vrijdag 27 juni 2014

Publications 2014: Tensions between global private and national public agencies in governing sustainable palm oil

Two new publications as part of a series of explorations on conflict and collaboration between global private partnerships and national public agencies in governing sustainable palm oil:

1. Hospes, O. 2014. Marking the Success or End of Global Multi-Stakeholder Governance? The Rise of National Sustainability Standards in Indonesia and Brazil for Palm Oil and Soy. Agriculture and Human Values. Online version at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10460-014-9511-9

2. Hospes, O. and Kentin. A. 2014. Tensions Between Global-Scale and National-Scale Governance: The Strategic Use of Scale Frames to Promote Sustainable Palm Oil Production in Indonesia. In: F. Padt, P. Opdam, N. Polman and C. Termeer (eds.). Scale-sensitive Governance of the Environment. Wiley Blackwell, pp. 203–219. Online version at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9781118567135 or: http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118567153.html and then click on "Learn More".

zaterdag 12 oktober 2013

Publications 2013 on food sovereignty, biofuels and scale frames

1. The quest for food sovereignty of NGOs and social movements from all over the world is directed at the transformation of existing power structures that sustain neo-liberal thinking and the value of food as a commodity. But what are their ideas exactly on sovereignty and on how to change political order and food regimes? These questions guided my quest in the world of food sovereignty. Here is the reference and the abstract:

Hospes, O. 2013. Food sovereignty: the debate, the deadlock, and a suggested detour. Agriculture and Human Values (online first at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10460-013-9449-3#page-1)
 
Whereas hundreds of social movements and NGOs all over the world have embraced the concept of food sovereignty, not many public authorities at the national and international level have adopted the food sovereignty paradigm as a normative basis for alternative agriculture and food policy. A common explanation of the limited role of food sovereignty in food and agriculture policy is that existing power structures are biased towards maintaining the corporatist food regime and neo-liberal thinking about food security. This article sets out to provide an alternative explanation for this limited role by critically reflecting on the debate about food sovereignty itself. The main argument is that this debate is characterized by deadlock. Two mechanisms underlying the deadlock are analyzed: confusion about the concept of sovereignty and the failure of the epistemic community to debate how to reconcile conflicting values, discourses, and institutions regarding food. To overcome this deadlock and organize meaningful debate with public authorities, it is proposed that the food sovereignty movement uses insights from legal pluralism and debates on governance and adopts the ending of “food violence” as a new objective and common frame.

2. Long before the biofuel hype reached a global scale, Brazil was in the biofuel business. As such, Brazil is the place to be to investigate the impact of energy cropping. Brazil's early bio-ethanol policy was geared towards the development of poor regions but failed. This brought one of my PhDs, Sarah Stattman, to question whether Brazil would do better when the government embarked on an ambitious bio-diesel program. If you want to know what happened, just read our article:

Stattman, S.L., Hospes, O. & Mol, A.P.J. (2013). Governing biofuels in Brazil: a comparison of ethanol and biodiesel policies. Energy Policy (IN PRESS), 1-9
(online first at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421513004825#)

Over the last decade Brazil has implemented a new and ambitious biofuel program: the National Program of Production and Use of Biodiesel (PNPB). When launching this program in 2004 the government stated that it wanted to avoid the same kind of geographical concentration, single crop focus, dominance of agribusiness, and exclusion of family farmers that have occurred with bioethanol production through the ProÁlcool policy since 1975. This paper compares the life histories of the bioethanol and the biodiesel policies of Brazil by analyzing their substantive policy content; the power and politics of actors that struggle for the design and implementation of the policies; and the polity in terms the organization and institutionalization of the policies. The paper concludes that both policies have become submerged by and dependent on the polity and politics of primarily the energy and agricultural sectors that operate as the two semi-autonomous governance fields. This submerging has shaped the substantive contents of biofuels policies, and explains why the 2004 biodiesel policy PNPB, in spite of its objectives for social inclusion and rural development, faces similar problems in implementation as its predecessor, the 1975 bioethanol policy ProÁlcool.

3. What if you expect not to win an argument in a debate, or simply want to avoid any debate? What if you want to control this debate and define who is to decide on a critical issue? Well, then there is much reason to start using scale frames. Maybe this sounds quite abstract to you now but if you want to get insights on how it may work, such on the basis of a most interesting case study, please let me know whether you are interested in the forthcoming article in a book in press!

