Paper short abstract:

Drawing upon GPN literature this paper explores environmental upgrading within a cut-flower value chain which reaches from South Africa to the UK. Retailer expectations have driven upgrading initiatives but questions arise about the distribution of value, power and risk within the value chain.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper we explore environmental upgrading within cut-flower supply chains located in the Global South. Our analysis draws upon strands of the Global Production Networks literature in order to examine emerging contestations and contradictions within upgrading trajectories evident within the South African Cape Flora sector.

It can be argued that the primary driver for upgrading within the cut-flower industry is via a plethora of certifications and standards, which have been largely developed in the Global North (Bek, Bryan and Timms 2017). We evaluate the experiences of a South African exporter whose primary market focuses upon UK-based retailers. In order to meet retailer expectations, principally Marks and Spencer's 'Plan A' Sustainability strategy, considerable investments have been made within the export company's operations. These investments have led to a set of innovations which can legitimately be described as environmental upgrading, strategically aligned to social and economic upgrading. However, further analysis upstream within the supply networks illustrates how pressures imposed by lead firms regarding price, quality and timeliness result in practices that are not compatible with environmental upgrading.

Thus, whilst the notion of upgrading provides important insights into trajectories of change, its explanatory power is limited. Deeper questions need to be asked about value capture, power and risk within the supply chain (Ponte and Ewert 2009; Fernández 2015; Coe and Yeung 2015). The modus operandi of sustainability standard governance systems render these issues largely invisible to downstream stakeholders thus largely perpetuating non-transformative 'business as usual' relations between participants in the value chain.

Paper short abstract:

In this article, we examine ‘the factory manager dilemma’ as a way of conceptualizing the purchasing practices and environmental upgrading requirements faced by suppliers in their dealings with lead firms in global value chains. Specifically, we analyze the environmental upgrading challenges experienced by Pakistani apparel and textile firms.

Paper long abstract:

Economic and environmental upgrading in global value chains are inter-twined processes. The existing global value chain literature has so far articulated the relationships between economic and social upgrading, but has only recently started to explore the challenges of environmental upgrading from the perspective of suppliers in the global South. In this article, we examine ‘the factory manager dilemma’ as a way of conceptualizing the purchasing practices and environmental upgrading requirements faced by suppliers in their dealings with lead firms in global value chains. Specifically, we analyze the environmental upgrading challenges experienced by Pakistani apparel and textile firms. We conclude that engaging in environmental upgrading has become necessary for local suppliers to secure and maintain access to global value chains. This generates reputation enhancement for lead firms but undermines the financial viability of suppliers. In other words, global South suppliers are required to both absorb the consequences of global buyers’ unsustainable purchasing practices and reduce their own profitability – all in the name of sustainability.

Paper short abstract:

In response to water risks, Western Cape fruit producers deploy environmental upgrading strategies to ensure water security for their productive activities. These strategies impact water governance as producers secure access and control over water, reinforcing power structures and inequities.

Paper long abstract:

While sustainability is an increasingly important topic within Global Production Networks (GPN) research, the interactions between GPNs and the environment have been underexplored, more specifically the implications of environmental upgrading. This research project works towards closing this gap by conceptualising environmental upgrading as a strategy on the spectrum from water risks to water security. This is done by unravelling the global fruit production network with a specific focus on South Africa's Western Cape and investigating its interaction with the local water governance regime. Following a qualitative approach, 76 semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed, complemented by an in-depth water policy analysis. Results show that different actors along fruit GPNs counter a series of water risks by deploying a set of strategies at different scales to ensure water security for the production of export fruit. Many of these strategies fall within the realm of environmental upgrading. A political economy lens reveals that while environmental upgrading within the context of water use on export fruit farms is observed in the Western Cape, it allows fruit producers to secure access and control over water resources, reinforcing existing power structures and inequities. Insights from this research have the potential to lead to a more thorough understanding of environmental upgrading in GPN, its implications for sustainable development, and the impact on water governance.

Paper short abstract:

The environment not been explored within conceptualizations of embeddedness in GPNs. This paper extends territorial embeddedness to include natural capital and climate change, suggesting ecologically reciprocal relationships develop between farmers and their environment when they embed into GPNs.

Paper long abstract:

The literature on global production networks, including its conceptualisation of embeddedness, has insufficiently focused on the natural environment. Nature is symmetrically entangled with the economic and social. This is especially so for farmers since their livelihoods and conservation of their natural environment are inseparable. There is a need to scrutinize factors beyond economic, political and social in order to truly understand who is embedded in what and the related implications. This paper extends the conceptualization of territorial embeddedness to include the natural environment, not only in terms of natural capital, but also climate variability and shocks.

