trends and future of sustainable development - TransEco

When looking at the structural power impacts of the corporations on water security outside the valuechains in the wider agro-food network, first, due to their lobbying power affecting agricultural policiesand their market dominance the corporations may dictate world market prices making farmingunprofitable in some parts of the world and set restrictions to the crops they buy affecting security anddiversity of farming livelihoods (e.g. de Schutter 2010; Hendrickson and Heffernan 2002). Second, asthe agribusiness giants are also active in banking and financial markets like Goldman Sachs that wasrecently accused of gambling with hunger in grain price speculation affecting especially African grainmarkets (Kaufman 2011; The Independent 2nd July 2010; World Development Movement July 2010),the roots of the power of the corporate world over the global water and food security may actually beeven deeper in the structures of the international political economy than it first seems. The biggestplayers reap the profits of the price hikes due to their internal asset flexibility. The poorest farmerscannot afford the farming supply prices of which have risen along the general market trend, poorgovernments are not able to subsidy imported commodities anymore, the poorest consumers cannotafford their daily bread. The world food system is sliding into increasing food nationalism due to thescarcity induced by population growth, changing consumption patterns, climate change, biofuels boomand unsustainable use of water, the vicious circle stirred by the corporate short-term interests (Brown2011). It can be argued, that rush for foreign land and water by the rising economic power-player statesis challenging the until recently prevailed transnational agro-food power, even virtual water hegemony,in the global agro-food system of the global trading corporations (Sojamo et al. forthcoming).A consensus emerged among the interviewees that the growing water security risks may change thedynamics of the agro-food system further emphasizing the role of the transnational corporations andstate-led enterprises as powerful bargaining actors both in the value chains and networks and in theglobal water governance. Ultimately, water security based on the shared risk with other users in thebasin will underlie their license to operate.Finally, when looking at the ideational power sphere and discursive practices of the corporations andthe state-led enterprises, it is clear that they are not yet fully aware of their role over global watersecurity and its strategic importance to their actions, even though access to water has been andcontinues to be the prerequisite for their operations.Integral to the role of corporations in global water security is a discursive coalition of risk. Theworld's largest food corporations with visible brands among other industry leaders have realised theirrole as water managers as a consequence of pressure from investors, civil society advocacy groups and tosome extent from consumers. The approach is driven by the lead-corporations with visible brands; intheir 'story-lines' the focus is on the water scarcity impacts on their value chains, in the physical,regulatory and reputational risks they may face (CERES 2010; Morrison et al. 2010). The largest agrofoodcorporations have started to engage in corporate social responsibility and environmentalsustainability discourses only during the past couple of years under the pressure from their value chainsand networks. Based on an analysis of the websites and publications of the four largest agro-foodcorporations undertaken for the purpose of this study, how corporations set (define physical situationfor the discourse act and the artefacts brought into it) and stage (organise deliberatively the discourseand the symbols used) their discourses is strongly connected to the visibility of their brand andshareholder structure of the company, i.e. their desired position in the value chains and networks andinternal corporate governance dynamics (after Hajer and Versteeg 2005b). However, the informative165