Research Tomaso Ferrando

Abstract

In June 2023, the European Union (EU) introduced the EU Deforestation-Free Products Regulation (EUDR) with the aim to reduce the EU's contribution to global deforestation and forest degradation by securing 'deforestation-free supply chains' of seven commodities being imported from outside the EU or exported to third countries. Operators and traders were given 18 months to implement the regulation, with its requirements entering into force on 30 December 2024. Hence, in the forthcoming years, all actors involved in its implementation will have to grasp and address the complex interactions within global value chains and the related socio-legal dynamics, leaving considerable space for interpretation, adaptation and redefinition. The research project contributes in a unique and timely manner to the fields of business and human rights and critical legal studies on commodity chains. It does so by researching and connecting jurisdictions at two extremes of the coffee and soy value chains, and enriching the traditional legal approach with the empirical analysis of how telecoupling dynamics materialise in these chains that link Brazil and Belgium. In particular, the project will collect new and currently unavailable knowledge on: a) the implementation of the EUDR in Belgium; b) the resulting changes in socio-legal territorial dynamics in Brazil; and c) on the opening (or not) of new legal spaces for corporate intra-value chain accountability.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ferrando Tomaso
• Fellow: Reid Ysaline

Research team(s)

• Law and Development

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The introduction of new genomic technologies (NGT) in the EU has recently been supported by the presentation of a legislative proposal by the European Commission. In the area of food systems, it appears evident that they are considered to be a key pillar for the future, with the Commission, EU parties and some areas of the private sector presenting this technological step as the solution to most problems (productivity, adaptation to climate change, resilience, hunger, etc.). However, this rapid evolution has often outpaced the regulatory structures in place, creating gaps, ambiguities, and uncertainties that must be understood and addressed to ensure ethical and equitable use (or non-use). As the normalization of these technologies seem to be irreversible, it becomes therefore critical to generate a deep understanding of the way in which the regulatory frameworks have been changing and of the way in which law and regulations are considering the internalization of possible negative externalities, what questions are asked and how different legal frameworks are deployed to engaged with NGTs, their adaptation and their governance. However, this outcome transcends the boundaries of the present project, its length and budget.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ferrando Tomaso

Research team(s)

• Law and Development

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The climate emergency is a reality. Climate change impacts are expected to intensify over the 21st century no matter what emissions reduction scenario. Communities in low-lying coastal areas, particularly in small island developing states (SIDS) are facing an existential risk to livelihoods from compounded climate challenges: extreme weather events and slow on-set (sea level rise). The most urgent question for policy and decision-makers is on the future and long-term (un)habitability of these coastal areas and the possibility of retreat and relocation. Life beyond the point of 'no-return' under climate change requires ground-rooted research on challenges linked to the historical ties to land, culture and risk perception, social acceptability of adaptation, land tenure and compensation. Empirical studies are needed to bring the voices of the communities at the forefront of climate change and habitability issues, in order to inform local-to-national and international adaptation policy and the design of compensation tools for non-economic losses associated with relocation. This project uses multi-disciplinary methods in two case studies (Anguilla and Barbuda) to support radical shifts in adaptation studies and implementation that is based on bottom up approaches for co-designing adaptation pathways where coastal retreat and relocation go hand-in-hand with community empowerment, ownership and the fulfillment of fundamental rights.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ferrando Tomaso
• Fellow: Anisimov Ariadna

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Globalized trade depends on the possibilities for companies, people and countries to be connect with each other and constantly exchange goods. In 2019, 811 million Tons Equivalent Units of containers were handled in ports worldwide. This represented a global growth of 2 per cent compared to the previous year, confirming the expansionist trend of the last two decades. Container ports are essential knots of the global economy and have been the object of academic studies from different perspectives (global value chain management, technological innovation, business development, tax law). What is often forgotten, is that container ports not only forge global connections, but also local and material connections with urban spaces, sites of production, land use, air quality, workers' lives, etc. Moving from shore to land, this proposal departs from existing legal literature on container ports as global actors and casts light on container ports as local-global socio-legal constructions with a significant local and global impact. Through a combination of desk-based research and the empirical study of five of the largest ports in the world (Shanghai, Antwerp, Buenaventura, Tanger and Los Angeles), the research will generate a unique qualitative and quantitative understanding of the ports as complex socio-legal spaces whose governance structure, regulatory frameworks, sustainability commitments and political processes may have significant implications on multiple localities.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ferrando Tomaso

