Agricultural Certification as a Conservation Tool in Latin America

Along agricultural frontiers, non-governmental organizations are developing agricultural certification systems for use as conservation tools. In this article, we propose a typology of certification systems that we use to frame a critical examination of the efficacy of these systems and their limitations in achieving conservation goals. On the basis of these findings, we recommend improved management practices. Our analysis draws on case studies that examine the use of certification to regulate two very distinct production systems: smallholder shade coffee cooperatives in El Salvador and industrial scale soy and beef operations in the Brazilian Amazon. Despite their disparate contexts, both case studies demonstrate that agricultural certification to achieve conservation goals is difficult to design, implement, and evaluate. Certifiers must enroll consumers and firms who do not prioritize conservation goals, navigate scientific uncertainty regarding best conservation practices, and also market their brand as different from the conventional products. Yet certification continues to expand. In order to grow legitimacy, maximize long-term efficacy, and to achieve stated conservation goals, agricultural certifiers should focus their efforts on key leverage points along supply chains where changes made can have meaningful conservation impacts. They should straightforwardly communicate the limitations, kinks, and challenges of their systems alongside claims of successes without overstating the impacts of their schemes as part of marketing strategies. In doing so they can help to inform and advance environmental governance of agricultural production systems.