The role of hybrid governance in supporting deforestation-free trade

Abstract

The effectiveness of commitments to zero-deforestation remains debated. An overlooked aspect is the mixture of private and public policies. We study its potential with the concept of hybrid governance applied to two case studies: mandatory FSC certification for forest concessionaires in Gabon and the National Strategy against Imported Deforestation in France. We find that hybrid governance provides flexibility to adapt to shifting sustainability concerns and can enable public and private features to mutually compensate for their respective weaknesses. Hybrid governance experiments may only be transitory to give way to stronger public policies as illustrated by Gabon. The France case shows that the integration of voluntary private standards in public policies remains sensitive. Overall, we show that hybrid governance should not resort to a mere accumulation of private and public components; a real dialogue between both spheres is required. Such a dialogue can take place before or after hybrid governance materialises as illustrated by the two case studies, which suggests that it should not be taken for granted but can be a positive outcome of the process. The ways through which economic and business aspects, as well as political ones, shape hybrid governance appear to be diverse and not straightforward.