Research team(s)

• Law and Development

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Context: The conversion of natural ecosystems for agricultural land use and minerals' extraction is one of the main drivers of global biodiversity loss. At the same time, deforestation and forest degradation in the tropics is the second largest source of global greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. Despite the scientific evidence about agriculture and mining as major threats to biodiversity and the global climate, the frontiers of global value chains continue to be expanded into tropical forests, causing deforestation, forest degradation and biodiversity loss. The planetary organization of value chains is part of the problem: it intensifies the need for meat and minerals, increases the distance between the locations of extraction and production, and places of processing and final consumption. This telecoupling disconnects spaces of consumption with the local socio-ecological impacts of production. In the last years, consumers, governments and companies based in the EU are increasingly looking for solutions to address environmental and social externalities of imported commodities such as meat and minerals. This renewed sensitivity has led to new regulations (e.g., the EU FLEGT), but also transnational corporations to adopt best practices guidelines and certification schemes (e.g., Fairmined). Main objectives and methodology: EPICC applies a polycentric governance and environmental justice approach to investigate four selected commodity chains (cattle, palm oil, gold and tin) that 'feed' the European market. EPICC seeks to map the governance and power links that connect the multiple territories of production and transformation and their plural legal systems with the European regulatory, political and socio-economic space. By doing so, EPICC identifies and analyzes leverage points (chokeholds) and blind spots, and sheds light on the micro and macro conditions that may facilitate the mitigation of environmental and social impacts that occur at the selected locations of production (in Brazil, Colombia and Indonesia). Potential impact: EPICC will contribute to the production of new bottom-up and co-constructed multidisciplinary scientific knowledge about the interactions between transnational commodity chains reaching the EU, climate change, social and biological diversity loss and territorial ecological injustices. It will challenge the geographical and disciplinary sylos in which loss of social and environmental diversity and climate change are often put. It will study them through the lenses of the complex set of material and immaterial relationships that exist between the local and the global economy, their institutions, actors and interactions (including through the regulations, legislations and private interventions that are undertaken by the EU and EU actors such as NGOs, civil society organizations and THE private actors) It will enrich mainstream governance studies with a political ecology, ecological justice and transnational value chains perspective. It will bring to light the interconnectivity of decision making, from global to local, so that policies and interventions at all levels of the chain are defined by a locally rooted, ecologically just, complex and multi-disciplinary understanding that what happens on the ground is connected with the network of private actors, institutions and power dynamics that shape, govern and operate within the value chains.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ferrando Tomaso
• Co-promoter: Kolinjivadi Vijay Krishnan
• Co-promoter: Van Hecken Gert

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Context: The conversion of natural ecosystems for agricultural land use and minerals' extraction is one of the main drivers of global biodiversity loss. At the same time, deforestation and forest degradation in the tropics is the second largest source of global greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. Despite the scientific evidence about agriculture and mining as major threats to biodiversity and the global climate, the frontiers of global value chains continue to be expanded into tropical forests, causing deforestation, forest degradation and biodiversity loss.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ferrando Tomaso
• Co-promoter: Kolinjivadi Vijay Krishnan
• Co-promoter: Van Hecken Gert

Research team(s)

• Law and Development

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The compound effect between food inflation and skyrocketing energy markets has been disastrous for the European population. Especially for the groups already at the margins. According to a Joint Research Council study of December 2022, "rising living costs between August 2021 and August 2022 have increased material and social deprivation by around 2 percentage points at the EU level and up to 6 percentage points in selected Member States. The corresponding effects on absolute monetary poverty are considerably larger, and amount to 4.4 percentage points on average and up to 19 percentage points at the national level." Inevitably, high inflation and high food prices have rapidly contributed to the intensification of already existing conditions of food poverty and insecurity, but also added hundreds of thousands of new people to the group of food insecure across the continent. At this time of crisis, some large corporations within our food system that trade, process, and produce food – similar to corporations in the energy sector – have recorded record profits and disbursed large payouts to their shareholders. Exceptionally large profits in a time of crisis have been met with accusations of greed and profiteering. At the same time, higher food prices paid by producers have not materialised in the same increase in profits earned by farmers as higher costs of production have eradicated large parts of the gains made in revenues. This raises the question who benefits from the current crisis, and which structures are enabling these players to benefit. The answer lies in a combination of market concentration, power, and corporate strategy as well as an increasing interconnectedness between food and financial systems that characterises our current food system. This report demonstrates that high profits in times of crisis are not an exceptional or isolated incidence or a consequence of the actions of a few 'misbehaving' or 'unethical' large corporations, but a symptom of a highly dysfunctional and vulnerable food system on which we rely. While the weaknesses of our food system tend to receive political attention only during times of high prices, we argue that policy makers must move away from the focus on external shocks – such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine – and focus on the structures that produce and reproduce these vulnerabilities to shocks and the internal fallacies of the global food system, in order to understand the current as well as past food price crises.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ferrando Tomaso

