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Sustainability certifications and socio-environmental conflicts: a comparison of oil palm and soybeans as flex-crops

Custodio, Clàudia LU (2017) SGED10 20171
Department of Human Geography
Human Ecology
Abstract
The production of soybean and oil palm has rapidly increased in the last decades, justified by powerful actors through win-win discourses referring to food security, economic growth, and climate change mitigation. Yet, the accelerated expansion of these crops has led to many socio- environmental conflicts on the production sites. Some civil society organizations have promoted the introduction of sustainability certifications for palm oil and soybean agribusinesses, an emerging tendency in the agricultural sector. This dissertation explores the sustainability discourse employed by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and the Round Table on Responsible Soy and the impact of their certification standards on socio-environmental conflicts... (More)
The production of soybean and oil palm has rapidly increased in the last decades, justified by powerful actors through win-win discourses referring to food security, economic growth, and climate change mitigation. Yet, the accelerated expansion of these crops has led to many socio- environmental conflicts on the production sites. Some civil society organizations have promoted the introduction of sustainability certifications for palm oil and soybean agribusinesses, an emerging tendency in the agricultural sector. This dissertation explores the sustainability discourse employed by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and the Round Table on Responsible Soy and the impact of their certification standards on socio-environmental conflicts arising in soybean and oil palm plantations. The methods used are thematic analysis of documents and a qualitative comparison of cases reported on the Environmental Justice Atlas. The findings point at dominating economic narratives for both sustainability certifications and the persistence of conflicts in certified plantations. The role played by the two roundtables in enhancing sustainability is, therefore, put into question. (Less)
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author
Custodio, Clàudia LU
supervisor
organization
course
SGED10 20171
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
palm oil, soybeans, flex-crops, sustainability, socio-environmental conflicts
language
English
id
8911704
date added to LUP
2017-06-12 14:20:11
date last changed
2017-06-12 14:20:11
@misc{8911704,
  abstract     = {{The production of soybean and oil palm has rapidly increased in the last decades, justified by powerful actors through win-win discourses referring to food security, economic growth, and climate change mitigation. Yet, the accelerated expansion of these crops has led to many socio- environmental conflicts on the production sites. Some civil society organizations have promoted the introduction of sustainability certifications for palm oil and soybean agribusinesses, an emerging tendency in the agricultural sector. This dissertation explores the sustainability discourse employed by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and the Round Table on Responsible Soy and the impact of their certification standards on socio-environmental conflicts arising in soybean and oil palm plantations. The methods used are thematic analysis of documents and a qualitative comparison of cases reported on the Environmental Justice Atlas. The findings point at dominating economic narratives for both sustainability certifications and the persistence of conflicts in certified plantations. The role played by the two roundtables in enhancing sustainability is, therefore, put into question.}},
  author       = {{Custodio, Clàudia}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Sustainability certifications and socio-environmental conflicts: a comparison of oil palm and soybeans as flex-crops}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}