Toward SuSTainabiliTy: The roleS and limiTaTionS of ... - Resolve

Chapter 2: Actors – Government 30(USDA) launched national organic standards,requiring any producer using the word organicto be certified by accredited agencies, includingthe CCOF. 1 The USDA standards differ from theoriginal CCOF standards, and some organic proponentsfeel that government involvement at thefederal level weakened the label overall. Othersmaintain that federal involvement has strengthenedthe concept of organic labeling by applying alegal framework for using the term organic.Part of the reason behind the proliferationof certification schemes in the 1990s was theemerging global trends favoring free marketsand private enterprise over government action(Bartley, 2007b; Bartley, 2010; Bernstein &Cashore, 2007; Cashore, 2002; Cashore, Auld,& Newsom, 2004). This new thinking frustratedefforts to adopt government regulations andintergovernmental agreements. The developmentof the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)in 1993—described in Chapter 1 and the CivilSociety section of this chapter—illustrates thissituation. The FSC emerged, in part, from theashes of failed efforts to agree to a binding internationalforestry convention. The program cametogether when concerned industry players, seekingto distinguish their product, joined forces withnongovernmental organizations (NGOs) suchas the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) andthe Rainforest Action Network (Bartley, 2007b;Cashore, et al., 2004; Meidinger, 2006).Yet as Bartley (2007b) and Cashore (2002)note, governments played a crucial role in theFSC’s initial success. Several European cities andcountries—as well as some American cities andstates—passed restrictions on the import of ecologicallyunsound timber. When Austria’s ban waschallenged by timber-exporting states as a tradebarrier, Austria rescinded the law but redirectedgovernment funds for implementation to thenascent FSC, giving it a substantial boost at a crucialtime. It also encouraged other nations, suchas Switzerland and the Netherlands, to providefinancial support to the FSC, in response to publicpressure for action (Bartley, 2007b). The FSC alsoreceived a boost when state governments pursuedFSC certification for some of their publiclyowned forests. In the United States, for example,Pennsylvania was an early adopter of FSC certification,and today 2.2 million acres of state-ownedforests in Pennsylvania are FSC-certified. 2The certification of labor practices in theapparel industry also benefited from significantgovernment support and funding in the1990s. According to Bartley (2007b), the ClintonAdministration first proposed, and then helped toestablish, the Apparel Industry Partnership/FairLabor Association. It also provided vital financialsupport for Social Accountability International’scertification systems in their early years. WhileNGOs played a leading role in developing andadvancing these schemes, the U.S. federal governmentprovided the initial creative impetus andsupport—even though these certifications aroseas an alternative to binding government action.The government of China has acted far beyondfunding; like the German government, it hasestablished its own certification schemes. As anexample, China’s Ministry of Agriculture (MOA)oversees two certification schemes establishedby the Chinese government during the 1990s—Green Food and Hazard Free Food—as well asorganic certification to international standards.The MOA’s China Green Food DevelopmentCentre owns the Green Food logo, develops andmaintains the standard, is responsible for certifications,coordinates inspections and monitoring,and obtains revenue for certification fees. GreenFood certification is a stepping stone towardorganic certification to international standards,and production in all of these “eco-categories”has grown tremendously since its inception.Green Food production alone jumped from 6.3million tons in 1997 to 72 million tons in 2007,with export value increasing from $70 million to$2 billion in 2006 (Paull, 2008).1 www.ers.usda.gov/data/organic/.2 www.fscus.org/news/index.php?article=23Toward Sustainability: The Roles and Limitations of Certification