The Forest and the Marine Stewardship Councils constitute new global governance institutions using voluntary certification and labelling as market incentives to encourage sustainable management. Utilizing a comparative political economic framework, the authors analyse shifting British, Canadian and Australian responses to the stewardship councils.

'This book provides a comprehensive and timely analysis of the role of the state in market- and civil society led global commodity governance. Focusing on forest and fisheries certification, Gale and Haward demonstrate that governments influence processes and outcomes in more ways than you would think. It is essential reading for all who have dismissed governments as insignificant actors in global commodity governance' Lars H. Gulbrandsen, Senior Research Fellow, Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Norway

'To effectively analyze natural resource industries requires a broad, holistic approach. This book does the job nicely. In it, one finds a wonderful mix of topics. The emphasis is on the changing face of governance in fisheries and forestry, but it also includes a policy analysis of how ecolabelling and certification have evolved in these two commodity based industries. There are also useful comparisons of the key sustainability issues in fisheries and forestry. I learned a great deal here.' -Anthony Charles, St. Mary's University, Halifax, Canada

'Gale and Haward make a timely contribution to the recent flurry of studies comparing the most prominent environmental certification and labelling programs with global aspirations. Unlike existing studies, this volume systematically addresses the question of state responses to nonstate certification; this book is therefore a must-read for scholars interested in understanding the dynamic relationships between governmental authorities and new nongovernmental authorities in the making of global environmental governance.' - Paul Foley, Global Environmental Politics