Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Marking the success or end of global multi-stakeholder governance? The rise of national sustainability standards in Indonesia and Brazil for palm oil and soy

  • Published:
Agriculture and Human Values Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The RSPO and RTRS are global private partnerships that have been set up by business and civil society actors from the North to curb de-forestation and to promote sustainable production of palm oil or soy in the South. This article is about the launch of new national standards in Indonesia and Brazil that are look-alikes of the global standards but have been set up and supported by government or business actors from the South. The two main questions of this article are: do the new national standards in Indonesia and Brazil provide a fundamental challenge to the RSPO and RTRS, or do they demonstrate the successful diffusion and adoption of global private rules into national contexts? Do the new national standards help or undermine the RSPO and RTRS in their efforts to reduce de-forestation? Combining the theoretical notions of proto-institution and rival governance network, a comparative analysis is offered of the launch of the new national standards in Indonesia and Brazil. The conclusion is that, whilst the RSPO and RTRS have served as models for the general design and principles of the national standards, they really differ from the global standards in terms of normative contents: the national standards offer more room to palm oil plantations and large-scale soy producers to expand production at the expense of forests and other high conservation areas. Governments and producer associations in Indonesia and Brazil have not launched national standards to implement the RSPO or RTRS but to challenge these interventions from the North.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. GAPKI was established in 1981 as an interest association of newly emerging palm oil plantation companies. Currently, GAPKI consists of 591 members, of which all but 6 members have the legal status of a limited liability company (GAPKI 2013). GAPKI has no official relationships with the government but has invited government agencies (like the IPOC) to attend the annual GAPKI conference and has been working together with government officials as participants of the national RSPO interpretation working group for Indonesia. In addition, personal links may exist between a plantation company and a former government official. Varkkey (2012) reports that it is common among the top tiers of Indonesian plantation firms to have retired senior bureaucrats appointed as advisors or members of the board of commissioners.

  2. According to the OECD, in 2010 smallholders represented 35 % of palm oil production in Indonesia against 55 % for large-scale private companies and 10 % for state-owned companies. The private companies “represented 54 % of palm oil land area against 38 % for smallholders and 8 % for state-owned companies. […] In 2010, ten companies owned 67 % of the palm oil plantations” (OECD 2012, p. 229).

  3. “FPIC emerged from the convergence of international human rights agendas and civil society critiques of involuntary resettlement for infrastructure projects” (Mahanty and McDermott (2013, p. 407). The Forest Peoples Programme (2013), that has advanced FPIC for years, defines FPIC as “the principle that a community has the right to give or withhold its consent to proposed projects that may affect the lands they customarily own, occupy or otherwise use.”

  4. This specific criterion is not explicitly mentioned in the more general RSPO principles and criteria but could be seen as a way to understand or operationalize the RSPO criterion of compliance to national laws and regulations, including forestry laws (RSPO 2007).

  5. The term of High Conservation Values (HCV) has been introduced by the Forest Stewardship Council to refer to six categories of ecological and social values linked to forest and other areas, including biodiversity, landscapes with endangered species, provision of basic needs and cultural identity (WWF 2007).

  6. See also GA4: Minutes of the 4th General Assembly at http://www.rspo.org/files/resource_centre/MinGA4_1.pdf, downloaded October 20th of 2012.

  7. ABIOVE is the Brazilian association of vegetable oil industries, including ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Dreyfus, together accounting for more than 70 % of soybean processing volume in Brazil. Aprosoja is the association of soy producers from the largest soy producing state of Brazil, Mato Grosso. ANEC is the national association of grain exporters of Brazil (Hospes et al. 2012).

  8. There is no specific information about these “other existing initiatives.”

  9. At the First General Assembly of the RTRS 14 persons were elected as Board Members: 4 to represent producers; 5 to represent trade, industry and finance; and 5 to represent civil society (RTRS 2007). Mato Grosso is the major soybean producing state of Brazil, in which about 30 % of total Brazilian soy production is cultivated (Goldsmith 2008).

  10. The General Assembly of RTRS consists of three chambers, with an equal number of votes: producers, civil society, and industry, trade and finance. For a proposal to be adopted, a simple majority in every chamber is required.

Abbreviations

FPIC:

Free prior and informed consent

GAPKI:

Gabungan Pengusaha Kelapa Sawit Indonesia (Association of Indonesian palm oil plantation companies)

GHG:

Greenhouse gas

IPOC:

Indonesian palm oil commission

ISPO:

Indonesian sustainable palm oil

NGO:

Non-governmental organization

RSPO:

Roundtable on sustainable palm oil

RTRS:

Roundtable on responsible soy

WWF:

World wildlife fund

References

  • Abbott, K. 2012. Engaging the public and the private in global sustainability governance. International Affairs 88: 543–564.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ABIOVE. 2010a. Entities launch a management and rural property certification program for Brazilian soybeans. Press release. http://www.abiove.com.br/english/sustent/sojaplus_pressrelease_us_maio10.pdf. Accessed December 2012.

