摘要：Eco-certification of food and other agricultural products has been promoted as a way of making markets workfor sustainability. Certification programs offer a price premium to producers who invest in more sustainable practices. Theliterature on the impacts of certification has focused primarily on the economic benefits farmers perceive from participating inthese schemes. These benefits, however, are often subject to price variability, offering only a partial explanation of why farmersjoin and stay in certification programs. We evaluated the potential of the Rainforest Alliance certification program to fostermore resilient social-ecological systems in the face of globalization. Using the case of Santander, Colombia, and a pair-basedcomparison of 86 households to effectively produce a robust counterfactual, we showed that certification provides importantenvironmental benefits, while improving the well-being of farmers and their communities. Furthermore, the study showed thatprice premiums are only one of many elements defining the success of certification, particularly important for motivating farmersto join, but less so to explain retention and upgrading. The case of Colombian coffee growers illustrates how the connectionsbetween local social-ecological systems and larger global forces can produce more sustainable livelihoods and land uses.
关键词：coffee; Colombia; eco-certification; globalization; land change