Research team(s)

• Law and Development

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

- Support of GLAN internal team in the Development and implementation of a holistic legal strategy for the specific case of Barbuda. - Support of GLAN internal team in the identification of an 'evidence collection' strategy and the best way to move it forward. - Support of GLAN internal team in the definition and initiation of litigation at the national level (Antigua and Barbuda) and – possibly – at the transnational level outside of Antigua and Barbuda. - Provision of legal inputs to the International campaign and legal advocacy strategy - Provision of contacts and networks for the development of a transnational legal actions against similar developments in the Caribbean. Kick-off of the conversation with other possible partners for GLAN.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ferrando Tomaso

Research team(s)

• Law and Development

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

In the context of political, environmental and social precarity as well as resistance, the project Disaster Capitalism in the Caribbean Region: Networking, Sharing and Learning from Community Responses, supported by a 2022 grant from the Open Society Foundations aims to share the stories and experiences of regional grass root organizations' experiences with disaster capitalism at varying scales. The project builds on previous work from the 2020 UK Global Challenges Research Funded, (GCRF) Food Insecurity at the Time of Climate Change project that was led by the Bristol University, with Principal Investigator Dr Jessica Paddock. The GCRF project unified four academic /university partners and 5 grassroots civil society organizations across five Caribbean countries, namely Barbuda, Belize, Colombia, Jamaica and Puerto Rico, to share experiences on food insecurity and climate change. This fostered the creation of a regional community and website, Stronger Caribbean Together, to strengthen grassroots organizations' efforts to address food insecurity and climate issues (https://strongercaribbeantogether.org/). The previous project which ended March 2022, also enabled grassroots organizations to identify connections between their problems and provide pathways towards solutions. Overall, our current project, proposes dialogue and knowledge exchange between non-state actors to empower and equip organizations to challenge local disaster capitalism projects and policies. The international exchange of ideas from multiple partners across the region to share experiences not only unifies the region but also allows locals in the region to identify political patterns that are often construed as exceptions (Bethell-Bennett & Furst, 2021). With this project we seek to expand the current network of partners to twenty grassroots organizations across the region and fill 3 gaps, namely: 1. The lack transnational network; 2. The lack of digital space for knowledge and information sharing and 3. The limited access to legal advocacy and support. The project will thus share the stories and experiences of our project partners and make them easily accessible online for additional support. And, it will provide them with access to international actors operating around legal advocacy and legal support, namely through the Global Legal Actors Network (GLAN), the Climate Litigation Accelerator (CLX) and Freedom Imaginaries (FI). Through these means we wish to help amplify the voices of the project partners and build bridges to additional support for their struggles.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ferrando Tomaso

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

In the 2020 Farm to Fork strategy, the European Commission recognises that the current EU food system is characterized by significant economic, social and environmental externalities. In particular, small-scale farmers and SMEs receive a very limited percentage of the value generated, nature is degraded and consumers have no access to healthy food. In the last years, alternative, short and fair food chains have been proposed as a solution to the social and environmental weaknesses of the conventional food system. However, academic research has showed that these business models often face significant struggles: they often rely on volunteer work; they can hardly scale up; they tend to cater a small group of wealthy consumers. Our project recognizes the need to bring together academic and non-academic expertise to go beyond these bottlenecks and support the establishment of financially, socially and environmentally resilient North-North food chains. With the support of two post-doc researchers hired 50%, the work of two internationally known non-governmental organizations operating in the area of fair and ethical trade (Fair Trade Advocacy Office and World Fair Trade European Union) and four privileged Belgian stakeholders (Flanders' Food, Fairtrade Belgium, The trade for development centre and Belgium Fair Trade Federation), we analyse and assess the potential and limits of existing alternative, sustainable and fair European short-food chains. During the two years, we us stakeholders meetings, desk-based research and qualitative analyses to valorise existing solutions, identify new ones and offer guidance both on how to integrate local, sustainable and fair food into larger food chains and on how to scale up while being financially resilient, fair, sustainable and accessible. In the long-term, the project sets the bases for a research/action international consortium to be consolidated through the two years of the project and the drafting of at least one proposal for a large European grant (Horizon Europe) or a larger SBO IOF grant.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ferrando Tomaso

