Informal ready-to-eat food vending governance in urban Nigeria: Formal and informal lenses guiding the practice.

Informal ready-to-eat food vending is an important, cheap, convenient, accessible and readily available urban food supply sector that has become an increasingly important part of the diets of people in developing cities in Africa and throughout other contexts in the Global South. Over decades, despite challenges associated with health and hygiene, street foods have been informally accepted as part of the urban food supply system, particularly among the urban poor. Despite the importance of street foods to food security and employment needs in urban Nigeria and elsewhere, very little is known about the governance arrangements (whether formal or informal) revolving around their food provisioning practices. The paper explores governance arrangements that steer and shape food provisioning practices in Ibadan, Nigeria. Taking a social practice approach, the paper analyses the interconnections between governance and ready-to-eat food vending practices. It doing so, it draws on insights generated through a qualitative study incorporating in-depth interviews and participant observation methods to understand different governance arrangements revolving around food vending practices. The findings reveal that formal and informal governance structures are jointly steering and shaping practices of informal ready-to-eat food vending. They furthermore highlight the crucial role informal middlemen fulfill in informal food governance chains. These insights provide new avenues for thinking about food governance of urban food supply systems in terms of co-governance between formal and informal actors. They also provide empirical evidence that can aid policy application and implementation on urban food supply systems going forward. The paper concludes by discussing the potential of a co-governance informal food sector framework that recognizes and encompasses the formal-informal nature of the food sector. Such an approach recognizes and involves informal middlemen in the governance of informal ready-to-eat street food vending embedded in a larger framework of food system governance.

Informal ready-to-eat food vending: a social practice perspective on urban food provisioning in Nigeria.

The way people access food in Nigeria is of central relevance for food security, health and sustainability. One key trend is the shift from household-based to primarily out-of-home food consumption as an increasing majority of the urban poor derive their daily nutrient intake from street foods. However, few studies have yet explored the role of the ready-to-eat food vending sector in urban food systems and the diets of the urban poor. This paper investigates the interrelations between these practices and the diversity of food groups provisioned among the urban poor in developing city contexts. A social practice approach is employed to explore differentiation among informal-ready-to-eat food vending practices in the city of Ibadan, Nigeria, in terms of their daily activities, competences and resources. Applied methods include GIS mapping, food log diaries, in-depth interviews and participant observation to map and classify informal-ready-to-eat food vending practices according to the nature of food provisioned and explore the everyday performances of different informal-ready-to-eat food vending practice initiatives and their relation to dietary diversity. The results reveal three key categories among these practices: traditional, processed and unprocessed-with varying levels of diversity in the food groups on offer. Traditional food vendors offer more diversified food compared to processed food vendors and unprocessed food vendors. The results reveal that material infrastructure, cooking bargaining and purchasing skills and nutritional knowledge are key to the diversity of food groups provisioned. The paper concludes by considering the wider relevance of these findings for urban food science and policy.

Improving Vegetable Safety in China: Does Co-Regulation Work?

In the last decade, vegetable safety issues have received growing attention from both consumers and public authorities in China, as vegetable safety hazards pose a serious threat to public health. In 2017, the Industry & Trade Bureau in China implemented a "Market Renovation Program". This program includes the renovation of wholesale and wet markets, the formal registration of all stallholders in these markets and the introduction of a rapid test for pesticides residues. We apply the co-regulation framework to assess the implementation and results of the renovation program on the safety of vegetables. A mixed methods approach is used to investigate the effects of the renovation program. The qualitative study elaborates on the implementation of the renovation program and the behavioural changes of stakeholders in handling vegetables through interviews and field observations. The quantitative results confirm that the renovation program has a positive impact on vegetable safety. In conclusion, this study shows that the key factor for the success of the renovation program is the transition of authority from the local, public authority to the market management.

A capability approach to assess aquaculture sustainability standard compliance.

Sustainability standards are used to assure improved environmental performance in the aquaculture sector. But standard setters face limitations in including a broad range of producers with different capabilities, which in turn reduces their scope and impact. Drawing on Sen's capability approach, we introduce a novel way to assess the extent to which sustainability standards can support the capability of farmers to make prescribed improvements to their production practices. In doing so, we compare four shrimp aquaculture standards (Aquaculture Stewardship Council, Global Aquaculture Alliance, Southeast Asian Shrimp Aquaculture Improvement Protocol and the Thai Agricultural Standard) based on an analysis of what we label the 'prescribed capitals' and 'bundle of capitals' that underpin the compliance capability of producers. The results show that standards narrowly prescribe standards requiring human capital, while there is potential for prescribing a wider bundle of social, financial and physical capitals that can allow more flexible standard compliance. The findings raise the prospect of redesigning sustainability standards to support a broader diversity of producer capabilities and, in turn, increase their overall impact.

