From Formal Compliance to Substantive Coherence: Social Verifiability Gaps in Global Forest Sustainability Frameworks

 

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Bibliografische gegevens
Auteur: Vera Gonzalez, Oscar Lorenzo
Formaat: artículo original
Status:Versión publicada
Publicatiedatum:2026
Omschrijving:This study examined the structural limitations that prevented major international sustainability frameworks —GRI, SASB, TCFD, TNFD, and FSC— from translating their formal commitments into verifiable social outcomes, understood here as impacts backed by auditable and territorially contrastable evidence, within forest sustainability. Drawing on an integrative critical review of 145 documents, including peer-reviewed articles, institutional standards, and technical reports published between 2010 and 2024, the study identified two persistent patterns. The first reflected a disconnection between the formal adoption of standards and the availability of evidence on verifiable social impacts. The second revealed a sustained asymmetry between the technical precision of the environmental component and the methodological vagueness of the social component. The findings showed that this disparity did not arise solely from the complexity of social phenomena, but also from institutional choices that privileged what could be standardized, audited, and more easily legitimized. The study argued that moving from formal compliance toward substantive coherence required three complementary shifts: the co-creation of social indicators with local communities, the establishment of independent social audits, and the strengthening of territorial participation in defining and evaluating impact. Taken together, these findings provided an analytical and propositional basis for redesigning accountability frameworks in forest sustainability.
Land:Portal de Revistas TEC
Instelling:Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica
Repositorio:Portal de Revistas TEC
Taal:Español
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/8796
Online toegang:https://revistas.tec.ac.cr/index.php/kuru/article/view/8796
Keyword:Accountability; social auditing; community-based monitoring; environmental justice; forest governance
Rendición de cuentas; auditoría social; monitoreo comunitario; justicia ambiental; gobernanza forestal