Corporate Social Responsibility in the extractive industries: Experiences from developing countries

This paper introduces a special issue on ‘Corporate Social Responsibility in the extractive industries: experiences from developing countries’. Drawing upon case study analysis from Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, the papers in this issue broaden understanding of how multinational mining and oil and gas companies have embraced the CSR challenge and responded to criticisms of their performance in developing countries. This paper provides an introduction to the debate on CSR in the extractive industries in developing countries, reviewing the key issues examined on this subject to date.     

Corporate Social Responsibility: Exploring a Framework for the Agribusiness Sector

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has long been an issue for research and practice. More recently, in response to growing public scrutiny, it has also gained importance in the agribusiness sector. Research has highlighted a growing gap between public perceptions of farming and food production processes and the realities of modern agriculture and the food industry. This can threaten the reputation and legitimacy of companies operating in this sector. One proactive means for companies to meet societal expectations is to make an active commitment to society and its needs by implementing a CSR policy. However, there is still no clear definition of CSR, and what important stakeholders actually expect from companies remains largely unknown. This paper focuses on consumers’ perception of CSR. Its objective is to explore a CSR policy design for German agribusiness based on Archie B. Carroll’s famous pyramid model. A consumer survey was conducted to evaluate the CSR demands society places on agribusiness companies. An explorative factor analysis was employed to discover the outline of the construct in the German agribusiness context. The results reveal that Carroll’s model, which was developed from a U.S. point of view, cannot be confirmed for German agribusiness. Instead of Carroll’s four responsibility groups, three areas of responsibility were identified: economic, internal and external. These results have manifold implications for CSR strategies in agribusiness firms and represent an important origin for future investigations on CSR in other countries as well as in specific agribusiness subsectors.     

Toward a Conceptual Framework for Blending Social and Biophysical Attributes in Conservation Planning: A Case-Study of Privately-Conserved Lands

There has been increasing recognition within systematic conservation planning of the need to include social data alongside biophysical assessments. However, in the approaches to identify potential conservation sites, there remains much room for improvement in the treatment of social data. In particular, few rigorous methods to account for the diversity of less-easily quantifiable social attributes that influence the implementation success of conservation sites (such as willingness to conserve) have been developed. We use a case-study analysis of private conservation areas within the Little Karoo, South Africa, as a practical example of the importance of incorporating social data into the process of selecting potential conservation sites to improve their implementation likelihood. We draw on extensive data on the social attributes of our case study obtained from a combination of survey questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. We discuss the need to determine the social attributes that are important for achieving the chosen implementation strategy by offering four tested examples of important social attributes in the Little Karoo: the willingness of landowners to take part in a stewardship arrangement, their willingness to conserve, their capacity to conserve, and the social capital among private conservation area owners. We then discuss the process of using an implementation likelihood ratio (derived from a combined measure of the social attributes) to assist the choice of potential conservation sites. We conclude by summarizing our discussion into a simple conceptual framework for identifying biophysically-valuable sites which possess a high likelihood that the desired implementation strategy will be realized on them.     

文化差异对流动人口环保行为的影响研究——基于方言距离的实证分析

方言差异对个体环保行为的影响主要依据是文化认同理论,个体对其所属文化群体的情感认同和身份认知,涵盖了对特定文化传统、价值观、信仰、习惯和语言的深刻认同感。该理论指出,文化认同不仅影响着个体对自我身份的认知,也影响着他们对他人、社会群体,以及整个社会的态度和行为。本研究基于中国综合社会调查(Chinese General Social Survey,CGSS)(2013)数据,使用普通最小二乘法(Ordinary Least Squares,OLS)和调节效应模型分析了方言距离对流动人口环保行为的影响及其作用机制。研究结果表明,方言距离总体上显著降低了流动人口的环保行为,且经过内生性和稳健性检验后,这一研究发现依然成立。异质性分析表明,方言距离降低私域环保行为要比公域环保行为更明显,且方言距离降低短期居住者和听说普通话能力较低者的环保行为也更显著。进一步的机制分析发现,较高的环境污染认知、环境重要性认知以及地区环境规制水平均能显著缓解方言距离对环保行为的负面影响。     

残障游客无障碍旅游环境影响因素的实证研究

为残障人士无障碍旅游创造良好的环境,是旅游业人性化的标志、和谐社会的美好乐章.目前,对无障碍旅游环境的实证研究很少.通过田野调查和网络平台相结合,对残障游客群体进行了问卷调研,发现无障碍的硬件设施设备和旅游软环境因素与残障游客无障碍旅游环境感知的相关程度较高,而残障游客的心理因素影响相对较低.     