Participating in new production networks can involve ecologically re-embedding, requiring a need to reshape relationships between humans and the natural environment. Feedback loops arising from ecologically reciprocal relationships are a result of the culture within society and the power struggles that occur within interactions in re-embedded networks. This paper refers to this dynamic process of dis-embedding from indigenous networks and re-embedding in new networks, territories, and following new environmental practices as "re-environmentalization".

This paper uses a mixed method approach that draws of 93 interviews, 5 focus group discussions and a survey of 579 horticulture farmers in Kenya to elaborate "re-environmentalization" and to show whether it leads to leads to positive or negative outcomes for producers. This article quantifies different forms of embeddedness across farmers supplying into different end markets (global, regional and local). Thereby, the paper not only advances 'how' the process of "re-environmentalization" occurs, but also demonstrates the extent.

Paper short abstract:

Drawing on the case study of Mae Chaem district, this paper approaches the environmental problem of haze in the context of emerging global food systems, and the increasingly complex networks of production, exchange and consumption that shape local agricultural practice.

Paper long abstract:

In 2018 haze has once again become a public policy problem in Chiang Mai and the north of Thailand. Largely framed as an environmental problem with human health consequences, the main responsibility for causing the problem has been placed firmly on the practice of upland farmers in the province and across Northern Thailand. This is an argument that fits with an enduring policy narrative that frames environmental problems experienced by downstream urban people as the result of a lack of understanding of the forest and the environment among farmers. Such a framing of the policy problem leads to intervention strategies that are focused on awareness raising and encouraging changes in agricultural practice. However the reasons why farmers do what they do defies such simplistic explanations. The problem itself requires a more holistic, systems oriented analysis that incorporates the dynamics of agrarian change in a marginalised area of the country, and that contextualises local agricultural production practice within an increasingly globalised food system.

Drawing on the case study of Mae Chaem district, this paper argues that haze must be seen in a broader context as a result of emerging global food systems. The case study speaks to policy issues of global significance; the increasingly complex networks of production, exchange and consumption that shape local agricultural practice, and that generate multi-scalar environmental impacts. Addressing these challenges requires conceptual framework and diverse multi-disciplinary research methods that can accommodate both complex social-ecological systems, political ecology and actor-oriented approaches.

Paper short abstract:

The study will investigate whether Nigeria's alignment with the rest of the world in adopting International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) as a form of globalisation is paying off or not with regard to environmental upgrade reporting.

Paper long abstract:

A notable feature of the world economy since the Second World War has been the globalization of economic activity. This has enhanced the global and regional value chains and thus given rise to the spread of people, technologies and concepts in addition to goods and services, round the world. This has also given opportunities to different economies/countries to compare their indigenous goods, services and practices with that of other nations which has subsequently resulted to collaborations and improvements on various goods, services and practices to meet up with the globally acceptable standard. Over half of the countries in Africa also toed the path of globalisation by adopting the international financial reporting standard (IFRS) with the expectations of promoting uniformity, globalization and enhancement of international trade. The adoption of IFRS has however affected different economies in different ways. It is therefore pertinent to determine the extent to which the adoption of IFRS has affected environmental reporting in Nigeria, usually referred to as the giant of Africa.

Paper short abstract:

In this globalized world, energy interdependence requires effective governance.Existing literature argues that over reliance on free markets or governance alone cannot ensure sustainable energy security. Therefore, this paper investigates the role of market governance in ensuring energy security.

Paper long abstract:

This paper aims to empirically investigate the impact of market governance on energy security utilizing a cross-country panel data set controlling for country-specific macro-economic, social and geographical factors. It uses the energy security index for 71 countries based on the dimensions of availability, accessibility, affordability, acceptability and efficiency from 2008 to 2013 to carry out a cross-country empirical investigation of the impact of market governance on energy security controlling for country specific macro-economic, social and geographical factors. The theoretical underpinning of the paper comes from Chang and Koh (2012), which, while studying the context of Japan, theorizes that by implementing appropriate principles of market governance can result in greater energy security despite an absence of high energy reserves.This attributes to its pro-energy policies and proper balancing of market governance thus enabling government to further improve its energy sector. Therefore, it can be argued that unequal structures in context of macro-economic, social and geographical factors cause variation in market governance and ultimately on the energy security. Using panel data, the study applies regression techniques to fill in an important gap in the existing literature on energy security, and provides an empirical investigation into the relationship between energy security and market governance while controlling for macro economic, social and geographical factors.