Forthcoming Autumn 2013: Hospes, O. and Kentin, A. (2013). Tensions between global-scale and national-scale governance: The strategic use of scale frames to promote sustainable palm oil production in Indonesia. In: Padt, F.J.G., Opdam, P., Polman, N., Termeer, C. (eds.) (in press). Scale-sensitive governance of the environment. Edited volume. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons.


 

woensdag 2 januari 2013

Publications 2012: The role of private partnerships in managing wicked problems in global agribusiness

The International Food and Agribusiness Management Review has published an on-line Special Issue on "Managing Wicked Problems in Agribusiness: the Role of Multi-Stakeholder Engagement in Value Creation". The problem of a wicked problem is not only that there is no shared view or agreement on the solution but first of all on what is the real problem. Lack of sustainability is a wicked problem par excellence. Multi-stakeholder initiatives and private partnerships are typically considered part of the solution to this wicked problem. But are they part of the solution or the problem? Please make up your mind by reading (one of) the following publications and other ones at https://www.ifama.org/publications/journal/vol15/V15IB.aspx?
1. Otto Hospes, Olga van der Valk and Jennie-Mheen-Sluijer (2012). Parallel Development of Five Partnerships to Promote Sustainable Soy in Brazil: Solution or Part of Wicked Problems? International Food and Agribusiness Management Review Volume 15, Special Issue B, pp. 29-52.
2. Domenico Dentoni, Otto Hospes and Ross Brent (2012). Editor's Introduction. Managing Wicked Problems in Agribusiness: The Role of Multi-Stakeholder Engagements in Value Creation. International Food and Agribusiness Management Review Volume 15, Special Issue B, pp.1-12.

dinsdag 21 augustus 2012

Professional report 2012: Biofuel partnerships

Biofuel partnerships: from battleground to common ground? A joint publication (2012) of Cordaid, Cordaid partners and Wageningen University.
This document provides a unique and telling report of different experiences of partners of Cordaid with biofuel programs and how these programs effect smallholders' use of land and rights to land. The drawing of the report has been a true collaborative effort of Cordaid partners, Cordaid and Wageningen University. I had the privilege of acting as scientific co-ordinator of the writing process. Various sites provide links to the report, including those of Cordaid, SNV and FPP. Now also available in Spanish: Biocombustibles: ¿se puede llegar a un entendimiento en este campo de batalla? Check publications at http://www.cordaid.nl/nl.

vrijdag 27 april 2012

Publications 2011: Global private partnerships and social inclusion

1. At www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpvUIOV4sXI, you can see the book announcement on Value Chains by professor Bert Helmsing and dr Sietze Vellema. After the introduction to the book, you can read my article, together with Joy Clancy, on social inclusion in value chains: Hospes, O. and Clancy, J. 2011. Unpacking the discourse on social inclusion. In: Helmsing, B. and Vellema, S. (eds). Value chains, inclusion and endogenous development: contrasting theories and realities. Routledge Press, pp. 23-41.
2. One of the articles in the first book on private food law edited by prof. Bernd van der Meulen is: Hospes, O. 2011. Private law making at the round table on sustainable palm oil. In: B.M.J. van der Meulen (eds.). Private food law. Wageningen Academic Press, pp. 187-201. The article can be downloaded from: http://www.wageningenacademic.com/_clientFiles/download/EIFL-06-e.pdf
3. A telling story (for Dutch readers only) on the love-hate affair of the Indonesian government with the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil, Hospes, O. 2011. Besturen tussen globale en nationale schaal: de casus van de Ronde Tafel over Duurzame Palmolie. Bestuurskunde(4): 38-46. In the forthcoming book (at Wiley Publishers) on scaling and governance, the tension between the RSPO and public authorities will be newly explored with the concept of scale frames.

dinsdag 8 maart 2011

Visiting professor 2011 at Nantes: Food for thought and thought for food

Food security for all is a desired, not yet existing situation. More than a billion people suffer from hunger in our world. Under the leadership of professor Francois Dutilleul of the University of Nantes, the LASCAUX research program questions what idea, frame or legality could best direct our efforts to establish food security for all: trade liberalisation, sustainable development, human rights or food sovereignty? Or is it that somehow these different ideas, or those who voice these ideas, can be linked to each other? There is more to explore. We not only need food for thought but also new thoughts for food. Join our efforts. Greetings from the green city of Nantes.