Smallholder Telecoupling and Climate Governance in Jambi Province, Indonesia

Yvonne Kunz, Fenna Otten, Rina Mardiana, Katrin Martens, Imke Roedel and Heiko Faust
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Yvonne Kunz: Department of Human Geography, Georg-August-University of Goettingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
Fenna Otten: Department of Human Geography, Georg-August-University of Goettingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
Rina Mardiana: Department of Human Ecology, Institut Pertaninan Bogor, Bogor 16680, Indonesia
Katrin Martens: Department of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt University Berlin, 10099 Berlin, Germany
Imke Roedel: Department of Human Geography, Georg-August-University of Goettingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
Heiko Faust: Department of Human Geography, Georg-August-University of Goettingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany

Social Sciences, 2019, vol. 8, issue 4, 1-28

Abstract: Current debates on climate change have led to an increased demand for sustainable commodities. Serving this demand, sustainability certification schemes and eco-friendly labels have become prominent mechanisms of climate governance. Smallholder farmers in Jambi province, Indonesia, producing palm oil and rubber as the two dominant smallholder crops, are impacted by this distal demand. Zimmerer et al. (2018) suggest analyzing the potential sustainability in such a context with the multilevel smallholder telecoupling framework. Applying this framework to case studies from Jambi province, our first case reveals that smallholder certification for so-called sustainable palm oil does not necessarily influence smallholder towards more sustainable management practices. One explanation might be a discrepancy in sustainability perception between sender and receiver systems. The second case is the setup of an allegedly eco-friendly rubber plantation. The establishment of this model plantation is implemented by a transnational corporation in collaboration with a nature conservation organization, impacting the access to land for adjacent smallholders. The struggle over access to land is not only negotiated between smallholders and the corporation producing “eco-friendly” rubber but also between smallholders and big land mammals lacking access to land since the rubber plantation began to be established. We argue that the concept of sustainability as demanded by the receiving system does not mirror management practices in the sending system, even though the products reach the Global North as supposedly socially and climate-friendly. The smallholder telecoupling framework is helpful for assessing potential sustainability but can be expanded towards conflictive spillovers, second order effects, and a mismatch in sustainability perceptions in order to draw a more comprehensive picture.

Keywords: telecoupling; sustainability; multi-stakeholder initiatives; roundtable for sustainable palm oil; sustainable natural rubber initiative (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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