ABSTRACT
Labeling and certification initiatives are two key components of generation-long efforts among selected environmental activists, businesses, government agencies, and resulting stakeholder partnerships to ameliorate environmental and social issues by targeting decisions made along global supply chains. Organic farming and fair trade certifications emerged in the 1970s and 1980s to empower marginalized actors, such as Southern producers, within the global economy. A major dilemma for certification programs is thus to ensure broad participation while maximizing their sustainability impacts. Certification is increasingly examined within larger institutional complexes where the institutional interactions of public and private rules may not only require orchestration for global governance to operate more effectively, but also broader problem-focused analysis to assess when and how labeling and certification are most appropriate.
