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Sustainability for stakeholders and the environment? Understanding the role of geographical indications in sustaining agri-food production
Products with registered geographical indications are an important tool in reflecting the gastronomy potential of a region. A large portion of these special products are products in the field of gastronomy. This situation provides advantages to all stakeholders in many aspects, especially in terms of competition, tourism, marketing, promotion and image in the field of gastronomy. As it is known, in recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of gastronomic products whose geographical indication registration process has been completed or whose application process is ongoing. In addition, researchers have a great interest in scientific studies on geographical indications. In this context, the aim of the study is to systematically examine scientific studies conducted on products with registered geographical indications in the field of gastronomy. Data were obtained by conducting a literature review on the subject in the TR Index and Web of Science databases. The national literature dimension of the study consisted of 58 studies in the TR Index (27) and the international literature dimension consisted of 58 studies in the Web of Science (31) databases. Meta and content analyze of the data were conducted in order to systematically examine the studies. It is seen that the studies in the relevant databases were conducted more after 2020 and were
The paper examined the factors influencing farmer’s willingness to adopt GI (geographical indication) practices in the Indonesian coffee sector from a psycho behavioral perspective. Specifically, the paper examined the psychological factors influencing the willingness of farmers to adopt GI. The study combined (1) the Planned Behavior (TPB) theory and (2) Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as the theoretical framework. The following psycho behavioral factors were constructed and tested: subjective norm (SN), perceived behavioral control (PBC), attitudes toward behavior (ATB), perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived economic benefit (PEB). The study also investigated the effects of sociodemographic factors on these psycho behavioral constructs. The survey was conducted in two geographical indication coffee territories in Indonesia that involved 178 farmers who are perceived as willing to adopt GI practices and procedures. The relationship between constructs was investigated in which structural equation modeling (SEM) was used. The obtain data were analyzed using WarpPLS 7.0. The study finds that attitude toward behavior, perceived behavioral control, and perceived economic benefit, as important factors influencing the willingness to adopt GI practices. The subjective norm did not affect willingness to adopt GI practices. Farmers’ knowledge mainly affected perceived behavioral control and willingness to adopt GI practices and procedures.
This paper examines the impact of Geographical Indications in cheese mountain areas, exploring their potential to contribute to landscape and environmental sustainability by drawing on field work and documental evidences from Cabrales (Asturias, NW Spain). The Cabrales mountain, nestled in the Picos de Europa National Park, embraces a millenary culture linked to the elaboration of an intense flavor blue cheese. The commercial success of this cheese motivated, 40 years ago, the creation of the Cabrales Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). From that moment on, the implementation of certain control measures that affect the production process, together with the increase in demand, led to the disappearance of small producers and to the intensification of livestock management practices. Cheese producers took the opportunity that the PDO label gave them, and the PDO provided the context in which cheese production became an effective barrier against the degradation of the rural system. However, nowadays the intensification of livestock management practices constitutes the main threat to landscape and environmental conservation. Therefore, Local administrators and stakeholders should consider the need to reinforce the idea of a product whose quality is linked to environmental and landscape sustainability through the maintenance of the traditional extensive management practices.
Geographical Indications (GIs) are labels that recognize products with specific identities, linked to the environmental and cultural characteristics of their places of origin. In this article, we explore the relationship between agrifood GIs and environmental sustainability, based on an integrative review of the scientific literature. In theory, GIs related to agrifood products are recognized for favoring more sustainable production systems and are part of a set of strategies that aims to counter the notion of food as commodities and promote territorial development. From a systematic search, 28 studies with empirical evidence of the results of GIs were selected and analyzed. We identified 16 positive and 5 negative environmental effects, with the positive effects prevailing in the global North, and the negative effects being more common in the global South. We also identified six factors that favor the emergence of positive effects. Considering that there are around 65,900 GIs and that their creation is being stimulated by national governments and international bodies worldwide, it is evident the need to expand studies about how GIs relate to sustainability outcomes and acknowledge the complexity of using this strategy, especially in the global South. We hope the results presented can be applied to guide both the processes of creating new GIs and the management of existing ones, embedding them into broader strategies to promote sustainable territorial development.
