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- Convenors:
-
Filipe Calvao
(Graduate Institute of Geneva)
Matthew Archer (Maastricht University)
Matthieu Bolay (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies)
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- Discussant:
-
Stefano Ponte
(Copenhagen Business School)
- Stream:
- Social Anthropology
- Location:
- Appleton Tower, Seminar Room 2.06
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 12 June, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
This panel discusses the future of certification initiatives in mineral and agricultural supply chains in Africa. With the growing role of digital traceability and blockchain initiatives, how to ensure new modes of connection and inclusiveness between African producers and consumers in the North?
Long Abstract:
Africa has been at the forefront of certification initiatives for traceability and transparency in mineral and agricultural supply chains. Presented as the silver bullet to the problem of record-keeping in commodity transactions, the growing role of paperless certification and digital-based traceability, as in recent blockchain-based pilot projects, raises questions on the participatory nature of data creation for producers across the continent. If these initiatives render ethical qualities visible to consumers, who rely on certification standards like those developed by the Kimberly Process and the Rainforest Alliance to assess the moral attributes of consumer goods, the move toward digital traceability raises specific challenges for African producers.
It is now widely accepted among social scientists that processes of certification and the bureaucratic regimes that accompany them have tended to increase the divide between producers and consumers, replacing personal relationships by the mediation of paper technologies. Digital traceability and transparency programs, however, promise to strengthen the interconnections between regulated market economies and the marginalized realities of local producers. How can these new technologies and digital interfaces generate new modes of interaction and connection between African producers and consumers in the North? How to ensure open, inclusive, and collaborative certification?
This panel problematizes these innovations by placing at center stage the social context, practices and the material bedrock bolstering digital transparency, certification and traceability mechanisms. We invite papers that examine how emergent technologies of certification may foster transactional relationships or enable new value-creating opportunities for local producers.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 12 June, 2019, -Paper short abstract:
This paper analyzes the emerging discourse about digital technologies among corporate sustainability and sustainable development practitioners in the context of certified Kenyan tea.
Paper long abstract:
There is an emerging discourse within multinational corporations, sustainability standards organizations, certification bodies, and development agencies that sees digital technologies as a promising way to address social and environmental concerns in the Kenyan tea industry. Blockchain, for instance, is seen as promoting traceability and is described by proponents as democratic and transparent. Surveillance drones are described as a way to monitor labor conditions on farms and check for violations of environmental regulations regarding pesticide and fertilizer use, while online trading platforms are being embraced as a way to mitigate price volatility.
This paper draws on interviews with people working in multinational corporations, sustainability standards organizations, and certification bodies, focusing specifically on the Kenyan tea industry. It describes the way African commodity chains are seen as poorly governed, and how new technologies such as blockchain and digital trading platforms are seen as the most promising solution to what Western analysts regard as social and environmental unsustainability. I situate this discourse in two intertwined political economic trajectories: ecological modernism (and its fixation on technological fixes) and (post)colonial attempts to control the flow of resources and capital into and out of sub Saharan Africa.
Paper short abstract:
This paper documents initiatives of the gold refinery industry that seek to track and trace gold "from mine to market" and discusses digital technologies' effects of inclusion and exclusion in setting up traceable and "ethical" gold.
Paper long abstract:
The expansion of gold mining in West and Central Africa has been widely documented in recent years. Yet, the downstream of the gold supply chain, across which a great variety of production networks merge, tend to be overlooked. The refinery industry plays a key role in this process by conflating technical procedures, certification schemes, and by acting as a catalyst for trade, thus linking production networks with the consumption side of the chain. Because of this position, refiners are increasingly expected to act diligently and to be accountable for labour and environmental issues upstream in the production process.
This paper documents industry initiatives that seek to track and trace gold "from mine to market", to evaluate upstream social and environmental "risks", and upon which a more inclusive distribution of wealth might be envisioned. Based on preliminary fieldwork with actors of the refinery and trade sector, it questions practices of red-flagging and discusses the deemed benefits of digital technologies in setting up traceable and "ethical" gold. In particular, the paper looks at effects of inclusion and exclusion at play in making labour and land ethical objects.
Paper short abstract:
This paper uses a framework on first- and second-tier 'proxy' accountability in ethical minerals and timber standards to study whether and how new technologies may ensure higher accountability towards affected communities.
Paper long abstract:
The United States and the European Union recently introduced mandatory 'due diligence' checks on importers of potential 'conflict' minerals, especially from the DR Congo. Timber-importing companies face similar regulatory requirements regarding illegal logging in their supply chains. These policies stand for a new 'accountability by proxy', i.e. importing countries holding industries accountable on behalf of affected communities in exporting countries. In response to these new policies, many private certification initiatives emerged (e.g. ITRI's Tin Supply Chain Initiative and the Rainforest Alliance's SmartWood). While digital technologies allow these initiatives to improve outcome transparency (second-tier accountability), there has been little consideration for the design of institutions (first-tier accountability). As a result, these proxy arrangements are prone to generating 'ethical' standards deviating significantly from those preferred by affected communities.
Against the backdrop of current research debates, the paper develops a framework on first- and second-tier 'proxy' accountability with a particular focus on new technologies. Using this framework, we first study the use of digital technologies in private mineral and timber initiatives, based on document analysis. Second, we conduct semi-structured interviews with stakeholders in the DR Congo in order to understand whether and how digital technologies may ensure more inclusive and collaborative procedures, as well as higher accountability towards affected communities.