Sustainable water footprint of avocado imported to Norway from Chile : Norwegian retailer’s information and influence on water management

Abstract

This thesis investigates the control regimes of the enterprises constituting the value chain for avocado from producers in Chile to the Norwegian retailer Rema 1000. The Norwegian enterprises Rema 1000 and Bama together with Dutch Nature’s Pride constitute the value chain downstream of the producers. The effectiveness of the combined control regime of the downstream enterprises in ensuring sustainable water consumption in the production is evaluated. The thesis also describes the legal and administrative regime for water management in Chile and conclude that the regime and find that the effectiveness of the enterprises control regime is strongly influenced by the state’s water management. Climatic changes including the mega drought affecting Chile since 2010 is briefly described and is found to have significant impact on sustainability of industrial avocado production.