Adapting the current mass mobilization approach in Ethiopia to enhance its impact on sustainable land management: Lessons from the Sago-kara watershed.

This paper analyses the effect of an adapted - more participatory and more integrated - mass mobilization training approach on Ethiopian farmers' motivation to practice integrated farming and invest in Sustainable Land Management (SLM). It is based on the results of an experiment carried-out in the Sago-kara watershed in the Central highlands of Ethiopia, in which a group of 26 farmers received an adapted training at the start of the mass mobilization campaign in 2016, which aimed to strengthen farmers' knowledge and awareness about natural resource management, drought mitigation and integrated farm planning. One year later, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected through group discussions, field observations and household surveys. For the before-after comparison we used descriptive statistics to analyze the data; the with-without comparison (with a control group) differences were statistically tested at 1% and 5% probability levels. The results show that the adapted training approach enhanced awareness of farmers, created motivation for integrated farm management and fostered implementation of SLM practices in the field. Most interesting is that farmers who followed the training better plan for drought mitigation and are more aware of the possible effects of drought on their farming activities. The study concludes that the current mass mobilization approach in Ethiopia can have more impact on SLM if it would pay serious attention to: 1) creating awareness on the causes and effects of erosion and drought focusing on sustainability issues, 2) fostering farmers' intrinsic motivation to be good stewards of their land; 3) training in integrated farm planning, and 4) developing farm plans based on farmers' visions for resilient farming. In order to make agricultural extension in Ethiopia more effective, one has to start with capacity building of the rural extension staff in participatory training methods, followed by empowering and motivating farmers for SLM. This will not only lay a foundation for sustainable agriculture and more food security on the farm, but is also crucial for the scaling-up of resilient farming to watershed and landscape levels in Ethiopia.

Food safety and nutrition for low-income urbanites: exploring a social justice dilemma in consumption policy.

Equitable access to healthy food is a critical challenge in urban Asia. Food safety governance promotes modern supermarkets over more traditional markets, but supermarkets are associated with unequal access to food. This study investigates how retail policies driven by food safety impact the diets of the urban poor in Hanoi, Vietnam. We do this by linking food retail infrastructures with the food shopping practices and measured dietary intake of 400 women. Our results reveal sub-optimal dietary diversity and reliance on foods sourced through traditional markets, which do not provide formal food safety guarantees. Modern channels supply formal food safety guarantees, but are mainly frequented for purchasing ultra-processed foods. The paper uncovers a conflicting duality governing food security and suggests that the public responsibility for ensuring access of the poor to nutritious and safe foods requires a more diverse retail policy approach.

Governance of agro-pesticide through private environmental and social standards in the global cut flower chain from Ethiopia.

The international cut flower industry is strongly criticized because of its environmental impacts and unsafe working conditions. Increasing certification of cut flowers is used to improve the growers' environmental and social performance. But what is the impact of this private governance instrument on regulating the use of pesticides? This paper assesses the potential of private certification on governing the environmental and social problems from pesticide use along the global cut flower supply chain. We use detailed farm-level data to analyse the environmental and social impacts of flower certification in Ethiopia by comparing different national and international certification schemes. Our analysis does not show significant differences between these different private standards for most environmental and health and safety variables. The Ethiopian cut flower industry remains far from improving its sustainability performance through private certification. However, certification schemes may enable farmers to have access to international markets and keep up their reputation.

Metagoverning Aquaculture Standards: A Comparison of the GSSI, the ASEAN GAP, and the ISEAL.

The presence of multiple eco-certification standards for sustainable aquaculture is thought to create confusion and add cost for producers and consumers alike. To ensure their quality and consistency, a range of so-called metagovernance arrangements have emerged that seek to provide harmonized quality assurance over these standards. This article aims to answer the question of how these metagovernance arrangements differ and whether they actually reduce confusion, with a focus on aquaculture in Southeast Asia. We compare three metagovernance arrangements, the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative, the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling Alliance, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Good Aquaculture Practices, with respect to differences in their goals, their levels of inclusiveness, and their internal governance arrangement. The findings indicate that these metagovernance arrangements differ with respect to their goals and approaches and do not seem to directly reduce confusion. More critically, they represent a new arena for competition among market, state, and civil society actors in controlling the means of regulation when aiming for more sustainable aquaculture production.

Towards a global environmental sociology? Legacies, trends and future directions.