In our study, we tried to collect empirical studies focusing on the economic impact of Geographical Indications (GIs). Using a systematic literature review approach, we investigated three different aspects: market size, price premium and impacts on rural development. Based on the findings of studies both from the grey and academic literature, the results are quite mixed. Though the number of GI-related empirical studies has risen in recent years, there is a lack of economic data to support policies related to GIs, even in the European Union (EU), where the most important GI system exists. Overall, it is impossible to draw any general conclusions about the economic impact of GIs. Some countries have remarkable GI market size, and some GI products have a determinative role in both domestic and export markets; however, it is not general. Again, some particular GI products of some regions could gain significant price premiums, but due to the associated higher production costs and unequal distribution in the value chain, it might not result in higher producer incomes. The most conflicting empirical results were found in how GIs can contribute to regional prosperity, as evidences of the harmful effects of GIs on rural development were also identified.
Since the turn of the century, most countries in Asia have entered a frenetic period of pursuing European-style sui generis geographical indication (GI) laws to protect domestically reputed agri-food products. Indeed, by 2018 almost all South, Southeast, and East Asian countries had enacted some form of sui generis legal protection. Observers speculating about why this seemingly obvious and necessary shift took so long to materialize often point to underdevelopment or weak administrative capacity, while others suggest that such arcane laws were simply not high priority for many poor agrarian countries until required under the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). These explanations, however, often contradict the same observers’ accounts of the current “GI turn” in Asia, namely that it is driven by the prominence of agriculture in many countries and the inherent alignment of Asian values about food comparable to the French concept of terroir. If an agrarian economy and territorial food awareness are indeed the basis of this recent momentum, the conditions for sui generis GI laws have long been present in much of Asia. And since European countries did not wait until they were highly industrialized to explore such legal protections, there must be other explanations for this late blossoming. This article explores the contours of recent GI legislation in Asia by comparing relatively well-endowed Japan with poorly-resourced Cambodia. These two cases demonstrate that the European promotion of GIs, which emphasizes trade and value generation by agri-food GIs, has been a weak incentive for Asian countries due to the perceived extent of capture of the heritage food trade by Europeans. Producers are also discovering that, as in Europe, GIs provide an inconsistent bulwark against domestic corporatization and/or appropriation of value by foreign entities. Asian governments, in turn, are discovering utility subsidiary areas of GI such as differentiating domestic products, privileging national producers, and slowing quality erosion of agri-food products, but they are also leveraging the discursive power of GI to provide a cover for the progression of market neoliberalsm.
This chapter attempts to address the current debates over the value and benefits of Geographical Indications (GIs) as an alternative to the neoliberal food regime. In the literature, the debate revolves around differences in legislation, but neglecting three dimensions belonging to GIs: (1) sociocultural dynamics, (2) power relations, and (3) the materiality embedded in the local ecology. This chapter proposes this three-dimensional analysis to make a comparison between established and emerging GIs systems, using the EU and Indonesian cases respectively. The former relies on multiple-niche production and a structured legal, bureaucratic and cultural apparatus that ensure GIs procedures; the latter has so far relied on mass commodities and domestic market creations, but is still developing the necessary organization. We frame the development of GIs in the two regions within a particular pathway, from non-homogenous relations based on ecological and cultural embeddedness towards commodification and formal institutionalizations. This framework offers ways to deeply understand the socio-cultural constructions of GIs in each region, the way power is exerted along the process, and the different ecological realities that shape the materiality of their GIs.
One of the main functions of geographical indications (GIs) is to provide information and quality to consumers. This, in turn, can generate benefits for producers and stimulate rural development processes, as advocated by European Union (EU) legislation. The objective of the present study is to understand if the theorized effects of GIs on local economic development are supported by empirical evidence. Using a systematic approach, we reviewed the literature on the topic and structured the results of the review adopting a supply chain framework. This allows us to better understand how the effects of GIs are distributed among the chain actors and finally arrive at the local territories where GI products originate. Evidence shows that GIs are actually able to generate value added, especially at the consumer and retailer levels, while the effects on the economic performance of producers are more heterogeneous and dependent on specific local conditions. The review also highlighted some drawbacks in the literature that make it difficult to draw robust conclusions about the actual impact of GI policy at the European level. Therefore, despite the GI tool actually showing good potential for improving local economic conditions, more structured and focused research is needed.
