NBS Knowledge Lab Webinar - Terroir in Peril: Sustainable Geographical Indications

Will our most treasured place-based products stand the test of time? This Knowledge Lab explores the growing pressures facing geographical indications (GIs) – products whose qualities, reputation, and characteristics are intrinsically linked to their place of origin through climatic, environmental, and human factors. Because GI protection is legally grounded in this distinctive product–place nexus, any disruption to these underlying conditions risks weakening, or even severing, the very basis of that protection itself.

We will examine how environmental change is reshaping the ecosystems and production practices that sustain these products. Rising temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns, biodiversity loss, soil degradation, and extreme weather events are already altering product characteristics, supply chains, and long-standing traditions.

The discussion will also address the human dimension of sustainability. Many GI industries depend on skilled, place-based labour and intergenerational knowledge. Climate pressures, rural–urban migration, ageing producer communities, and labour shortages are increasingly threatening the continuity of production. What happens to terroir when its human foundation shifts?

Finally, we will explore how stakeholders can respond. Can legal, regulatory, and business strategies help ensure that our most cherished GIs do not fade into history?