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The Legitimacy of Certification Standards in Climate Change Governance
Author(s) -
Plaza Esteban Coraina,
VisserenHamakers Ingrid J.,
Jong Wil
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
sustainable development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.115
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1099-1719
pISSN - 0968-0802
DOI - 10.1002/sd.1568
Subject(s) - legitimacy , stewardship (theology) , certification , certified wood , corporate governance , context (archaeology) , deforestation (computer science) , alliance , climate change , climate change mitigation , environmental resource management , business , political science , economics , geography , ecology , finance , politics , archaeology , computer science , law , biology , programming language
This article explores the role of two private steering mechanisms, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA), in REDD+, the climate change mitigation policy that aims to avoid deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries. It does so by analyzing input and output legitimacy of the two certification standards at the global level, and at national and local levels in Peru. The findings show an increasing interest among REDD+ actors in using these standards, and a relatively large number of Peruvian REDD+ projects that are certified by the FSC or CCBA. The findings also suggest intrinsic linkages between input and output legitimacy of the FSC and CCBA within single governance levels and across different scales. The article also demonstrates the added value of studying the legitimacy of policy instruments, such as the FSC and CCBA, in a specific context such as REDD+. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment