The expropriation of Natural and Cultural Heritage of Plantationocene: limits of voluntary certification standards of palm oil industry in Ecuador

The actual climate emergency and crisis has posed a serious of significant challenges, one of which pertains to food-related issues, ranging from food security to the impact of the entire food supply chain. To emphasis the socio-environmental impact and the transformation of landscapes caused by the large-scale agro-industrial monoculture plantations, researchers have introduced the neologism Plantationocene. This term underscores how industrial agriculture operates as an extractive practice, displacing local communities, marginalizing smallholders, and exploiting both natural resources and labour. These issues are often addressed through the establishment of sustainability certifications by private governance entities. However, in practice, these certifications primarily serve as tools to obscure the socioenvironmental impacts of plantations from consumers, employing greenwashing practices and deceptive narratives. Additionally, they effectively usurp the role of state governments in land management and monitoring responsibilities. This paper is part of a research on the case of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the most known certification scheme for oil palm. The RSPO has been expanding in Ecuador for approximately a decade and is associated with socio-environmental conflicts, including the case of the Barranquilla de San Javier community in the province of Esmeraldas. Furthermore, it examines the jurisdictional approach pilot project currently being implemented in the Ecuadorian Amazon.