Redefining Sustainability Standards To Improve Lives And Livelihoods

The International Labour Organisation refers to agriculture as ‘one of the most hazardous of all economic sectors’. Improving labour conditions has been challenging, especially for small farmers. Activists and global buyers have promoted sustainability standards to counteract this problem, for example, Fairtrade certification. Professor Maja Tampe, from the Department of Society, Politics, and Sustainability at Esade business school in Barcelona, investigates the experience of two Ecuadorian cocoa farmer groups that sought access to global markets through certification, but experienced vastly different labour outcomes. This research is a typical example of a qualitative study design in assessing the impacts of voluntary sustainability standards, with a focus on labour outcomes.