Geographical Indications (GIs) are a form of collective intellectual property through which, it is anticipated, producers can capture the place-related value embodied within a product. As such, they are often promoted as a development initiative for lagging rural communities to improve livelihoods and alleviate poverty. This article applies the concepts of value capture and strategic coupling from the Global Production Networks (GPN) literature to assess the developmental impacts of formally-registered (protected) GIs in the Indonesian coffee sector. Based on an assessment of indicators along a logical impact pathway, our study finds little evidence, and a limited likelihood, of tangible economic benefits for coffee growers resulting from current GIs in Indonesia, at least in the immediate future. This poor developmental performance is explained in terms of the inability of local institutional settings supporting the GIs to strategically couple with the actor practices of lead firms in the coffee sector. The GIs, however, do appear to deliver intangible benefits for some stakeholders in terms of promoting a sense of regional pride and cultural identity. While one intention of GIs is to assert a moral claim over the geographical and cultural property embodied in consumer products, they require far greater engagement with extra-legal moral conventions throughout the value chain to achieve rural development outcomes.
Participation in Global Value Chains or International Value Chains dominated by industries and retailers from the developed world may allow the enterprises of developing countries access to the international market, but at the same time may give rise to difficulties for them. For lower income players, standing up to dominant players may involve developing strategies based on product certification driven, for instance, by growing consumer demand for organic products, Fair Trade products or products bearing a link with the culture and the history of the place of production. Geographical Indications (GIs) may thus represent an opportunity for developing countries to move into lucrative niche markets. Nevertheless, I argue that GI schemes embedded in Global or International Value Chains and implemented as a product differentiation strategy in developing countries may support the technical and economic development of some rural areas but at the same time they can contribute to the exclusion of farmers in more marginalised areas from the benefits of the initiative.
There are two parts in the study. The first provides the theoretical framework on GIs and other certification schemes run in Latin American countries involved in Global Value Chains. The second part is a case study on cheese-dairy Value Chains in Nicaragua and a GI initiative for a Nicaraguan cheese, Queso Chontaleño (QC), embedded in an International Value Chain. The findings of the research constitute a warning to policy makers dealing with GIs in Latin American countries: when traditional Value Chains tend to be isolated and lacking independent governance mechanisms, GIs, like other types of certification, can become factors of increased marginalization, unless they are supported by adequate rural policies and legislation as well as a concerted transfer of knowledge.
As the use of qualitative inquiry increases within the field of social work, researchers must consider the issue of establishing rigor in qualitative research. This article presents research procedures used in a study of autoethnographies that were written regarding the experience of being Jewish. In this project, the researchers utilized reflexivity, audit trail, triangulation by observer, peer debriefing, member check and prolonged engagement in order to manage the threats to trustworthiness as discussed by Padgett (1998). Implications of the project suggest that research procedures utilized by qualitative researchers to establish rigor are an important way to increase our confidence that the voice of the participants is heard, therefore fitting the mission of the social work profession.
Food production and consumption have a range of sustainability implications, including their contribution to global emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). As some foodstuffs entail higher GHG emissions than others, managing their use in tourism-related contexts could make a significant contribution to climate change mitigation. This article reviews the carbon intensity of selected foods and discusses how foodservice providers could adapt their practices. It shows that even though food management could substantially reduce the GHG emissions of foodservice providers, its application is currently hampered by the complexity of food production chains and a lack of dependable data on the GHG intensity of foodstuffs. Nevertheless, it is possible to make a number of recommendations in respect of how foodservice providers can better purchase, prepare and present foods. Further research is now needed to refine and extend our understanding of the contribution that food management can make to reducing tourism’s carbon ‘foodprint’.
In this paper, we use the case of tequila to examine the potential for geographical indications (GIs) to contribute to socioeconomic and environmental sustainability. GIs are place-based names (e.g., Champagne, Roquefort) that convey the geographical origin, as well as the cultural and historical identity, of agricultural products. The GI for tequila was established by the Mexican government in 1974, making it the oldest GI, and one of the best-recognized, outside of Europe. Here, we examine the social, economic, and ecological impacts that the agave–tequila industry has had on one community in tequila's region of origin, the town of Amatitán. We show that persistent cycles of surplus and shortage of agave and changing production relations in the agave–tequila industry have led to: (1) economic insecurity among farm households; (2) increased use of chemical inputs, at the expense of more labor-intensive cultivation practices; and (3) overall declines in fertilizer application, especially during periods in which there is a surplus of agave. We argue that the negative effects of the agave–tequila industry on the local economy and environment are due to the failure of the GI for tequila to value the ways in which the terroir of tequila's region of origin have contributed to its specific properties. We conclude by using this case to discuss more generally the relationship between the protection of place-based products (known collectively as geographical indications) and social and environmental sustainability.
