Open Collections

Lima de Freitas, Juliana

University of British Columbia

This study analyzed the interaction between large companies and the smallholders in the development of local environmental stewardship, focused on the FSC certification of forest plantations in Brazil. To conduct this analysis, four case study units in the Northeast and South of Brazil were selected through purposeful sampling. Each case study unit is comprised of one large company that support smallholders in achieving FSC certification. Forty-five participants in the supply chain from smallholder to processing facility were interviewed. They included: certification body, company representative, sustainability manager, consultant firm, certification specialist, smallholder, and smallholder association. The sampling process for the selection of interviewees was a combination of snowballing and random sampling. The concept of inductive thematic saturation was used to determine if the sample size was enough to achieve saturation and therefore data collection completed. My study concluded that market demand and financial incentives seem to be the main factors motivating the engagement and long-term commitment of the smallholders in the FSC certification scheme. Importantly, as long as the smallholders perceive that the economic benefits outweigh the costs, it is very likely they will continue to use the FSC certification scheme. It is not enough to just see the more intangible human, social, and environmental benefits of certification as the primary reason to continue with costs of certification.

Text

2022-10-13

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/82856

Forestry

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/