Small farmer cooperatives and voluntary coffee certifications: Rewarding progressive farmers of engendering widespread change in Costa Rica?

Our research examines the benefits and drawbacks for cooperatives who participate in voluntary coffee certifications. We interviewed administrators at twenty Costa Rican coffee cooperatives about management practices related to voluntary certification. Voluntary certifications are popular among coffee cooperatives. Access to certified markets is facilitated by state support of the cooperative sector, regulation of the coffee sector and well-enforced environmental and social laws. However, there are no significant or consistent financial incentives for farmers to pursue certification. Multiple certifications may lower auditing and implementation costs, but cooperatives rarely receive the full premium for multiply-certified coffee. Low market demand for certified coffee, weak price incentives and high auditing and management costs encourage cooperatives to certify only a portion of their members. This strategy rewards compliant farmers rather than inducing widespread change to farming practices among the entire membership. Though financial incentives are weak, certifications offer non-financial benefits to both farmers and cooperatives, including better management and more resilient cooperatives.     

Challenges to the use of fertilisers derived from human excreta: The case of vegetable exports from Kenya to Europe and influence of certification systems

Land degradation and inadequate faecal sludge management are two major issues in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The transformation of human excreta into soil amendments and their wide-scale adoption could improve soil health and contribute to solving the sanitation crisis in SSA. There are however perception challenges around these fertilisers because of the potentially harmful components they contain such as pathogens and heavy metals, which can be removed with appropriate treatment such as composting. A major barrier to the wide scale commercialisation of human excreta derived fertiliser (HEDF) is the unclear regulations surrounding their use. The aim of this study was to identify barriers to the use of HEDF by farmers participating in the horticultural export market with Kenya as focus area since horticultural exports are a major contributor to the country’s economy. Global GAP is the most widely adopted standard for quality assurance of horticultural crops and the use of human sewage sludge is currently not allowed on certified farms. Interviews with stakeholders along the food export chain highlighted the complex interactions that exist between them and showed that Global GAP certified farmers were not willing to use HEDF on their farms even if local regulations recognise treated sludge as a valid input to agriculture. Several countries (like the UK, Sweden, Australia and the USA) created specific certification or assurance schemes to improve public perception of biosolids. The creation of a similar assurance or certification scheme specific to fertilisers made from source-separated human excreta would be a step into formalising them as a product, establishing production procedures, limits on contaminants content as well as testing protocols. Such a certification scheme could increase the confidence of regulating bodies in HEDF and lead to their acceptance by global farming standards.     

Certification and minimum quality standards when some consumers are uninformed

We compare certification to a minimum quality standard (MQS) policy in a duopolistic industry where firms incur quality-dependent fixed costs and only a fraction of consumers observe the quality of the offered goods. Compared to the unregulated outcome, both profits and social welfare would increase if firms could commit to producing a higher quality. An MQS restricts the firms׳ quality choice and leads to less differentiated goods. This fuels competition and may therefore deter entry. A certification policy, which awards firms with a certificate if the quality of their products exceeds some threshold, does not restrict the firms׳ quality choice. In contrast to an MQS, certification may lead to more differentiated goods and higher profits. We find that firms are willing to comply with an ambitious certification standard if the share of informed consumers is small. In that case, certification is more effective from a welfare perspective than a minimum quality standard because it is less detrimental to entry.     

The future of foresight professionals: Results from a global Delphi study

How will foresight practice evolve into the next decade and beyond? How might its supply and demand factors self-organize? In 2012 a real-time Delphi study, entitled, “The Certification of Professional Futurists 2030,” was conducted among 142 experts from 29 countries to debate the forces that might diminish or enhance futures work. The study consisted of 14 projections out to the year 2030, ranging from whether the global futures field might “employ a viable form of certification for professional futurists,” to whether it might “share a common accepted understanding of futures assumptions, theory, methods, knowledge, and ethics.” Panelists identified themselves with various futures associations. This article presents the findings, including where there is dissent and consensus in the futures field over the likelihood, impact and desirability of the professionalization of its practice. Further scale development using factor analysis, ordered by the theory of competitive advantage, produced a scenario model of three market forces: assimilation, academicisation, or certification. The third force of professional certification by 2030 was deemed least likely and less desirable. This wide ranging survey therefore offers the futures field a common conversation protocol to rethink how it might redesign its value chain and differentiate itself against other professions.     