  • ABIOVE. 2010b. Soja Plus program: Environmental & social management program for Brazilian soybeans. http://www.abiove.com.br/english/sustent/sojaplus_apresenta_us_maio10.pdf. Accessed December 2012.

  • ABIOVE. 2010c. Soja Plus: Environmental and social management program for Brazilian soybeans. http://www.abiove.com.br/english/sustent/sojaplus_folder_us_maio10.pdf. Accessed December 2012.

  • Agroasia. 2011. RSPO, ISPO can be a synergy. RSPO Special report, p. 54–55.

  • Bartley, T. 2007. Institutional emergence in an era of globalization: The rise of transnational private regulation of labor and environmental conditions. American Journal of Sociology 113: 297–351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cashore, B. 2002. Legitimacy and the privatization of environmental governance: How non-state market-driven (NSMD) governance systems gain rule-making authority. Governance 15: 503–529.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheyns, E. 2011. Multi-stakeholder initiatives for sustainable agriculture: Limits of the ‘inclusiveness’ paradigm. In Governing through standards: Origins, drivers and limitations, eds. S. Ponte, S., P. Gibbon and J. Vestergaard, 210–235. Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan.

  • de Man, R. and J. Juranics. 2002. Minutes of the preparatory meeting on the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. Hayes, London. http://www.rdeman.nl/site/download/minutes-s.pdf. Accessed November 2012.

  • de Pooter, S. 2008. Roundtables as new forms of private governance: Understanding the emergence, dynamics and evolution of roundtables. Master thesis, Wageningen University.

  • Dingwerth, K. 2008. Private transnational governance and the developing world: A comparative perspective. International Studies Quarterly 52: 607–634.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forest Peoples Programme. Free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). http://www.forestpeoples.org/guiding-principles/free-prior-and-informed-consent-fpic. Accessed October 2013.

  • GAPKI. 2013. About GAPKI. http://www.gapki.or.id/Page/About. Accessed October 2013.

  • Glasbergen, P. 2008. Mondiale partnerships en collective active. Bestuurskunde 17: 15–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldsmith, P. 2008. Soybean production and processing in Brazil. In Soybeans: Chemistry, production, processing and utilization, ed. L. Johnson, P. White, and R. Galloway, 773–798. Champaign: AOCS Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hospes, O. 2011a. Private law making at the roundtable on sustainable palm oil. In Private food law: Governing food chains through contract law, self-regulation, private standards, audits and certification schemes, ed. B. Van der Meulen, 187–201. Wageningen: Wageningen Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hospes, O. 2011b. Besturen tussen globale en nationale schaal. Bestuurskunde 4: 38–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hospes, O., S. Stattman and S. de Pooter. 2009. Groen en geel zien: Private partnerschappen voor duurzame productie van soja en palmolie. In Governance in de groen-blauwe ruimte: handelingsperspectieven voor landbouw, landschap en water. eds. Breeman, G., H. Goverde en K. Termeer, 242–258. Assen: Van Gorcum.

  • Hospes, O., O. van der Valk, and J. Mheen-Sluijer. 2012. Parallel development of five partnerships to promote sustainable soy in Brazil: solution or part of wicked problems? International Food and Agribusiness Management Review 15B: 39–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hospes, O., and A. Kentin. 2014. Tensions between global-scale and national-scale governance: The strategic use of scale frames to promote sustainable palm oil production in Indonesia. In Scale-sensitive governance of the environment, ed. F. Padt, N. Polman, and K. Termeer, 203–219. Oxford: Wiley.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Indonesian Palm Oil Commission (IPOC). 2011. The introduction of the ISPO: towards sustainable palm oil 2011. Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Indonesia.

  • Kentin, A. 2012. Scale frames, the RSPO and GAPKI: Development of principles and partnerships to promote sustainable palm oil in Indonesia. Master thesis, Wageningen University.

  • Lawrence, Th, C. Hardy, and N. Phillips. 2002. Institutional effects of interorganizational collaboration: The emergence of proto-institutions. The Academy of Management Journal 45(1): 281–290.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lubis, A.M. 2013. More companies obtain sustainable certification. Jakarta Post. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/08/21/more-companies-obtain-sustainable-certification.html. Accessed October 2013.

  • Mahanty, S., and C. McDermott. 2013. How does ‘Free, Prior and Informed Consent’ (FPIC) impact social equity? Lessons from mining and forestry and their implications for REDD+. Land Use Policy 35: 406–416.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayer, F., and G. Gereffi. 2010. Regulation and economic globalization: Prospects and limits of private governance. Business and Politics 12(3): Article 11.

