Private food standards, regulatory gaps and plantation agriculture: social and environmental (ir)responsibility in the Philippine export banana industry

Lockie, Stewart, Travero, Jose, and Tennent, Rebeka (2015) Private food standards, regulatory gaps and plantation agriculture: social and environmental (ir)responsibility in the Philippine export banana industry. Journal of Cleaner Production, 107. pp. 122-129.

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Abstract

The expansion of retailer-led food production standards over recent years has seen certification against such standards become a de facto condition of access to numerous supply chains. GLOBALG.A.P. standards, in particular, have extended the traditional focus of retailer-led standards beyond food safety to include compliance points addressing environmental protection and labour welfare. This has stimulated considerable research on the implications of standards compliance for small producers. However, little attention has been paid either to the relationships between so-called private standards and state-based regulatory regimes or to the implications of standards compliance for corporate farms, their employees and neighbouring communities. This paper examines these relationships and implications in the context of plantation banana production in the Philippines, focussing, in particular, on gaps that emerge between the ideals of social and environmental responsibility embodied in private standards and actual practices of regulation. It finds that while compliance with private standards is associated with comparatively favourable treatment of labour, deference to poorly enforced national legislation conceals ongoing human rights and environmental concerns.

Item ID: 32335
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 0959-6526
Keywords: environmental regulation, GLOBALG.A.P., human rights, Philippines, private standards
Funders: Australian Research Council (ARC)
Projects and Grants: ARC Project DP0988895
Date Deposited: 25 Jun 2014 05:35
FoR Codes: 16 STUDIES IN HUMAN SOCIETY > 1608 Sociology > 160801 Applied Sociology, Program Evaluation and Social Impact Assessment @ 50%
16 STUDIES IN HUMAN SOCIETY > 1608 Sociology > 160802 Environmental Sociology @ 50%
SEO Codes: 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9606 Environmental and Natural Resource Evaluation > 960601 Economic Incentives for Environmental Protection @ 50%
96 ENVIRONMENT > 9607 Environmental Policy, Legislation and Standards > 960707 Trade and Environment @ 50%
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