The rejection of reliability and validity in qualitative inquiry in the 1980s has resulted in an interesting shift for "ensuring rigor" from the investigator's actions during the course of the research, to the reader or consumer of qualitative inquiry. The emphasis on strategies that are implemented during the research process has been replaced by strategies for evaluating trustworthiness and utility that are implemented once a study is completed. In this article, we argue that reliability and validity remain appropriate concepts for attaining rigor in qualitative research. We argue that qualitative researchers should reclaim responsibility for reliability and validity by implementing verification strategies integral and self-correcting during the conduct of inquiry itself. This ensures the attainment of rigor using strategies inherent within each qualitative design, and moves the responsibility for incorporating and maintaining reliability and validity from external reviewers' judgements to the investigators themselves. Finally, we make a plea for a return to terminology for ensuring rigor that is used by mainstream science.
Historically, few topics have proven to be so controversial in international intellectual property as the protection of geographical indications (GIs). The adoption of TRIPS in 1994 did not resolve disagreements, and countries worldwide continue to quarrel today as to the nature, the scope, and the enforcement of GI protection nationally and internationally. Thus far, however, there is little literature addressing GI protection from the point of view of the Asia-Pacific region, even though countries in this region have actively discussed the topic and in several instances have promoted GIs as a mechanism to foster local development and safeguard local culture. This book, edited by renowned intellectual property scholars, fills the void in the current literature and offers a variety of contributions focusing on the framework and effects of GI protection in the Asia-Pacific region. The book is available as Open Access.
Historically, few topics have proven to be so controversial in international intellectual property as the protection of geographical indications (GIs). The adoption of TRIPS in 1994 did not resolve disagreements, and countries worldwide continue to quarrel today as to the nature, the scope, and the enforcement of GI protection nationally and internationally. Thus far, however, there is little literature addressing GI protection from the point of view of the Asia-Pacific region, even though countries in this region have actively discussed the topic and in several instances have promoted GIs as a mechanism to foster local development and safeguard local culture. This book, edited by renowned intellectual property scholars, fills the void in the current literature and offers a variety of contributions focusing on the framework and effects of GI protection in the Asia-Pacific region. The book is available as Open Access.
This paper investigates the potential of Geographical Indications to enhance the environmental sustainability of bivalve aquaculture, with a focus on the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) granted to the bouchot mussel of the bay of Mont Saint-Michel (BMSM). First, a retrospective analysis of the PDO application process was carried out to provide insight into specific environmental and regulatory issues facing mussel farming in the BMSM (e.g. common resource management). Second, further assessment relied on a comparative analysis with other public labelling strategies developed by mussel farmers, notably emerging organic certification. This involved setting up an ad-hoc analysis grid to evaluate different dimensions of sustainability, namely economic, environmental and governance. The discussion then addresses the potential of PDO to promote sustainable mussel farming with respect to the current trends in food/mussel labelling in the market and to the increasing demand for environmental preservation in marine and coastal areas. It also emphasises the overlap between different EU labelling schemes that questions their consistency and legibility, particularly for bivalve aquaculture. In conclusion, the system of quality linked to origin has provided an appropriate framework for supporting the implementation of sustainable bouchot mussel farming in the BMSM, thanks to the relevance and inclusiveness of the PDO labelling process and institutional support. Next, to strengthen the legitimacy of the PDO to guarantee the environmental sustainability of farming methods and increase protection on the market, more adaptive management of the PDO label is recommended.
