Constraint, conviction, or convenience? The adoption of environmental standards among palm oil growers in the Colombian llanos.

Abstract

Colombia, now the fourth producer in terms of volume worldwide has experienced a sustained expansion of cultivated areas and production yields. Following policy incentives, access to markets and increasing international demand, palm oil production has consolidated as a profitable agroindustry among agricultural production in the country. Growth of cultivated areas and production is expected to continue and so the sector has become under scrutiny given the environmentally and socially degrading practices attributed to palm oil production. Yet, expansion of new cultivated areas with palm has taken place in the eastern high planes known as the llanos where palm has not replaced natural forest and the land is considered apt for agricultural activities. The environmental and social impacts from palm oil production in Colombia are not comparable to those in south-eastern Asia and the country has a tradition of environmental governance institutionalism in charge of managing natural resources and harmonize agricultural policy. Despite this different context, Colombian palm growers lead by their business association Fedepalma adopted and periodically revise RSPO standards in an effort to increase the volume of certified palm oil and adopt environmentally sustainable practices. However, the high costs of certification, the natural, social conditions and institutions involved would indicate there are no incentives for Colombian producers to adopt those standards. Through qualitative interviews and participant observation, the aim of this thesis is to understand this phenomenon and explore the factors that drove Colombian palm oil growers to adopt and attribute legitimate authority to RSPO standards as an acceptable governance system for the sector. Drawing from elite theory, Weberian notions of authority and theoretical foundations of environmental governance, I took upon an exploration of the elites in this sector and their control and influence over institutions to understand what drove them to engage in a top-down adoption of these environmental standards. In doing so, I set to answer a second research question which inquires about the real potential of these standards to deliver sustainable and inclusive development. The discussion is framed within the limits to this transformation, which I found to be weak institutional State capacity and the willingness and ability of the elites to adopt regulation bring about the kind of societal change that is conducive to sustainability in the palm oil sector.