Corporate Social Responsibility in Agribusiness: Literature Review and Future Research Directions

Changes in social framework conditions, accelerated by globalization or political inventions, have created new societal demands and requirements on companies. The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is often considered a potential tool for meeting societal demands and criticism as a company voluntarily takes responsibility for society. The spotlight of public attention has only recently come to focus on agribusiness-related aspects of CSR. It is therefore the objective of this paper to provide an overview and a critical examination of the current state of research into CSR in agribusiness from different perspectives. Upon that this paper goals to define CSR special cases in agribusiness and derive implications for further research. CSR in agribusiness is a multi-dimensional and complex concept, which is sensitive to ongoing exchange processes between companies and stakeholders. We conclude with the special position of CSR in agribusiness and that future research should focus on adding value to industry-specific CSR aspects in the general CSR framework borrowed from management literature. Explorative fieldwork such as expert interviews with different stakeholders might be suitable for gaining insights into agribusiness-specific aspects of CSR in firms.     

农用地膜废弃物管理中的生产者责任延伸制探讨

针对农田塑料残膜污染的现状,本文提出在农用塑料地膜废弃物管理中引入生产者责任延伸制,通过确立残膜回收处置的责任主体,解决农田"白色污染".针对塑料地膜的特性,以及影响生产者责任延伸制绩效的一些因素,本文提出通过明晰责任主体和责任边界,以及合理的制度建设,将生产者责任延伸制这一先进理念转化为先进制度,使其在农用地膜废弃物管理中发挥积极作用.     

Reflections on the Growing Influence of Good Agricultural Practices in the Global South

EurepGAP is a pioneering field level food safety protocol called ‘good agricultural practices’ currently exercising influence over the global food quality assurance system. Developed by a consortium of major European retailers, this private standard enforces codes of conduct that address issues of health and safety for producers and consumers, as well as working conditions and environmental management on the farmland. Despite various merits and benefits that the standard is premised to offer, the institutional design gives a financial edge to powerful large farms and exporters while diminishing opportunities for smaller growers and exporters to remain in the profitable agricultural export sector of the Global South. This paper explores the institutional origin and evolution of EurepGAP, discusses entry barriers and risks that EurepGAP imposes on the global value chain stakeholders, as well as the ethical implications from broader theoretical perspectives. Subsequently, it examines the evolving nature of a new trend in the fresh fruit and vegetable sector, i.e., the rise of public GAP standards. Promoted by some governments in the Global South, these GAP standards emphasize support for horizontal partnerships among value chain stakeholders, farmer participation, and less capital-intensive agricultural innovations. The paper argues that, within certain limitations, these GAP standards have the potential to be the major alternative GAP approach by encouraging a much broader inclusion of small-scale producers towards the attainment of various social, economic, and environmental benefits.     

Multiple Benefits of Carbon-Friendly Agricultural Practices: Empirical Assessment of Conservation Tillage

This study empirically estimates the multiple benefits of a subsidy policy that would offer payments to farmers in return for the adoption of conservation tillage, and compares the outcomes of alternative targeting designs for such a policy. The least-cost incentive payment policy schemes are simulated for the State of Iowa by using the data for roughly 12,000 National Resource Inventory (NRI) points. We use an economic conservation tillage adoption model to evaluate the costs of adoption and a physical process simulation model (EPIC) to estimate the environmental benefits due to adoption at each of the NRI points.Two targeting options are considered. We assess the costs and environmental consequences of a practice-based policy instrument (which maximizes the acres of land in conservation tillage, regardless of its level of environmental benefits) and contrast it to a performance-based instrument (which yields the highest amount of environmental benefits per dollar spent). Carbon sequestration in agricultural soils, reduction of soil erosion by wind and water, and the reduction in nitrogen runoff are considered as possible targets for the performance-based instruments. We find that the practice-based instrument provides high proportions of the four benefits relative to the policies that target the benefits directly, especially at the higher policy budget levels. Similarly, we estimate that targeting one of the four benefits individually provides high percentages of the other benefits as compared with the amounts of the benefits obtainable if they were targeted directly.     

宝山区农用土壤中重金属的监测与评价

在研究的8种重金属元素中,Cd、Cr、Cu、Pb、Zn、Ni的平均值都超过上海市土壤背景值,但均低于国家土壤环境二级标准。与上海优质农产地环境标准相比较,重金属含量平均值超过标准的有Cr、Pb、Zn,但研究区土壤中8种重金属含量的平均值均低于绿色食品产地环境技术条件和无公害食品产地环境技术条件。宝山区7个城镇农业土壤按多因子潜在生态危害指数评价,庙行镇的生态风险指数最高,月浦镇的生态风险指数最低。从宝山区农田土壤重金属含量的整体情况来看:多因子潜在生态评价值为119.08,宝山区农田土壤达到轻微生态危害。     

Assessing the Effectiveness of Winter Cover Crops for Controlling Agricultural Nutrient Losses

