Does International Environmental Certification Change Local Production and Trade Practices? A Case Study of Shrimp Farming in Southern Vietnam

Abstract

Studies on international environmental certification (IEC) have primarily focused on how certification can sustainably “upgrade” local production and trading practices. However, not many studies view this market-based governance process from the perspective of local practices and location-specific factors. This study therefore examines how the upstream of the local supply chain influenced global interventions through the case of certification for shrimp farming in the mangroves of southern Vietnam. To clarify various aspects of these interactions, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the provincial government, NGOs, a trading company, shrimp farmers, and middlemen. The results revealed that IEC did not affect local production practices and only partially influenced trade practices. The implementation of IEC was thus at the mercy of the robustness of local society, which was attributed to unique agroecology, production systems, and upstream customary economic practices.