Tensions Between Global‐Scale and National‐Scale Governance: The Strategic Use of Scale Frames to Promote Sustainable Palm Oil Production in Indonesia

Abstract

Palm oil production in Indonesia has been expanding rapidly as a result of an increase in the global demand for vegetable oils that can be used for the production of edible oil and biofuels. The expansion of palm oil production has not only generated income and employment, but also contributed to deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, and social-political unrest at the community level due to land conflicts, insecure property rights, and a failure of companies to provide promised services to communities (Reijnders and Huijbregts 2007; Danielsen et al. 2009; McCarthy and Cramp 2009; Tan et al. 2009; McCarthy 2010; McCarthy and Zen 2010; Rietberg 2011). These environmental and social impacts have prompted many state and nonstate actors to develop principles and practical solutions to contribute to more sustainable palm oil production in Indonesia. This development has not been without controversy and rivalry. Four issues can be distinguished in the controversy and rivalry with regard to the promotion of sustainable palm oil in Indonesia. The first issue focuses on the principles and criteria for sustainable production of palm oil: What environmental, social, legal, and/or economic principles should be agreed upon? How general or specific should they be? The second issue focuses on the governance structure and authority to decide on these principles and criteria: should this authority be a governmental agency, business network, non-governmental organization (NGO) platform or a combination of all three? How should palm oil producers in Indonesia be forced to comply with these principles and criteria? The third issue focuses on the locus and scale of the problem. On the one hand, it is a fact that palm oil production causes environmental and social impacts, which are to a large extent concentrated in Indonesia