Developing A Roadmap Towards Increased Sustainability In Geographical Indication Systems

FAO and the Global Alliance of Geographical Indications (oriGin) have been collaborating since 2016 to develop the Sustainability Strategy for Geographical Indications (SSGI). This strategy for sustainable GIs aims to highlight and strengthen the relationship between GI systems and sustainability, raise stakeholders’ awareness of their role in GI sustainability and boost the sustainability performance of GI systems. Geographical indications (GIs) are signs used on products that originate from a specific territory and possess qualities or a reputation related to that origin. Through their establishment and management, GIs can stimulate endogenous development when ensuring leadership by local producers, product specifications that are tailored to local conditions and recognition by buyers of products’ origin-linked qualities. This guide provides a practical step-by-step roadmap for GI organizations that wish to engage on their own sustainability journey. The roadmap consists of three key stages: 1. prioritize sustainability topics for the GI system and engage with public and private stakeholders; 2. assess needs and establish a baseline for each priority topic; and 3. monitor and improve the GI system’s sustainability performances, and regularly review the roadmap in collaboration with allies. Communication is the fourth crucial and transversal component of the roadmap; it improves efficiency during the process and allows stakeholders to share and celebrate the results. By following the eight steps outlined in this guide, with detailed guidance, examples and models, GI practitioners will be able to design a sustainability roadmap for their GI system, together with stakeholders.

This study seeks to provide empirical evidence on the economic impacts that are generated through the Geographical Indication (GI) process beginning with the official recognition of a GI and the steps that follow. It focuses on the food sector and reviews nine cases, offering a variety of national contexts and local value chains. The approach, considers “operational” GI processes: those in which a code of practice (or specifications) is defined and the GI is used and managed by a collective organization. The synthetic outcome of these nine cases show the positive effect of GIs on the economy and confirm the importance of specification that is well defined and implemented through producers’ coordinated action.

Geographical indications represent a powerful way to foster sustainable food systems through territorial approaches and market linkages, especially for small-scale actors. In this perspective, and following the FAO publication methodologies of the origin-linked virtuous circle, local actors need to well define their geographical indication (GI) system and, more specifically, the product specifications as well as monitor and evaluate the impacts and readjust the system as necessary for the reproduction of local resources. These guidelines aim at providing a detailed and stepwise approach with specific tools to help practitioners in establishing their framework in relation with their objectives and local conditions, to help both the qualification though a prospective evaluation, and the reproduction of local resources though retrospective evaluation.

On 20 December, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and oriGIn hosted the online event, Third regional consultation on geographical indications in Europe and Central Asia. Some 111 representatives from 34 countries of geographical indications (GIs) groups, national intellectual property offices and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), other public authorities (the representatives of ministries for agriculture and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development), as well as geographical indication (GI) experts, participated in the event. A discussion paper was presented during the consultation outlining key concepts and global trends concerning GIs today. The empirical material presented in the paper was primarily built on oriGIn and FAO experiences, but also on country studies prepared for the Russian Federation, Republic of Moldova, Georgia, a group of Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), as well as European Union countries (France, Poland, Hungary and Croatia). On behalf of oriGIn – the global alliance of GI – Massimo Vittori, Managing Director, coordinated the activities carried out by oriGIn.

Second in the series of TERI’s annual flagship publication on global sustainable development, People, Planet and Progress Beyond 2015 examines six critical issues of the Planet (climate change, ozone layer depletion, loss of biodiversity, desertification, unsustainable use of natural resources, and environmental pollution) and six crucial issues of the People (food security and safety, health and well-being, education and learning, sustainable habitat, energy for all, and social justice and equity), reviews the Progress made by various regions and countries of the world on each of these issues, and analyses the challenges and opportunities ahead, particularly in the contexts of post-2015 global development agendas, ushered by the Paris Climate Agreement, UN Sustainable Development Goals, and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. The analysis is supported by primary data from authentic sources on a wide range of indicators that make the volume an invaluable resource material on contemporary discourses on global development.

In the 2012 edition of its flagship report, Worldwatch celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the 1992 Earth Summit with a far-reaching analysis of progress toward building sustainable economies. Written in clear language with easy-to-read charts, State of the World 2012 offers a new perspective on what changes and policies will be necessary to make sustainability a permanent feature of the world's economies. The Worldwatch Institute has been named one of the top three environmental think tanks in the world by the University of Pennsylvania's Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program.

This book introduces the various aspects of international farm animal protection and wildlife conservation through the lenses of food safety and environmental protection law. Bite-sized chapters focus on a wide range of topics from agrobiodiversity, fishing, and aquaculture to pollinators and pesticides, soil management, industrial animal production, and transportation, as well as international food trade. Animal welfare and biodiversity conservation sit at the core of the selected chapters, each one providing real-world examples to make the complex field easy to understand. Current developments including food safety modernization, blockchain, and COVID-19 considerations are addressed head-on. Farm Animal Welfare Law provides a primer for law school courses and masters’ programs, for practitioners, advocates, and animal enthusiasts alike. Through its emphasis on sustainable food production, this book offers a cutting-edge selection of evolving topics at the heart of the pertinent discourse.

In December 2016, FAO and WHO convened an International Symposium on Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Improved Nutrition, gathering delegates from 90 UN Member States representatives of intergovernmental organizations, private-sector entities, civil society organizations, academia/research organizations and producer organizations/cooperatives. The symposium aimed to increase awareness of today’s urgent food and nutrition challenges, and to create a forum to discuss strategies for regulation and reform, in the aftermath of the ICN2 and under the umbrella of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition 2016-2025. Nine parallel sessions comprising expert presentations and country case studies were complemented by a session on the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition, a student’s session, plenary and special events. These proceedings include summaries of the parallel sessions, summaries and transcriptions from the plenary and Decade of Action sessions, to contribute to better-informed, accelerated action at national, regional and global levels on the urgent need to improve the human and environmental health of food systems worldwide and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.