ABSTRACT
Recent decades have witnessed a proliferation of certification programs that set standards for responsible business practices against which producers and operators may be certified to gain access to potential market benefits. The reach of these initiatives has grown as programs now target a wide range of goods and services and as some initiatives have expanded well beyond niche market status. This entry takes stock of this rise. Drawing on experiences in the forest, fisheries, and coffee sectors, in particular, the entry assesses what we know about why these programs have come to exist, how they evolve, and what consequences they have for environmental and social problems of global concern. This entry details the degree to which certification has become institutionalized as an important governance mechanism alone and, more crucially, in how it interacts with government policy and other private governance mechanisms.
