ABSTRACT
This book provides a balanced critique of a range of international sustainability certification schemes across nine agricultural and natural resource industries.
Certification schemes set standards through intramarket private and multi-stakeholder mechanisms, and while third-party verification is often compulsory, certification schemes are regulated voluntarily rather than legislatively. This volume examines the intricacies of certification schemes and the issues they seek to address and provides the context within which each scheme operates. While a distinction between sustainability certifications and extra-markets or intrabusiness codes of conducts is made, the book also demonstrates how both are often working towards similar sustainability objectives. Each chapter highlights a different sector, including animal welfare, biodiversity, biofuels, coffee, fisheries, flowers, forest management and mining, with the contributions offering interdisciplinary perspectives and utilising a wide range of methodologies. The realities, achievements and challenges faced by varying certification schemes are discussed, identifying common outcomes and findings and concluding with recommendations for future practice and research.
The book is aimed at advanced students, researchers and professionals in agribusiness, natural resource economics, sustainability assessment and corporate social responsibility.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter 1|26 pages
Sustainability certifications
part I|1 pages
Cultural considerations associated with sustainability certifications
part II|1 pages
Evaluating biodiversity outcomes
chapter 3|28 pages
Biodiversity outcomes associated with sustainability certifications
part III|1 pages
Standard development and verification-based examples and considerations
part IV|1 pages
Industry or certification specific reviews, evaluation and recommendations
chapter 7|22 pages
Certifying farmed seafood
chapter 8|20 pages
Biofuel sustainability certifications in the EU
part V|1 pages
Industry and country specific primary research, evaluation and recommendations
chapter 10|15 pages
Interoperability of mineral sustainability initiatives
part VI|1 pages
Summarising outcomes for society and the environment