Abstract
Using a case study of US agriculture, this paper examines how governance affects sustainability transitions in socio-technical systems. The multi-level perspective (MLP) has become a leading framework for theorizing sustainability transitions in socio-technical systems. It posits that transitions to more sustainable socio-technical systems are an outcome of external pressure at the landscape level and internal pressure emanating from niches. While the MLP is a robust analytical framework, it under-theorizes the role that governance plays in sustainability transitions. This paper addresses this research gap through examining three multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) that have developed sustainability metrics and standards for US agriculture: Field to Market; LEO-4000; and the Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops. Applying a governance analytical framework, membership selection, decision-making procedures, and access to resources are found to affect the kinds of sustainability metrics developed, as well as their likely implementation. Specifically, the governance processes functioned to channel sustainability metrics towards ones that were congruent with the existing agrifood regime, and marginalize metrics that had the potential to disrupt regime processes. Thus, this article proposes that governance is a key component of sustainability transitions, and that current usage of MSIs in much of environmental governance may function to moderate sustainability transitions.
Highlights
Since the formal codification of the idea sustainability with the Brundtland Commission in 1987, sustainability has become an ever-pressing issue
At the forefront of this research is the multi-level perspective (MLP), which posits that transitions to more sustainable socio-technical systems are an outcome of external pressure at the landscape level and internal pressure emanating from niches [1,3]
In the MLP, sustainability transitions are a result of a combination of external pressures and internal forces
Summary
Since the formal codification of the idea sustainability with the Brundtland Commission in 1987, sustainability has become an ever-pressing issue. Given the proliferation of environmental governance initiatives over the past two decades, the lack of analysis of governance represents a significant shortcoming in the MLP. This paper addresses this shortcoming through the incorporation of research on standards, metrics, and governance into the MLP. Since 2007, a handful of MSIs have been established to develop sustainability metrics and/or standards for US agriculture They include: Field to Market, the Leonardo Academy’s LEO-4000 initiative, and the Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops (SISC). The ways that the governance processes of each of the three agriculture sustainability MSIs have affected the development of metrics is analyzed. The article concludes with a discussion of the paper’s findings for the MLP and the sustainability of US agriculture
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