Research team(s)

• Law and Development

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Describe how BIO operates today and explain how today's structure, strategic mandate, governance, risk management policy and accountability mechanisms differ from those that were in place in 2012 when the DBTFP report was issued; Mapping the projects funded by BIO in the areas of agriculture and climate, Assessing BIO's farming and climate strategy in general and in the specific context of the two case studies that will be selected; Formulating recommendations and indications of possible interventions.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ferrando Tomaso
• Co-promoter: De Feyter Koen

Research team(s)

• Law and Development

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

I propose to conduct unique, multidisciplinary research to the content, scope, and construction of the Chinese version of sustainability, by focusing on the experience of the legal and institutional framework produced by 'Ecological Civilisation' (EC). It fits into the traditions of Law & Society and Law in Context. EC has been promoted in the last years by the Chinese government as a new and alternative way of looking at the relationship between nature and humanity in the context of the Paris Agreement on climate change. China as an ecological civiliser will project attitudes towards the states, society, and species, and eventually create laws, institutions, and social realities that fit these attitudes. I will focus on the legal dimension of EC in ordinary life and empirically unfold the struggles and contradictions that accompany its installation. To achieve this goal, I will conduct fieldwork in Jiangsu Province, observing trials and interviewing people. Based on this survey, I will identify (1) the holistic and hierarchical view regarding the State, society, and nature, (2) the de facto mechanism of multicentric governance, and (3) the urgent need of adapting national laws to local realities. This research will apply methods inspired by Law in Context and Bourdieu's sociology, with the support of the multidisciplinary approach of Law Faculty and the IOB at the UAntwerp.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ferrando Tomaso
• Fellow: Zhu Mingzhe

Research team(s)

• Law and Development

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

For the Greater Caribbean states - especially Small Island Developing States (SIDS) - climate change is re-shaping the relationship between land and people. Recent storms have wiped out the entire sugar cane production of Cuba, banana plantations in Jamaica, St Lucia and Dominica, and decimated nutmeg exports from Grenada, while the decrease in rainfall has in some cases destroyed entire food crops. Furthermore, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) - a grouping of twenty countries in the region - states that over 90% of its food is imported, which makes them vulnerable to sudden economic, political, and environmental shocks, wherein their food supplies can be suspended for indeterminable periods of time, making this region food insecure. The partnership explores community-based food systems land natural resources management by bringing together academics, communities and stakeholders from five countries of the Greater Caribbean. The aim is to enhance existing research, contribute to the co-production and exchange of knowledge, and contribute to the identification of bottom-up community-led practices as the most effective ways of addressing the interconnected challenges of food insecurity and climate change in the region.This is an urgent initiative. Climate change is shaping anew the everyday lives of current and future generations, both locally and globally, for land and natural processes upon which its productivity depends are being degraded. For people in the Caribbean region - especially in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) –vulnerability to the effects of climate change is particularly significant: extreme weather, biodiversity loss, unpredictable/low productivity of agricultural lands, limited access to land, safe water and increased dependency upon trade to meet food needs further compound the effects of poverty. Yet, their voices, experiences, histories, knowledge and approaches to climate change and food (in)security are often excluded from academic and political considerations. The countries we will work with have a range of community based practice we will learn from and enhance the role of this knowledge in local policy making. The project is structured around a partnership between academics and community organizations based in Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Colombia, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. They are the McChesney George Secondary School in Antigua and Barbuda; the Library of African and Indigenous Studies in Belize; the Raizal Youth Organisation in the Archipelago de San Andres, Colombia; the Bernard Lodge Farmer's Association in Jamaica; the Fidecomiso of the Caño Martín Peña Community Land Trust in Puerto Rico. All the partners lead agricultural, legal, cultural and educational projects that focus around climate change, food and land use with strong community participation. All the project partners have already worked with at least one of the applicants on issues closely connected with this proposal and have established strong relationships with them. Yet, with the exception to the partners in Barbuda and Puerto Rico, the other partners have never had the chance to meet and establish a dialogue.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ferrando Tomaso