This study examines how quality is defined, re-defined and dynamically formulated amongst stakeholders under political and global market pressures while registering geographical indications (GIs) for non-edible non-timber forestry products (NTFPs)—namely, Iwate Charcoal and Joboji Urushi—in Japan. To that end, Convention Theory is used as a framework for the two NTFPs as traditionally applied to manufacturing or edible products. This study investigates the following related factors: 1) the transition of convention types between NTFPs and its impact on registrations and 2) the impact of the convention types and values on the sales and sustainable use of forest resources. The study applies Convention Theory, inter alia Worlds of Production (and associated categories) coined by Storper and Salais (1997), because of its central focus on the formation of product qualities and the resulting consumption and materialistic relations. Historically, both products have been under pressure because of lower-priced imports and the substitution of the traditional energy source charcoal and material source urushi with petroleum products including oil and chemical lacuquer, respectively. Thus, the two GI registrations of NTFPs in this study were an attempt, among other options, to counter the influx of imports that results from economies of scale and technological development in scientific standardization. We observed changes in the conventions and analyzed dynamism with relevant concepts of “orders of worth,” propounded by Boltanski and Thévenot (2006), behind the four categories of Possible Worlds of Production (Market, Industrial, Interpersonal, and Intellectual Resources) proposed by Storper and Salais (1997).
Our question is as follows, “Did the GI process related to quality strengthen the existing convention or did it rather cause confrontation between conventions?” The two NTFPs provide us with unique and contrasting pathways. Through the GI process, there were negotiations, not necessarily verbal discussions, but ceremony-like events, involving nonverbal communications and technical testing, at sites to assure members and reach agreements on quality. Moreover, there are certain challenges for NTFP GIs when compared with agricultural products; obviously, there is no taste element (as both are non-edible) and the associations with consumers are possibly weaker than those with foods are. Even among NTFP products, the methods of setting standards (to compete, or to differentiate themselves, as “dedicated” products from imports of “generic” products in the Industrial World) differed. Iwate Charcoal developed as an industrial commodity and set a stricter scientific standard. Alternatively, in establishing its standard, Joboji Urushi appealed to its historical embeddedness emphasizing differences in quality resulting from variations by individual producer, local environment, and season. Participation in negotiations of quality, thus, makes producers sensitive to the needs of certain customers, such as personalized products or relationships with producers. As both are forestry products, conservation efforts (identifying individual urushi trees and replanting and coppicing after harvesting for charcoal) are practiced, which loosely resonates with consumers’ sustainability discourses. Yet, rather than green and environmental discourses, subtle associations between a nostalgic sense of “homeland,” pride in artisanship and tradition are strong factors in the promotion of domestic urushi products vis-à-vis imported competition. The comparisons are more technical in the case of charcoal with a degree of carbonization. Noteworthy registrations of non-edible NTFPs are rare in Japan (and absent in the European system). However, the producers were able to learn from, and surmount, the challenges of GI product quality agreed upon, while they achieved a new sense of solidarity.
To identify whether EU certified food – here organic and geographical indications – is more sustainable than a conventional reference, we developed 25 indicators covering the three sustainability pillars. Original data was collected on 52 products at farm, processing and retail levels, allowing the estimation of circa 2000 indicator values. Most strikingly, we show that, in our sample, certified food outperforms its non-certified reference on most economic and social indicators. On major environmental indicators – carbon and water footprint – their performance is similar. Although certified food is 61% more expensive, the extra-performance per euro is similar to classical policy interventions to improve diet sustainability such as subsidies or taxes. Cumulatively, our findings legitimate the recent initiatives by standards to cover broader sustainability aspects.
Growth and development are two economic concepts that should go hand in hand. In a specific territory, the search for sustainable development is intertwined with the objectives of private operators but also with the public ones of collective well-being. As we know from the economic literature, the presence of information asymmetries leads to market failure as sustainability in the production of food products determines positive externalities that are not adequately remunerated. In this work some evolutionary trends in the demand for cured meats are analyzed, highlighting the relevant innovations introduced by sustainable consumption. Faced with this evolution of demand, with consumers increasingly responsible for the effects deriving from their choices, instead, the company has the possibility of improving its competitiveness through diversification strategies, with an ideal expansion of the business boundaries of companies that go beyond from a conventional food production to a competitive and attentive to the consumer. Through the analysis of the dynamics of supply and demand, it is highlighted how the redefinition of the production strategies of food companies can offer the opportunity to reduce, if not synergistic, the competitiveness objectives of the food sector with the public's expectations of sustainability. environmental. In this case, market failure is reduced thanks to the redefinition of corporate strategies, through which some public goods and guaranteed externalities become productive resources for the same companies, helping to broaden and better define the offer of economic goods and services they produce. The study examined the consumer's preferences for a food product, the San'Angelo di Brolo salami, a Protected Geographical Indication. The study highlights that the Protected Geographical Indication reduces the inforamative asymmetry and creates a long-term developmental condition.
