Access to land and the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil in Colombia

Bibliographic Data

ID12715975
AuthorsChristelle Genoud (0000-0002-0888-4926, University of Lausanne, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume18
Issue3
Pages372-389
Publication date2020-02-12
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueGlobalizations (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1474-7731 • E-ISSN: 1474-774X
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14747731.2020.1716480
OpenAlexW3006314813
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited46

In the wake of the 2008 triple crisis (finance, food, environment), large-scale land investments raised concerns about their negative impacts on local populations. To counter risks to agribusiness’ reputation, sustainability certifications legitimize investments fulfilling certain production criteria. But do such certifications ensure local populations’ land access? This paper investigates the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and argues that its definition of sustainability fails to ensure such land access for two reasons: (1) It refers to land rights instead of recognizing the human right to land (2) It promotes contract farming as win-win. By focusing on local contexts and practices in Colombia, field research provides evidence that to ensure local populations’ land access, the RSPO should opt for a human rights approach. For the Colombian peace process, this result means that the RSPO’s current definition of sustainability is not in line with the integral rural reform planned in the peace agreement

Business · Certification · Economic growth · Economics · Natural resource economics · Political science · Reputation · Sustainability · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Law

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