Protecting Farm Animal Biodiversity through Geographical Indications: A Legal Analysis

Over the last decades, increasing loss of genetic diversity in livestock farming has led the EU institutions to focus on improving the legal framework for the conservation and sustainable use of animal genetic resources. Legislation on geographical indications (GIs), among other things, has become a tool through which to integrate biodiversity preservation with the objectives pursued by the Common Agricultural Policy. Indeed, by relying on the relations among the product, the territory and its history, protection of GIs is supposed to help maintain a genetic pool of rustic domesticated species, thus contributing to prevent genetic erosion. In 2022, in the face of the EU Green Deal aimed at making the food system more resilient and sustainable, the GIs system has been put under normative revision. The reform is expected to increase the uptake of GIs for the benefit of rural economy, while preserving the gastronomic and cultural heritage of Member States. Against this backdrop, a core question arises: Will the future GIs regulatory framework be suitable to support the protection and valorization of genetic diversity in EU livestock farming? This is the crucial query which this chapter is structured on and around. The final goal aims to explore whether and how the legislative review will be fitting with the need for a more inclusive approach that efficiently embeds and deals with the biological, ecological and social aspects pertaining to farm animal biodiversity.