Why Geographical Indications Can Support Sustainable Development in European Agri-Food Landscapes

Abstract

Implementing the European Green Deal and transforming agricultural practices requires a wider and amplified policy toolbox. As many sustainability considerations are context-dependent, there is a need for instruments, which take individual characteristics of production landscapes into account. Food products with a particularly strong relationship to their landscape of origin can be marketed under the “Protected Designation of Origin” label (PDO). In this article, we analyze synergies between PDO production and regional sustainable development by assessing to what extent social-ecological landscape characteristics appear in landscapes with PDO-labeled food production systems. Building upon 12 social-ecological variables we defined three landscape characteristics influential for the presence of PDOs by using a principal component analysis. By running regression models combining those characteristic landscapes with the spatial distribution of PDO certification we were able to explore linkages between landscapes and products. Additionally, a geographically weighted regression delivered insights into the regional differences and product-specific relationships throughout the EU countries. Overall, we could prove the assumed positive correlation between PDO production and ecologically valuable landscapes. Further, we showed that mostly meat PDOs coincide with landscapes influenced by structural change, while cheese PDOs are not well captured by our models despite their large number. We can conclude that PDOs have the potential to jointly support conservation and rural development, especially when they would be tied to sustainable management standards in the future.

Geographical Indications and Sustainable Viticulture: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives

“…GI standards seem more pertinent for those aspects which have an immediate connection to the affected region, i.e., socio-economic criteria or ecological criteria related to the preservation of specific landscape or biodiversity features. This is consistent with the empirical literature that suggests that GIs favour specific sustainability dimensions more than others [24,45]. It is also consistent with the general finding that stakeholder selfregulation along Ostrom's design principles seems most effective for localised sustainability challenges [46].…”

“…Given its bottom-up and polycentric character, the GI system has itself been described as a sustainable policy instrument [22]. Indeed, empirical studies have highlighted the potential of GIs to contribute to different dimensions of sustainability [23][24][25][26]. However, some cases, including some of the most notorious GI "success stories" have shown that introducing GIs can also negatively affect various sustainability dimensions in the respective areas [19,27,28].…”

“…Given the bottom-up nature of GIs in a polycentric governance framework, the theoretical work of Elinor Ostrom seems to provide a fitting analytical framework [24,25,35]. In particular, the empirically derived "design principles" for collective choice arrangements provide an intuitive yet comprehensive framework to analyse situations where stakeholders themselves develop institutional arrangements to overcome common challenges.…”

Intellectual Property Law Aspects of Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development: Where Is the Line Between Public and Private Interests?

“…Considering the importance and complexity of sustainable development, apart from the competence of state authorities, provinces and local municipalities have numerous delegated competences regarding environmental matters. 9 In addition, mentioning sustainable development in the context of environmental protection directly sets the core of sustainability into the framework of protection of the environment and, in particular, natural values. Therefore, the Law on Environmental Protection explicitly prescribes the principle of sustainable development 10 and provides its meaning.…”

Bioactive Compounds of Portuguese Fruits with PDO and PGI

“…PDO and PGI designations also play a vital role in sustaining rural economies by supporting local fruit producers [ 10 ]. In a bioeconomic context, this can foster rural development and create new bio-based value chains, thereby linking agricultural production with processing industries.…”