摘要：Certification of adherence to social and environmental standards allows companies involvedin the (global) trade of commodities to dissociate themselves from negative impacts in thepublic eye. It can go beyond compliance with legal requirements. Certification can be anattempt to shift blame to uncertified others, but it can also contribute to resolving theunderlying issues of concern. We provide a framework for a study of when, where and howcertification schemes emerge and evolve, with specific attention to the degree to whichunderlying issues get addressed. Three strands of literature are combined in this framework(1) the issue–attention cycle as a schematic representation of public concerns shaping policyresponses; (2) the management swing potential defined as the gap between best and worstcurrent production systems and the basis for defining standards and (3) global value chainsthat link distant producers and consumers, and the power relations along these chains,including standards and certification. Based on literature review, we introduce a set of fourpropositions that inform testable specific hypotheses. We outline questions for reviews, insubsequent papers of this issue, of the experience on timber, oil palm, coffee, cacao andrubber as tropical-forest-margin commodities dominated by global trade.
关键词：Certification;certifiability;issue–attention cycle;swingpotential;global value chain;sustainability standards;governance;ecosystemservices
