'stakeholders' with an interest in their consumption care about human rights or environmental justice [51][52][53][54][55][56].…”

Section: The Principle Of Free Prior and Informed Consentmentioning

confidence: 99%

The FPIC Principle Meets Land Struggles in Cambodia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea

Filer

Mahanty

Potter

2020

Land

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Social and environmental safeguards are now commonplace in policies and procedures that apply to certain kinds of foreign investment in developing countries. Prominent amongst these is the principle of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), which is commonly tied to policies and procedures relating to investments that have an impact on ‘indigenous peoples’. This paper treats international safeguards as a possible manifestation of what Karl Polanyi called the ‘double movement’ in the operation of a capitalist market economy. Our concern here is with the way that the FPIC principle has been applied in struggles over the alienation of land and associated natural resources claimed by indigenous peoples or customary landowners in three developing countries—Cambodia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Case studies of recent land struggles in these countries are used to illustrate the existence of a spectrum in which the application of the FPIC principle may contribute more or less to the defence of customary rights. On one hand, it may be little more than a kind of ‘performance’ that simply adds some extra value to a newly created commodity. On the other hand, it may sometimes enable local or indigenous communities and their allies in ‘civil society’ to mount an effective defence of their rights in opposition to the processes of alienation or commodification. The paper finds that all three countries have political regimes and national policy frameworks that are themselves resistant to the imposition of social and environmental safeguards by foreign investors or international financial institutions. However, they differ widely in the extent to which they make institutional space for the FPIC principle to become the site of a genuine double movement of the kind that Polanyi envisaged.

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Section: The Principle Of Free Prior and Informed Consentmentioning

confidence: 99%

The FPIC Principle Meets Land Struggles in Cambodia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea

Filer

Mahanty

Potter

2020

Land

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“…5 The oil palm industry wields great influence over RSPO programs and strategies, which generally advantage large exporters and multinational buyers (Pichler, 2013). Critics of RSPO have been especially concerned with its ''GreenPalm'' ''book and claim'' system, which allows buyers to ''claim'' ecocertification by purchasing certificates to ''advance'' sustainability efforts within the palm oil industry, without requiring the actual use of sustainable palm oil in products (Richardson, 2015;Ruysschaert & Salles, 2014;Schleifer, 2016b). What RSPO calls ''mass balance'' does trace and include palm oil that the RSPO certifies as sustainable, but this option allows processors to mix palm oil from certified and uncertified growers, so once again a buyer has no guarantee that the palm oil is actually grown sustainably (or at least to the standards of RSPO).…”

Section: The Promise Of Sustainable Palm Oilmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is the Power of Brand-Focused Activism Rising? The Case of Tropical Deforestation

Dauvergne

2017

The Journal of Environment & Development

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Four trends would seem to be empowering environmentalists who target corporations with global brands: the increasing reach of social media, growing numbers of campaigns, the corporate turn toward “sustainability” to create brand value and manage supply chains, and the spread of eco-consumerism. Campaigns since 2007 to demand that brands stop buying palm oil linked to tropical deforestation confirm the rising influence over corporate policies and market demand. Many activists are portraying the outcomes as “victories” toward saving rainforests. Yet, three factors are limiting the value for improving on-the-ground management: industry influence over, and governance limits of, palm oil certification; ongoing sales of uncertified palm oil as demand shifts to nonbrand buyers; and illegalities and weak regulatory enforcement in producer countries, notably Indonesia and Malaysia. Theoretically, this analysis demonstrates the importance, when evaluating activist campaigns, of distinguishing between the influence on corporate policies and markets and the effectiveness for environmental outcomes.

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“…Palm oil value chains can be considered buyer-driven as they are dominated by processing and retailing companies, which is the case for most agro-food products. Defining and operationalizing sustainability principles and criteria is considered to be the result of interactions between powerful stakeholders in the palm oil GVC and not necessarily based on the best available scientific evidence (Cheyns, 2011;Fold and Pritchard, 2005;Hospes and Kentin, 2014;Manning et al, 2012;Richardson, 2014).…”

Section: Global Value Chain Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

New generation of knowledge: Towards an inter- and transdisciplinary framework for sustainable pathways of palm oil production

Hospes

Kroeze

Oosterveer

et al. 2017

NJAS: Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences

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The production and expansion of palm oil have emerged as a major and controversial issue in political and public debates in the North and the South on sustainable food and agriculture. Scientific research has played a marginal role in these debates that are characterized by black and white views on palm oil as a good, bad or even ugly crop, and by solutions that are limited in scope. Our first argument is that new conceptualization of the complexity and dynamics of the palm oil sector can revitalize debate on sustainable palm oil and be used to identify sustainable pathways for palm oil production. For this purpose, we develop an interdisciplinary framework, conceptualizing the palm oil sector as consisting of systems, flows and networks. Our second argument is that a transdisciplinary approach is need to identify and develop sustainable pathways. We present six ideas on how to do so. Given the controversy in debates on the production and expansion of palm oil, we consider switchers as critical actors for shaping sustainable pathways, both in the palm oil sector and at the science-policy interface.

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Making a Market for Sustainability: The Commodification of Certified Palm Oil

Abstract: In the same way there are markets for carbon, there is now a market for sustainability.

Cited by 31 publications

References 28 publications

The FPIC Principle Meets Land Struggles in Cambodia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea

The FPIC Principle Meets Land Struggles in Cambodia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea

Is the Power of Brand-Focused Activism Rising? The Case of Tropical Deforestation

New generation of knowledge: Towards an inter- and transdisciplinary framework for sustainable pathways of palm oil production

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