The CERTAIN project examines the ecological, social and economic impact of certification criteria for production systems and the surrounding social-ecological system.

There is a general lack of accountability for the impact of certification criteria on environmental and social parameters, owing to the lack of data with which to evaluate the impact of certification criteria; where impact has been evaluated, there is a lack of a standardized methodological approach, making comparative or more general conclusions difficult.

The pilot project compares four different case studies: IBD certification (a Brazilian organic certification organization), Rainforest Alliance (RA; a certification label), Fairtrade International (FLO; a certification label based on the organization of producers into cooperatives) and The Association of Farmers Solidarity Ecologists of Porto Alegre (AFSE; a cooperative of small-scale producers) to examine how well certification labels and associations/cooperatives inspire consumer confidence and trust.

The project will also create a certification evaluation toolkit to monitor and evaluate activities.

Project team

Cardiff University

University of the West of England