Filippo Arfini and Matthew Gorton were invited to present on the topic of “Sustainability and Geographical Indications: Background, Actions, Policy Recommendations” at the 1st Geographical Indications’ Global Forum (ORIGO), which was held in Parma, Italy, on April 11th 2017 (www.origoglobalforum.com). The ORIGO Forum was organised by the Emilia Romagna Region in partnership with the European Commission, the Parma Industrialists’ Association and the CIBUS Connect International Food Exhibition. The event, to promote the quality of agro-food products worldwide, was dedicated to the global challenges and opportunities faced by geographical indications (GIs) within the European Union. The forum gathered several GI experts and stakeholders, including researchers, producers, traders and policy makers, to join forces and promote economic relations with a multi-actor approach.
Prof Arfini highlighted the issue of GI sustainability and the contribution of Strength2Food to providing a robust methodology, based on a sound theoretical framework and a set of common indicators, to assess the impacts of GI systems on their territories and sustainability. AREPO and FAO, both stakeholder advisors to the Strength2Food project, also contributed to the discussions, given their interest in the measurement of GIs’ sustainability and impacts on rural areas in Europe and beyond.