A current debate on environmental sociology involves how the subdiscipline should conceptualise and investigate the environment and whether it should be prescriptive and deliver policy recommendations. Taking this debate as a point of departure this article discusses the current and future role of sociology in a globalised world. It discusses how environmental sociology in the US and Europe differ in their understandings of sociology's contribution to the study of the environment. Particular stress is placed on how these two regions differ with respect to their use of the tradition of sociological thought, views on what constitutes the environment and ways of institutionalising environmental sociology as a sociological field. In conclusion, the question is raised of whether current versions of environmental sociology are appropriate for analysing a globalised world environment; or whether environmental sociology's strong roots in European and US cultures make it less relevant when facing an increasingly globalised world. Finally, the article proposes some new rules for a global environmental sociology and describes some of their possible implications for the sociological study of climate change.

Le débat actuel sur la sociologie de l'environnement porte sur la façon de conceptualiser et d'examiner l'environnement et sur la nécessité de proposer une approche normative et des recommandations politiques. À partir de ce débat, cet article examine le rôle actuel et futur de la sociologie dans le contexte de la mondialisation. Il analyse dans quelle mesure les recherches sociologiques de l'environnement aux États-Unis et en Europe diffèrent dans leur compréhension de la contribution de la sociologie à l'étude de l'environnement. Un accent particulier est mis sur les différences entre les deux régions pour ce qui concerne leur utilisation de la tradition sociologique, leur vision de la nature de l'environnement et leurs moyens d'institutionnaliser la sociologie de l'environnement en tant que domaine de recherche. En conclusion, ce travail soulève la question de savoir si les approches actuelles de la sociologie de l'environnement sont appropriées à l'analyse de l'environnement mondialisé et si les origines européennes et nord-américaines de la sociologie de l'environnement la rendent moins pertinente dans un contexte de mondialisation croissante. Enfin, cet article propose de nouvelles règles pour une sociologie mondiale de l'environnement et met en évidence les incidences possibles des études sociologiques sur le changement climatique.

Un debate actual sobre la sociología ambiental implica cómo la sub-disciplina debe conceptualizar e investigar el medio ambiente y si debe ser prescriptivo y entregar recomendaciones políticas. Tomando este debate como punto de partida, este trabajo analiza el papel actual y futuro de la sociología en un mundo globalizado. Se discute cómo la sociología ambiental en los EE.UU. y Europa difieren en su comprensión de la contribución de la sociología al estudio del medio ambiente. Se hace hincapié en cómo estas dos regiones difieren con respecto al uso de la tradición del pensamiento sociológico, perspectivas sobre lo que constituye el medio ambiente y las formas de institucionalización de la sociología ambiental como un campo sociológico. En conclusión, se plantea la cuestión de si las versiones actuales de la sociología ambiental son adecuadas para el análisis de un entorno mundial globalizado, o si el fuerte arraigo de la sociología del medio ambiente en las culturas europeas y estadounidenses hacen que sea menos relevante cuando enfrentadas a un mundo cada vez más globalizado. Por último, el trabajo propone algunas nuevas reglas para una sociología del medio ambiente mundial y describe algunas de sus posibles implicaciones para el estudio sociológico del cambio climático.

Environmental systems and local actors: decentralizing environmental policy in Uganda.

In Uganda, environmental and natural resource management is decentralized and has been the responsibility of local districts since 1996. This environmental management arrangement was part of a broader decentralization process and was intended to increase local ownership and improve environmental policy; however, its implementation has encountered several major challenges over the last decade. This article reviews some of the key structural problems facing decentralized environmental policy in this central African country and examines these issues within the wider framework of political decentralization. Tensions have arisen between technical staff and politicians, between various levels of governance, and between environmental and other policy domains. This review offers a critical reflection on the perspectives and limitations of decentralized environmental governance in Uganda. Our conclusions focus on the need to balance administrative staff and local politicians, the mainstreaming of local environmental policy, and the role of international donors.

Market governance for safe food in developing countries: the case of low-pesticide vegetables in Vietnam.

In many developed countries private arrangements have emerged in food governance. Following limited successes of state regulation, market actors and mechanisms are increasingly included in the environmental and safety governance of domestic and global food chains and networks. But do such private governance arrangements also work in domestic markets in developing countries? Pesticide use in vegetable supply is taken as a case to explore the role of market actors and dynamics in food safety governance in Vietnam. The so-called safe vegetable production system in the Red River Delta, introduced 10 years ago as a domestic alternative to conventional vegetable production, is analyzed through detailed monitoring of farmers, surveys of retailers and consumers, and in-depth interviews with state officials and vegetable traders. The paper finds limited success of this low-pesticide vegetable production, distribution and consumption system. This private arrangement in food governance lacked trust from market actors (especially consumers), and was short of an active state that organized transparency and got market actors involved. As such, market governance in food safety needs to be strong.