Research team(s)

• Law and Development

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Sustainable and just food systems can combat climate change, regenerate ecosystems and provide affordable nutrients, decent jobs, and educated consumers. However, the EU agri-food sector and the global supply chains that feed EU consumers are characterized by an unequal distribution of value among actors and serious environmental externalities. In the EU and elsewhere, small-scale farmers and SMEs often earn too little while players upstream fight on price to gain market-shares and defeat competitors. Farmers struggle to earn a living and are unable to engage in environmentally sustainable practices. The role of price competition and competitive attitudes in undermining sustainability is especially visible in EU chains like grain, vegetables and fruits, as well as in tropical fruit supply chains (cocoa, banana and coffee) that are crucial for SMEs and link millions of small-scale farmers with EU consumers. A range of technological and organizational innovations have been attempted to address socio-environmental unsustainability, but they rarely had a significant impact because of their silos approach and the reproduction of the dynamics of cheap food and price competition. In addition, solutions often come up against the legal barriers posed by competition law, which works to prevent sharing of information on pricing and other forms of cooperation, with no legal support. A more systematic and collaborative approach to sustainable, safe and just food supply chains is required, a fact that is increasingly recognized among EC policy makers calling for "new ways of doing science, research and innovation that put the food system at the centre." This imperative underlies the ambition of CISV (Collaborative Innovations for Sustainable Competitiveness), the objectives of which are to co-construct, pilot and assess a combination of cooperative legal, organization and technological innovations to promote sustainability-oriented competitiveness in agri-food chains.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ferrando Tomaso

Research team(s)

• Law and Development

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Ten years ago, the world saw that finance had permeated every aspect of the global economy. Back then, it was clear that financial interests could not build a better and different world. Ten years later, the COP24 has legitimised a vision of sustainability and climate change mitigation and adaptation where sustainability rhymes with profitability. Financial actors are increasingly finding large returns by investing in the transition to "greener" infrastructure, including the not-so-green Chinese green belt and road and dams like the Belo Monte, a project that originally applied for carbon credits and was labelled as a sustainable investment. Similarly, they can make money out of interests paid by cities that try to reduce their environmental impact, adapt to climate change and implement more sustainable solutions. Green bonds represent one of the main tools used to channel resources from finance into the green transition, but they have not been sufficiently discussed or understood from the point of view of law and socio-ecological justice. If money is the driver, we should not expect private investors to have any interest in projects that won't generate a sufficient return, to support people or cities that cannot pay for the service or for the debt, or to protect poor and vulnerable people from climate change. The project critically engages with green bonds and with the assumption that climate change should be fought according to the rules of Wall Street, i.e. that people and the planet should be supported only on the basis of whether money can be generated or not.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ferrando Tomaso
• Fellow: Ferrando Tomaso

Research team(s)

• Law and Development

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The Institute of Development Policy of the University of Antwerp is seeking to fill a full-time (100%) vacancy for a Doctoral Grant by the University Research Fund (BOF) in the area of 'Green City Bonds to finance climate change adaptation and mitigation: a comparative analysis of legal processes, development paradigms and socio-environmental implications'. Your research is situated in the IOB research field of Development Processes, Actors and Policies and is connected with the Law and Development Research Group at the Faculty of Law. More specifically, your research focus matches the research line "environment and sustainable development" but also engages with questions of contractual and regulatory dynamics pertaining to the interaction between city councils, financial investors and citizenship at the time of climate emergency. Your research focuses on a comparative, power-sensitive and socially-informed analysis of the way in which (at least) three main cities in the world use or plan to use the Green City Bonds to finance their climate change adaptation and mitigation plans. Specific attention will be paid to the legislative, contractual and regulatory frameworks that cities enact in order to have access to the funds, and the implications that Green City Bonds have in terms of identification of adaptation and mitigation priorities, democratic participation, cities' indebtedness and the transformation of the pre-existing regulatory and governance framework.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ferrando Tomaso
• Fellow: Herrera Héctor

Research team(s)

• Law and Development

Project type(s)

• Research Project