A nutrient loss reduction strategy is necessary to guide the efforts of improving water quality downstream of an agricultural watershed. In this study, the effectiveness of two winter cover crops, namely cereal rye and annual ryegrass, is explored as a loss reduction strategy in a watershed that ultimately drains into a water supply reservoir. Using a coupled optimization-watershed model, optimal placements of the cover crops were identified that would result in the tradeoffs between nitrate-N losses reduction and adoption levels. Analysis of the 10%, 25%, 50%, and 75% adoption levels extracted from the optimal tradeoffs showed that the cover crop placements would provide annual nitrate-N loss reductions of 3.0%–3.7%, 7.8%–8.8%, 15%–17.5%, and 20.9%–24.3%, respectively. In addition, for the same adoption levels (i.e., 10%–75%), sediment (1.8%–17.7%), and total phosphorus losses (0.8%–8.6%) could be achieved. Results also indicate that implementing each cover crop on all croplands of the watershed could cause annual water yield reduction of at least 4.8%, with greater than 28% in the months of October and November. This could potentially be detrimental to the storage volume of the downstream reservoir, especially in drought years, if cover crops are adopted in most of the reservoir's drainage area. Evaluating water yield impacts, particularly in periods of low flows, is thus critical if cover crops are to be considered as best management practices in water supply watersheds.     

论农资产品的使用对新疆农业生态环境的影响

从农业生产、农业生态及环境保护等角度,对农药、化肥和农膜三大农资产品在农业生产中的作用及负面效应进行了分析。认为在现代农业生产中的农药、化肥和农膜具有不可替代的作用。在相当长的一段时间内、这些农资产品的应用是不可能摈弃的。但其负面效应也是不可忽视的。尤其是对农业生态环境的影响。应采取一切行之有效的措施消除或消弱其不利影响。     

A Social Analysis of the Bioinvasions of Dreissena polymorpha in Spain and Hydrilla verticillata in Guatemala

Human agency plays a key role in the processes of biological invasions. This comprises not only the human role in the configuration of driving forces or in the perception of the impacts, but also the conceptualization of alien species themselves as an environmental problem. This paper examines different stakeholders' positions in bioinvasion processes at different scales, and it looks at their relevance for the management of invasive species. It compares two cases: the invasion process of Dreissena polymorpha in the Ebro River in Spain and the case of Hydrilla verticillata in Lake Izabal, Guatemala. Our results are structured according to impacts and to management options. The discussion focuses on the relevance of incorporating the different stakeholders' interests and values in the analysis and management of biological invasions. Although social analysis of stakeholders' positions is necessary in order to foster management actions, it also reveals conflicts on the relevant criteria and on the very definition of invasive species.     

Corporate Social Responsibility and development in Africa: Redefining the roles and responsibilities of public and private actors in the mining sector

This paper revisits the role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), suggesting the usefulness of adopting a holistic and historical perspective. It underlines the importance of taking into account the evolving regulatory frameworks within which mining activities take place in order to consider the changing roles played by the various actors involved, whether multilateral, national or local, public or private. In this broad context it then becomes possible to revisit issues of legitimacy, responsibility, and accountability, which CSR strategies aim to address. The article draws attention to the shortcomings of strategies, whether bilateral or multilateral, public or private, which, in an attempt to respond to problems of risk and legitimacy faced by mining companies, have put forward measures in the name of CSR that do not address the origins that give rise to such problems and, in so doing, tend to mask the very nature of the difficulties at hand. The analysis leads to quite different conclusions as compared to those that result from the adoption of a shorter term and investment-led perspective.     

公众参与对区域环境治理绩效影响机制的实证研究

本文利用2011—2015年我国省际面板数据,通过主成分分析法构造区域环境污染指标以衡量区域环境治理绩效,进而建立面板数据模型,实证分析了三种公众环境参与方式(即投诉上访、献言建策和自媒体舆论)对区域环境治理绩效的直接和间接影响,以期为构建政府—企业—公众多元共治的环境治理体系提出建议。实证结果表明,我国公众环境参与对提升区域环境治理绩效有一定的积极作用,自媒体舆论对区域环境治理绩效的直接影响最大。同时,我国公众主要是通过参与并监督政府环境行政规制提升区域环境治理绩效,在参与地方政府环境法律政策的制定和实施,以及驱动地方政府环保资金投入方面尚有不足。因此,本文提出提升区域环境治理绩效的三点建议:创建公众环境参与政法平台,健全公众环境参与自媒体方式,增加环境治理的环保投资。     

Agricultural land evaluation and site assessment in the United States: An introduction

The US Soil Conservation Service has developed an agricultural land evaluation and site assessment (LESA) system. The LESA system is being used by the US Department of Agriculture and other federal agencies to implement the Farmland Protection Policy Act of 1981. The LESA system and three case studies from the Pacific North-west are introduced in this article.Scientific Paper no. 7166, College of Agriculture and Home Economics Research Paper. Washington State University, Pullman, Washington. Project no. 0010.     

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for exploration: Consultants,companies and communities in processes of engagements

Over the last fifteen years, large-scale mining companies have started engaging in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), with the aim of contributing to developing local communities affected by their operations. Large-scale mining companies, together with the World Bank, have formulated voluntary principles and benchmarks to guide these company–community relations. Recently, it has been argued that CSR is also crucial in the early stages of exploration. Nowadays, mining consultants propagate a process approach to company–community relations, from early exploration to post-mining planning.