Geographical indications (GIs), or signs on products indicating a region of origin, are expected to secure higher incomes and retain the rural population in less favored or remote areas. In this study, we examine the effect of GIs on the maintenance of farming using a case study on Uonuma rice, with region-of-origin labeling, produced only in the Uonuma district of Niigata prefecture in Japan. Although Uonuma rice is not yet an official GI, it qualifies in principle for GI registration under its long-standing reputation for quality and GI-like protection by the producer’s organization. We exploit a municipal merger in a district adjacent to Uonuma district as a natural experiment, in which a hitherto homogeneous region was split and one section became part of Uonuma district. Using detailed community-level panel data, we find that there is a positive effect on the number of farm households and the area of operated farmland in a rural community. Also, producing Uonuma rice led to older farmers continuing to farm due to higher rice prices. Meanwhile, we found no evidence that the adoption of Uonuma rice had a positive effect on the number of young farmers. This may make it difficult to maintain the rural community due to the aging of community members.
As an agricultural product with strong social and cultural connotations, the production and consumption of tea have high potential to be integrated with tourism to enhance community livelihood sustainability. A sustainable livelihood approach is used in a tea tourism context in Hetu Town, Anhui Province, China, to examine critically the interactive relationships between tea and tourism. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with management officials, community leaders, tea industry representatives and village residents in four field investigations in 2015 and 2016. Improvement in community livelihood sustainability was identified through enhancement of livelihood diversity and choice. However, impacts on household livelihood sustainability varied as tourism participation is restricted by level of livelihood assets. The increase of the within-community income gap may generate social problems in the long run. The current level of tea and tourism integration is limited. The history, culture and traditions related with tea are not widely disseminated by local tea producers. Opportunities for in-depth and diversified tea tourism experiences are being recognized, which call for partnership with those involved in tourism. Practical implications are discussed to enhance tea and tourism integration, boost local participation, enhance local benefits, and particularly, to engage those with lower levels of livelihood assets.
A Geographical Indication (GI) is expected to facilitate agri-environmental management in agricultural landscapes. Currently, local products from small-scale farms and national branded products with a relatively large scale of production are being registered using GI schemes. Considering the relationships among GI products, their agricultural landscapes, and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), as a GI case study, we examined small GI farms in Odate City, Akita Prefecture, Japan, which produce edible plants called Tonburi.
This research explored the complex cause-effect relationship between TEK and landscapes and found that the TEK of Tonburi production influenced biological diversity and vice versa. The TEK and skills of small farmers were confined to the family members of each farmer and were not shared at the community level until GI registration. However, the farmers shared their TEK of sustainable agricultural landscape management through the process of GI registration. Through negotiation between local agricultural cooperatives and farmers, TEK was provided as a form of cultural capital and shared with new producers after GI registration.
We concluded that enclosed TEK negatively affects production maintenance and landscape management in the long term. However, the GI registration process contributes to the sharing of TEK as a form of cultural capital among Tonburi farmers.
Chinese mitten crab is a unique aquatic product in China. As a highly nutritious, delicious, and intriguing food, it is deeply loved by consumers. Through field visits and household interviews in Chongming District of Shanghai and Suzhou of Jiangsu Province, the author collected relevant materials and made a detailed analysis of the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the development and application of crab culture in the development of Chinese mitten crab industry in Shanghai by using SWOT model. The results show that the development and application of crab culture in the development of Chinese mitten crab industry in Shanghai can adopt growth‐oriented, transformation and upgrading, diversification and defensive development strategies. It is expected to promote the sustainable development of Chinese mitten crab industry in Shanghai through the development and application of crab culture.
