Sustainability certification initiatives seek to harness the power of transnational corporations to reform environmentally damaging practices around the world. This amounts to a kind of de-territorialized authority that governs through global markets rather than nation-states. Yet in certifying land and reforming its uses, sustainable agriculture and forestry initiatives confront a resource that is deeply tied to state sovereignty while potentially also being claimed by Indigenous peoples. This chapter asks what happens as transnational sustainability standards meet the nationally rooted and contested governance of land. It examines the place of “free and prior informed consent” for the use of Indigenous land in the leading sustainable agriculture and forestry initiatives, and it highlights the significance of the state and civil society through a brief comparison of forest certification in Indonesia and China. Further research should look not only within the world of sustainability standards but also to parallel questions about land rights in projects focused on timber legality and payment for ecosystem services.
Sustainable agriculture trough regional solidary in global markets
