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Certifying the Commons: Eco-Certification, Privatization, and Collective Action

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dc.contributor.author Foley, Paul
dc.contributor.author McCay, Bonnie
dc.date.accessioned 2014-08-04T18:03:21Z
dc.date.available 2014-08-04T18:03:21Z
dc.date.issued 2014 en_US
dc.identifier.uri https://hdl.handle.net/10535/9450
dc.description.abstract "We examine new dynamics of privatization and collective action in common pool resource situations facilitated by the nonstate multistakeholder institutions of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), the global leader in sustainability certification for wild caught seafood. Through a review of the literature and two case studies of fishing cooperatives in Baja California Sur, Mexico and on Fogo Island in the Canadian Province of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), we advance two interrelated arguments. First, certification and eco-labeling institutions privatize fisheries governance in largely unexamined ways through the injection of new forms of exclusive rights or privileges into common pool resource situations already complicated by access and property privileges, creating conditions for confusion and conflict as well as cooperation. Second, the MSC whole stock definition of sustainability places greater demands on certification clients for engaging in collective action by encouraging coordination over all social extractions from targeted fish stocks. Although rules encouraging collective action in common pool situations militate against the narrow private capture of certificate and eco-label rights, they also undermine the ability of small-scale and community-based fisheries that are embedded in larger unhealthy fishery contexts to acquire the right to the MSC stamp of sustainability. We conclude that MSC certification and eco-labeling create new institutions of private property rights and collective action, which can result in exclusionary practices, inclusionary collective action, or both. Much will depend on the specific common pool context and history of the fishery." en_US
dc.language English en_US
dc.subject collective action en_US
dc.subject common pool resources en_US
dc.subject commons en_US
dc.subject cooperatives en_US
dc.subject fisheries en_US
dc.subject governance and politics en_US
dc.subject property rights en_US
dc.subject sustainability en_US
dc.subject privatization en_US
dc.title Certifying the Commons: Eco-Certification, Privatization, and Collective Action en_US
dc.type Journal Article en_US
dc.type.published published en_US
dc.type.methodology Case Study en_US
dc.coverage.region Central America & Caribbean en_US
dc.coverage.region North America en_US
dc.coverage.country Mexico, Canada en_US
dc.subject.sector General & Multiple Resources en_US
dc.identifier.citationjournal Ecology and Society en_US
dc.identifier.citationvolume 19 en_US
dc.identifier.citationnumber 2 en_US
dc.identifier.citationmonth June en_US


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