Sustainability certification as marketisation: Rainforest Alliance in the Sri Lankan tea production industry
Sustainability certification as marketisation: Rainforest Alliance in the Sri Lankan tea production industry
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可持续发展认证作为市场化：斯里兰卡茶叶生产行业的雨林联盟
DOI：
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发表时间：
2021
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
N. Rowbottom
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
A. Munasinghe;Thomas Cuckston;N. Rowbottom
不可持续的生产是许多社会和生态问题的根源。虽然可持续性认证因加剧绿色化而受到批评，但比较研究发现，认证农场的社会和生态结果有所改善。在这篇文章中，我们调查了可持续发展认证可以使生产行业超越单纯的绿色清洗的过程。我们将可持续性认证概念化为市场化的过程，以能够实现新的思想和行动形式的方式在生产行业内组织经济活动。为了考察这一市场化进程，我们研究了斯里兰卡茶叶生产行业雨林联盟认证的案例。我们利用了长达六个月的实地考察，对整个行业的工作人员进行了74次半结构化访谈。我们发现，在这一市场化过程中部署的会计手段在行业内创造了新的可见度，以区分可持续发展认证的茶叶作为一种可销售的经济产品，使生产商能够成为能够参与可持续发展认证的茶叶市场的经济代理人，并构建一个经济交易所，将认证茶园的供应与具有道德意识的消费者的需求联系起来。我们的发现有助于对可持续发展会计的研究，揭示了尽管对绿色清洗的持续担忧，但可持续性认证可以对社会和生态结果产生积极影响的过程。
ABSTRACT Unsustainable production is a root cause of numerous social and ecological problems. Whilst sustainability certifications face criticism for exacerbating greenwashing, comparative studies have identified improvements in social and ecological outcomes on certified farms. In this paper, we investigate the process by which a sustainability certification can enable a production industry to move beyond mere greenwashing. We conceptualise sustainability certification as a process of marketisation, organising economic activities within a production industry in ways that can enable new forms of thought and action. To examine this marketisation process, we study the case of Rainforest Alliance certification in the Sri Lankan tea production industry. We draw on an extensive six-month period of fieldwork, involving 74 semi-structured interviews with people working across the industry. We find that accounting devices deployed in this marketisation process create new visibilities within the industry to distinguish sustainability-certified tea as a marketable economic good, to equip producers to become economic agents capable of participating in markets for sustainability-certified tea, and to construct an economic exchange connecting supplies from certified tea estates with demands from ethically minded consumers. Our findings contribute to research on accounting for sustainable development, shedding light on the process by which, despite ongoing concerns regarding greenwashing, sustainability certifications can bring about positive impacts on social and ecological outcomes.