Do Private Sustainability Standards impact the environment? A case study from Mt. Elgon, Uganda with Araneae and Formicidae as diversity indicators

A wide variety of private sustainability standards is spreading in global agri-food sectors, each with their own promises on improving the sustainability of food production and trade. Organic certification is promoted as eco-friendly. Fair-trade claims to cover key areas for environmental protection, including soil and water quality, pest management and biodiversity protection. Rainforest Alliance stands for conserving the long-term economic health of forest communities through protecting ecosystems, safeguarding the well-being of local communities and improving productivity, and so on. But do they walk the talk? In this study, we analyze the environmental implications of a double Fair-trade – Organic (FT-Org) and a triple Utz – Rainforest Alliance – 4C (Utz-RA-4C) smallholder coffee certification scheme in the Mt. Elgon region in Eastern Uganda. We use plot-level inventory data of a matched sample of 74 coffee gardens on tree- and invertebrate-diversity and carbon storage. We found that FT-Org certification has a significant positive impact on biodiversity conservation and carbon storage while Utz-RA-4C creates little ecological benefits. Invertebrates of the leaf litter layer proved to be valuable indicators of management-induced changes in plot biodiversity. Their study also led to the discovery of new species for science.status: publishe