日本发展低碳产品出口贸易的经验及启示

后经济危机时代,低碳产品贸易将成为国际贸易新的增长点。作为较早地实践低碳经济的国家,日本近年来采取了一系列措施发展低碳产品出口贸易,如政府积极地提供财政、信息和外交支持;企业自动地调整出口结构、减少流通环节的碳排放、促进低碳系统的出口以及开展碳足迹认证等;政府和企业之间建立起良好的协力合作机制。中国也应抓住这一机遇,努力促进出口产品向低碳方向转型。但是目前中国发展低碳产品出口贸易仍面临许多障碍,如低碳产品出口的可持续发展能力差,国际低碳产品贸易自由化困难重重等。在克服这些障碍的过程中,可以借鉴日本的经验选择适合本国国情的低碳产品出口贸易发展之路。     

实施生态旅游认证的紧迫性

生态旅游在当今世界旅游业中已成为一个热点，受到各国政府的重视和关心。生态旅游是未来旅游发展的方向。但在我国，进行过生态旅游认证的旅游景点几乎没有。本文在论述有关生态旅游内涵、特征、目标和原则的基础上，指出在我国开展生态旅游认证的紧迫性，并分析开展生态旅游认证对实现人与自然和谐与统一、推动旅游业可持续发展的意义。     

浅析高职高专院校“双师型”教师内涵、特征与认定标准

高等职业教育的培养目标是为生产、建设、管理、服务第一线培养各种应用性人才。它决定了从事高等职业教育的教师不仅需要具有本专业扎实的理论知识和丰富的教学经验,而且必须具有较强的从事本专业实际工作的能力。因此,加强“双师型”师资队伍培养是师资队伍建设的重点。同时,弄清高职院校“双师型”教师内涵与特征,确立适当的认证标准,从而创造出与自身特点相匹配的实现条件与路径,建立一种高职高专“双师型”教师培养的长效机制是一件亟待解决的大事。     

Firm adoption of international standards: evidence from the Ethiopian floriculture sector

Global trade in agriculture and food products is increasingly governed by an array of standards. In order to continue exporting, developing countries have little choice but to comply with the new requirements. This study uses a census based panel data set from the nascent floriculture industry in Ethiopia to empirically examine the determinants of firms’ adoption of international private standards in fresh horticulture produce in large‐scale estate farms. The econometric analysis shows that larger size, older, and foreign owned firms are more likely to adopt the private standards. Moreover, this study analyzes the overall industry level efforts and public–private partnership to launch and implement a national scheme GAP and build a firm's capacity to comply with the standards.     

《旅游教育质量认证体系》及其启示

随着全球旅游业的快速发展以及《服务贸易总协定》的实施,对高素质旅游人才的需求越来越旺盛,旅游教育也越加受到各方的关注和期待。但是现阶段由于各国的文化背景、经济状况和教育质量都不尽相同,旅游教育的质量也大相径庭。世界旅游组织(WTO)为更好地提高旅游教育质量以满足迅速发展的旅游业,制定了《旅游教育质量认证体系》(TedQual Certificacion System)。该文主要就《体系》制订的背景、体系的组成、质量标准的构成及认证的程序作简要的介绍,并就其对中国旅游教育的启示阐述个人的观点。     

森林认证对我国林业产业发展的影响

林业产业是我国国民经济不可或缺的一部分，森林认证的引入不仅会在生态方面影响林业发展。也会在经济方面影响林业产业的发展。论述了森林认证在中国的发展，从林产品贸易、木材非法采伐与贸易、林业产业结构调整、林业产业管理体制与经营机制改革等方面分析了森林认证哥我国林业产业发展可能产生的影响。