Aquaculture has become one of the major sources of lake eutrophication, due to the lack of direct and efficient technologies for pollution control and remediation. This study proposes a novel ecological dam (Eco-dam) system, which consists of biofilter floating beds and plant floating beds that form an enclosure (the test zone) around the breeding area that allows lake water to pass through. A pilot-scale test was conducted to test pollution control and in situ bioremediation during breeding of Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) in Yangcheng Lake, China. The results showed slight improvement of water quality in the test zone compared with the breeding zone. The biofilm that formed on the biofilter played a major role in removal of organic pollutants and nitrogen (0.609 kg COD/(m²·d), 0.512 kg NH4⁺-N/(m²·d), 0.482 kg NO2⁻-N/(m²·d), and 0.112 kg NO3⁻-N/(m²·d)). Both proteins and volatile suspended solids (VSS) in the Eco-dam biofilm decreased from the water surface towards the lake bottom, especially below 0.5 m depth. The average ratio of VSS to suspended solids in the biofilm was 0.337 ± 0.025 g/g. Analysis with the Illumina MiSeq System confirmed the presence of a diverse microbe population in the biofilm, performing organic carbon removal and nitrification and denitrification, with limited photosynthesis near the lake surface and methane oxidation near the lake bottom.
The protection of Geographical Indications is an issue of growing importance all over the world, as it offers local producers a tool to differentiate their products on the market and escape price competition. In the European Union the legal protection of Geographical Indications dates back to 1992, and aims at both preventing misuses and abuses of brand names on the market fostering fair competition among producers and transparent and complete information to consumers, and supporting rural development dynamics, especially in marginal areas. In this chapter, after describing the many and multifaceted effects the protection of the Geographical Indications may exert on the economic, social, and environmental spheres, the case study of the Sorana Bean PGI in Tuscany (Italy) will be analyzed. The case is related to a very small production system, where a few small farms are using the protected Geographical Indication to market their product. The case shows that the protection granted by the European Union, besides supporting farmers’ income, exerts important economic and social effects on the territory, thus supporting rural development in a marginal area.
Geographical indications (GIs) are place-based names that convey the geographical origin, as well as the cultural and historical identity, of agricultural products. GIs are unique, in that they provide a means of ensuring that control over production and sales of a product stays within a local area, but at the same time they make use of extralocal markets. Although control over GIs largely rests with local actors, GIs are nested in wider regional, national, and international networks; and the passage from local to extralocal markets introduces new costs and benefits and new relations of power into the supply chain. The degree to which GI protection spurs development and protects local environmental and cultural resources depends on the structure of the GI legislation and on the territorial context in which protection is embedded. Using a commodity-chains approach, I compare two GI production systems, tequila in Mexico and Comté cheese in France, in order to develop a theory of the factors that contribute to more sustainable, equitable GI production systems. I argue that three key differences in the design of the GI schemes help to explain the varying effects of the two cases: (1) the manner in which supply-chain actors define quality, (2) the way that the GI valorizes the terroir of the region, and (3) the strength and cohesion that the collective organizing body exhibits. Moreover, the institutional and political context in which GI supply chains “touch down” plays a critical role. Contrary to a conceptualization of GIs as compatible with a purely market-oriented model, my comparison of these two cases indicates that some level of state involvement, in order to level the playing field and empower small farmers, is a necessary, although not sufficient, precondition for successful and sustainable GIs.
The debate and negotiations in progress at the international level concerning the protection of geographical indications (GI) are of direct interest to the local agricultural products and foodstuffs called terroir products. Beyond the protection of the use of their name, which is the founding principle of this system, and the legal and economic considerations this system implies, new questions are being raised about these products concerning the diversification of farming and sustainable development. More and more, and in a favourable context, another major issue is becoming apparent: the biological and cultural diversity linked to these products. This questioning concerns the status and the future of these local resources in our societies and whether or not GIs can help maintain this diversity. Protecting local and traditional products through the GI system can contribute to conserving biodiversity at various levels: domestic animal breeds, plant varieties, microbial ecosystems, and landscapes. This is also a way of maintaining in a formal way shared knowledge and practices, since they underpin the protected resource. Taking account of these elements offers an opportunity to think about agriculture differently and leads us to propose an innovative approach to local products. Several examples taken in France will help show how links can be established between the protection of GI, cultural biodiversity, and local knowledge.
How many interviews are enough? An experiment with data saturation and variability
- Guest
Geographical indications and tourism destinations: an overview
- Ciani
The geographical indication of mezcal in Mexico: a tool of exclusion for small producers
- Renard