Fair trade, environmental labels, bans and ecosystem services

verfasst von

Ulrike Grote, Pradyot R. Jena

Abstract

The usefulness of bans or trade sanctions in governing ecosystem services has been questioned by many. While there are only a few cases of bans having been actually applied to the environment, the discussion about their use is still present, especially in the social context. Agreements among countries in the form of multilateral environmental agreements in contrast are considered as valid for some types of extreme environmental cases. As opposed to bans and MEAs, labeling programs are widespread. However, they consider very different ecosystem services to very different degrees in their criteria. Many programs incorporate the supporting and regulating services of ecosystems. Only a few apply more holistic approaches to preserving and cultural ecosystem services.

The impact of eco-labeling on ecosystems largely depends on the selection of the environmental and social criteria. The identification of criteria is a difficult and complex task. Criteria selected based on domestic environmental priorities and technologies may require foreign producers to meet criteria of no relevance to that country. The positive impact on ecosystems in the foreign countries is then questionable.

Generally, empirical evidence of the effects which could be attributed to labeling schemes on different kinds of ecosystem services is still sparse. Much more research is needed to find out about the direct and indirect labeling effects on natural, marine and aquatic ecosystems. For example, the longer-term impact in terms of net benefits needs to be further analyzed since it can have a significant positive effect on ecosystems. Labeling also opens new opportunities for the governance of ecosystem services since it also has some potential as a communication and awareness-raising tool to catalyze the protection of ecosystem services. These characteristics of labeling schemes need to be further exploited for the benefit of ecosystems.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Umweltökonomik und Welthandel

Typ

Beitrag in Buch/Sammelwerk

Seiten

189-203

Anzahl der Seiten

15

Publikationsdatum

2011

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Volkswirtschaftslehre, Ökonometrie und Finanzen (insg.), Betriebswirtschaft, Management und Rechnungswesen (insg.)

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 13 – Klimaschutzmaßnahmen, SDG 14 – Lebensraum Wasser

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/http://10.4324/9780203816639 (Zugang: Geschlossen)