  • McCarthy, J. 2012. Certifying in contested spaces: Private regulation in Indonesian forestry and palm oil. Third World Quarterly 33(10): 1871–1888.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • OECD. 2012. OECD review of agricultural policies: Indonesia 2012. OECD Publishing.

  • Pattberg, Ph. 2005. The institutionalization of private governance: How business and nonprofit organizations agree on transnational rules. Governance 18(4): 589–610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peters, N. 2010. Inter-organisational design of voluntary sustainability initiatives: Increasing the legitimacy of sustainability strategies for supply chains. PhD dissertation. University of Sint Gallen. Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden.

  • Reineke, J., S. Manning, and O. von Hagen. 2012. The emergence of a standards market: Multiplicity of sustainability standards in the global coffee industry. Organization Studies 33(5/6): 789–812.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raynolds, L., D. Murray, and A. Heller. 2007. Regulating sustainability in the coffee sector: A comparative analysis of third-party environmental and social certification initiatives. Agriculture and Human Values 24(2): 147–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riisgaard, L. 2009. How the market for standards shapes competition in the market for goods: Sustainability standards in the cut flower industry. DIIS working paper no. 7.

  • Roundtable on Responsible Soy (RTRS). 2007. Minutes of the First General Assembly of the RTRS. Electronic version received from D. de Morrée, Cordaid officer, on March 19th of 2010.

  • Roundtable on Responsible Soy (RTRS). 2009. RTRS Principles and Criteria for Responsible Soy: Field Testing Version.

  • Roundtable on Responsible Soy (RTRS). 2010. RTRS Principles and Criteria for Responsible Soy Version 1.0. http://www.responsiblesoy.org/index.php?lang=en. Accessed December 2012.

  • Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. 2007. RSPO principles and criteria for sustainable palm oil production. http://www.rspo.org/files/resource_centre/RSPO%20Principles%20&%20Criteria%20Document.pdf. Accessed December 2012.

  • Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. 2008. National interpretation of RSPO principles and criteria for sustainable palm oil production. Republic of Indonesia. Indonesian National Interpretation Working Group. http://www.rspo.org/file/PDF/RSPO_national%20interpretation/ghana/indonesia/NI_INANIWG_Final_English_May2008_ver01.pdf. Accessed December 2012.

  • Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. 2012a. Principles and criteria certification: Implementation and interpretation of the principles & criteria. http://www.rspo.org/en/principles_and_criteria_certification. Accessed October 2013.

  • Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. 2012b. Smallholders task force. http://www.rspo.org/en/smallholders_task_force. Accessed December 2012.

  • Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. 2013a. Adoption of principles and criteria for the production of sustainable palm oil. http://www.rspo.org/file/revisedPandC2013.pdf. Accessed October 2013.

  • Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. 2013b. Certified grower. http://www.rspo.org/file/CertifiedGrowerMay2013.pdf. Accessed October 2013.

  • Schouten, G., and P. Glasbergen. 2011. Creating legitimacy in global private governance: The case of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. Ecological Economics 70: 1891–1899.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schouten, G., P. Leroy, and P. Glasbergen. 2012. On the deliberative capacity of private multi-stakeholder governance: The roundtables on responsible soy and sustainable palm oil. Ecological Economics 83: 42–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, T., and M. Fischlein. 2010. Rival private governance networks: Competing to define the rules of sustainability performance. Global Environmental Change 20: 511–522.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suharto, R. 2010. Why Indonesia needs ISPO. The Jakarta Post, Supplement, December 2. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/12/02/why-indonesia-needs-ispo.html. Accessed October 2013.

  • Suharto, R. 2013. Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil: Challenges in its implementation across all types of growers in Indonesia. Presentation at the 5th Palm Oil Summit on “Sustainable Yield Intensification and Maximising Productivity.” Jakarta, August 2013.

  • Tropis magazine on economy and environment. November 2011. Special edition entitled ‘Why GAPKI must quit RSPO’.

  • Varkkey, H. 2012. Patronage politics as a driver of economic regionalization: The Indonesian oil palm sector and transboundary haze. Asia Pacific Viewpoint 53: 314–329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • von Geibler, J. 2012. Market-based governance for sustainability in value chains: Conditions for successful standard setting in the palm oil sector. Journal of Cleaner Production 56: 39–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Wildlife Fund. 2007. High conservation value forests: The concept in theory and practice. http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/hcvf_brochure_012007.pdf. Accessed October 2013.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Public Administration and Policy Group, Department of Social Sciences, Wageningen University, Hollandseweg 1, 6706 KN, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Otto Hospes

Authors
  1. Otto Hospes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Otto Hospes.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 3.

Table 3 List of interviewees
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hospes, O. Marking the success or end of global multi-stakeholder governance? The rise of national sustainability standards in Indonesia and Brazil for palm oil and soy. Agric Hum Values 31, 425–437 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-014-9511-9

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-014-9511-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation