Does the rise of transnational governance ‘hollow-out’ the state? Discourse analysis of the mandatory Indonesian sustainable palm oil policy

Astari, Annisa Joviani; Lovett, Jon C.

doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.12.012

Cited by 41 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…For instance, a grouping of NGOs proposed the inclusion of human rights, traceability and transparency into the new ISPO (Forest Watch Indonesia 2017). While the ISPO committee rejected the inclusion of human rights, after fierce discussion, it announced that it would incorporate the latter two aspects (Astari and Lovett 2019). Moreover, the concept of HCV is now included within the new ISPO's P&C (Aisyah 2018).…”

Section: Mechanisms For Coordination Through An Experimentalist Govermentioning

confidence: 99%

The Interaction of Private and Public Governance: The Case of Sustainability Standards for Palm Oil

Brandi

2020

Eur J Dev Res

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By providing insights into the interaction between private-driven and public-driven governance initiatives in the context of the “Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil” (RSPO) and the “Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil” (ISPO), this article sheds new light the interaction between private and public governance. It investigates how the relationship between the RSPO and the ISPO evolves over time and who and what drives this evolution. While the interaction between these standard schemes has initially largely been characterized by competition, it has become more collaborative and also coordinated in nature. This article argues that the experimentalist architecture of palm oil governance has fostered mechanisms for coordination across public and private certification schemes and has helped to join up the separate components of the regime complex through productive interactions. At the same time, several gaps and challenges remain, especially in light of the different interests of the multiple public and private actors involved in palm oil.

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Section: Mechanisms For Coordination Through An Experimentalist Govermentioning

confidence: 99%

The Interaction of Private and Public Governance: The Case of Sustainability Standards for Palm Oil

Brandi

2020

Eur J Dev Res

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“…An opposing viewpoint is that the ISPO is a state-driven rival governance mechanism to counter the RSPO. The ISPO appears to show the ambition of the Indonesian state to reclaim authority from the market-driven RSPO (Giessen et al 2016), with the ISPO representing 'an expression of government sovereignty' (Astari and Lovett 2019). Indeed, the ISPO may represent an effort by the global South to resist interventions from the North (Hospes 2014;Schouten and Bitzer 2015;Higgins and Richards 2019).…”

Section: Research Gap: Ambiguities Of the Ispo-rspo Relationshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ambiguities of Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil certification: internal incoherence, governance rescaling and state transformation

2021

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There are persistent tensions of both a technical and political nature between Southeast Asia’s two major palm oil producers, Indonesia and Malaysia, and the sustainability governance mechanisms shaping global environmental and trade standards emerging from Europe. The establishment of the national Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certification standard in 2011 is a sign of discontent with the transnational Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) regime, sparking debate about the legitimacy of private governance models initiated by non-governmental organizations and companies in Europe. This article questions whether the adoption of sustainability norms by Indonesia signals normative convergence or the emergence of rival governance structures that challenge the state. Evidence suggests that elements of norm adoption and rival governance coexist in Indonesia and that ISPO certification is an ambiguous policy with degrees of internal incoherence. The ambiguous nature of ISPO certification gives rise to unresolved disputes over power and authority between various actors. This article shows how these disputes came into being by framing these dynamics as part of a long historical process. Novel insights are gained by employing the state transformation framework and the concept of governance rescaling. Within this framework, we argue that the ambiguous nature of the ISPO results from complex interrelated processes of fragmentation, decentralization and the internationalization of the Indonesian state.

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“…ISPO can revoke a palm oil company's business permit whereas the RSPO can only withdraw the certificate. However, numerous studies have pointed out fundamental shortcomings of the ISPO mechanism, especially pertaining to the loose problem definition and lacking authority of the implementing organizations to enforce the sustainability standards (due to overlapping jurisdictions and absence of independency) 68,69 . Thus, we can stipulate that the impact of ISPO on village well-being over the study period is likely limited or negligible.…”

Section: Forest Cover Was Estimated Annually Between 2001 and 2018 By Overlaying The Extent Of Natural Forestmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of palm oil sustainability certification on village well-being and poverty in Indonesia

et al. 2020

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Kalimantan (53,300 km 2 ) (Figure 1b and Extended Data Figure 3) and more recently Papua (2,100 km 2 ) (Figure 1c and Extended Data Figure 4). In Sumatra, the extent of oil palm plantations nearly doubled since 2000, while Kalimantan and Papua experienced a near-fourfold increase in production area over the same period (Figure 1 and Extended Data Figures 2-4). The three regions can be viewed as being at advanced, intermediate, and early stages of oil palm development, respectively. These distinct development stages are broadly reflective of the expansion of the crop pan-tropically. For example, Malaysia and Thailand are also at an advanced stage of oil palm development, while the industry is still in its infancy across Latin America 1 .The developmental context in Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Papua is also reflected in patterns of plantation ownership. In Indonesia, cultivation of more than 25 hectares of croplands by a single farmer or entity requires a concession permit (Izin Usaha Perkebunan or IUP), issued by the head of a regency, mayor, or governor (Ministerial Decree No. 98/Permentan/2013). In Sumatra, between 2000 and 2018, oil palm plantations (i.e. planted oil palm) are largely dominated by non-concession holders (64% for NCONC), which mostly represent smallholders (68%) and medium to large-scale industrial plantations with unknown concession status (32%, Supplementary Figure 1). There, the rate of plantation expansion outside of known concession boundaries (NCONC) has exceeded that within large-scale concessions, i.e., non-certified industrial oil palm plantations (CONC) and RSPO-certified industrial plantations (CERT) (Figure 1a and Extended Data Figure 2). Conversely, over the same period, large-scale industrial plantations have dominated oil palm expansion in Kalimantan and Papua (66% for CONC and CERT combined in Kalimantan and 69% for CONC in Papua) (Figures 1b-c and Extended Data Figures 3-4).Analysis of the primary land-use or cover in villages between 2000 and 2018 indicates that those with ≥10% of village land area under industrial oil palm plantation in 2018 but <10% of area in industrial oil palm in 2000 experienced a typical sequence of land-use prior to oil palm development (Figure 2a and Extended Data Figure 5). In 2000, 23% of these villages were primarily forested, and timber was frequently commercially harvested 38 resulting in degraded forest stands. These villages were then transformed to agricultural lands, mixed plantations and shrubs, then to (non-certified) industrial oil palm plantations. Some of the existing (non-certified) oil palm plantations were later granted RSPO certification. Conversion from forest to certified plantations had rarely occurred (Extended Data Figure 5).Each of these land-uses is associated with specific livelihood systems and community composition (i.e. ethnicity) within village boundaries defined in the PODES census. Based on data from 2000, 2005, 2011 and 2018 across villages in Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Papua, those villages with high natural forest cover...

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Does the rise of transnational governance ‘hollow-out’ the state? Discourse analysis of the mandatory Indonesian sustainable palm oil policy

Abstract: This is a repository copy of Does the rise of transnational governance 'hollow-out' the state? Discourse analysis of the mandatory Indonesian sustainable palm oil policy.

Cited by 41 publications

References 58 publications

The Interaction of Private and Public Governance: The Case of Sustainability Standards for Palm Oil

The Interaction of Private and Public Governance: The Case of Sustainability Standards for Palm Oil

The ambiguities of Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil certification: internal incoherence, governance rescaling and state transformation

Impact of palm oil sustainability certification on village well-being and poverty in Indonesia

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