Voluntary sustainability standards offer potential for sustainable development by improving the livelihoods of smallholder cash crop farmers while conserving biodiversity. However, their overall implications remain poorly understood, as studies have mostly focused on assessing their effects on...

The world food and non-food needs are expected to increase from 2005/2007 to 2050 by 60 percent, raising concerns on how this demand will be fulfilled sustainably (Le Mouël and Forslund, 2017). To cope with this increase in demand, the agricultural sector faces an essential decision between...

This dissertation explores the relationship between sustainable food consumerism and mental models. A special focus is placed on the concepts of spirituality and mindfulness as they inform and alter the mental processing of stimuli. The guiding study questions are: (1) Which mental models and...

In the Global South, livelihood environmentalism of the poor contrasts with alleged absence of environmental concern in the emerging middle classes. We present survey evidence from India suggesting that individuals abandoning farming and advancing to middle income still retain influence of past...

Sustainability standards such as Fairtrade, UTZ, and Rainforest Alliance have recently gained importance in global value chains, with some of the major tropical commodities seeing significant increases in the share of their certified area in the last ten years. This trend is directly related to...

This study evaluates the effects of two environmental policy instruments on the adoption of native tree planting in oil palm plantations. The first instrument is an information campaign on tree planting in oil palm. The second instrument combines the information campaign with a structural...

Increasing food demand will most likely be met with agricultural intensification and land clearing, exacerbating environmental consequences associated with food supply. The mechanisms and trade-offs between agriculture and the environment are heterogeneous and not well understood, yet key to...