Sustainable pathways in agriculture: beyond certification

The SPIN project “Social and economic effects of partnering for sustainable change in agricultural commodity chains – A Southern perspective”, awarded by KNAW/DIKTI, is a collaboration between Maastricht University (ICIS) and the University of Lampung (Sumatra, Indonesia). It is embedded in the Scientific Programme Indonesia-Netherlands (SPIN) under the theme Social and Economic Development. 

The two main objectives of this five year research program are (1) to identify sustainable pathways for the production, processing and governing of palm oil and (2) to enable different stakeholders to contribute to a more environmentally sustainable and equitable palm oil sector in a science-based and concerted way.

International Centre for Integrated assessment and Sustainable development (ICIS) is Maastricht University’s scientific institute for sustainable development. ICIS vision is that research, education and learning for sustainable development provides a knowledge base for policymaking and innovation in the pursuit of sustainability. ICIS contributes to the scientific debate about sustainable development, but also tries to achieve a constructive social impact towards sustainability in practice. Therefore ICIS collaborates intensively with other partners, such as governments, business, NGOs and other research institutes. ICIS is hosting MUST, the Graduate School which offers a PhD programme and Master programme in Sustainability Science and Policy.