Protecting Geographical Indications Amidst Climatic Disruptions

While the Government aims at achieving 10,000 geographical indication tags (hereinafter referred as, ‘‘GI tags”) by 2030 to compete with international players like China, Germany and Hungary. With a Committee being formulated to monitor India’s progress in this regard, Minister, Piyush Goyal has emphasised upon the need for better packaging and branding in collaboration with Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).¹ The need of the hour is also to protect the GI tags through a better intellectual property system. But an unevaluated factor remains to be assessed for India to achieve its target by 2030. It is the escalating threat of climate change that has begun to disrupt the climatic and ecological conditions on which the GI products are fundamentally dependent for their production. The GI products are essentially the representation of their specific geographic origin and is indicative of the qualities or reputation due to that origin. This paper investigates how climate change is affecting India’s GI products and critiques the Indian Government’s failure to integrate climate resilience into GI protection frameworks. It advocates for policy innovation and coordinated institutional responses to safeguard these national treasures.

The connection between GI and climate is complex and complicated but highly important and significant. The Preamble to the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) recognises significant worry regarding the negative impact of climate change and humanity. The FCCC similarly pointed out the escalated actions undertaken by humans that greatly increase greenhouse gas emissions. Concentration within our atmosphere, leading to warming of the atmosphere and indirectly influencing the ecological diversity along with human beings. Around 30% of the species of plants and animals’ varieties are in danger of disappearing because of the ongoing climate change.²

The year of 2025 has made the effect of climate change on weather systems and the resulting chaos evidently clear. A 2022 World Bank study shows that more than 34 million jobs in India could be at risk by 2030 due to heat exposure. Apprehending that agricultural sector would be most adversely impacted.³ This aggravating impact of climate change raises serious concerns about the ability of GI products to retain their uniqueness for which a prerequisite is environmental stability.

The GIs globally are recognised and protected under Articles 22 and 23 of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights⁴ (hereinafter referred as, “TRIPS”). In India the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999⁵ deals with the registration and protection of GI tags. As of now India has 605 registered GI tags,⁶ but there are several challenges in the legal framework of registration and recognition of GI tags because of which India lags behind countries like China (9785), Germany (7586) and Italy (6330).⁷ The post compliance checks and authenticity of the GI tags has been called to scrutiny several times as happened in the case of Tirupati laddu where sale or promotion of products by unauthorised vendors leads to confusion among consumers and hampers the exclusive right of the regional community for its production and sale.⁸

Impact of climatic challenges on Indian GI products

For India most of the GI tags come from products like agriculture and handicrafts that are heavily reliant on climate change which in the recent past has been causing altered rainfall patterns, rising temperatures, extreme weather events and soil degradation. It has been taking a toll on India’s GI products like the Kashmiri saffron, Assam’s muga silk, Malabar coffee, Pashmina shawls, etc.

Darjeeling’s tea industry has been witnessing a gradual fall in production over the last more than a decade. In 2011, tea production was 9.14 million kg, while it was 8.13 million kg in 2016. Production stood at 5.60 million kg in 2024 compared with 6.01 million kg in 2023, according to Tea Board of India data. The measures adopted by the Tea Board to cope with this is improving farm management practices, integrated nutrient management, promoting organic agriculture practices in tea, plantation of drought tolerant cultivators, etc.

The climatic challenges have been compromising the ecological and production uniqueness of the GI products of the country. Assam’s muga silk is under threat due to the rising temperatures which leads to proliferation of fungal diseases on the host plants on which the silkworms producing muga silk feed on. The rearers of muga silkworms believe that the 600 years old heritage art will perish within the next three or four decades due to excessive use of pesticides, decrease in groundwater table, etc. This severe impact of climate change on GI products also has several socio-economic consequences for the Assamese families that depend on muga silk for their livelihoods. This further disincentivises the younger generations from pursing this as a source of livelihood which withers the silk traditions and knowledge raising the risk of the extinction of an art which represents the Assamese culture, tradition, ecology, economic and environmental heritage.

Drawing lessons for reform from global experiences

European Union

EU has specifically enacted complementing legislations to cope with the impact of climate change especially on the agricultural products. The alteration in the composition, characteristics of grapes has increased the alcohol content in the wine. Regulation (EU) Nos. 1308/2013⁹ and 2019/33¹⁰ grant extensive protection to such products incorporating flexibility to accommodate vulnerabilities arising from climate change. Article 3 of the Regulation has liberalised the requirement of environmental stability for production, emphasising that if the product retains its core traditional quality and uniqueness, evolving from external pressure, then the protection shall continue despite the negative effects of climate change.¹¹ However, if excessive modification undermines the distinctive qualities that the GI represented then the protection should be revoked as it could lead to loss of consumer trust in the products representing the food heritage of the country. In alignment with the EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change, the recital explicitly acknowledges that producers “should be allowed to take account of developments in scientific and technical knowledge and of environmental changes”. This language clearly indicates that climate change is not only relevant but is a recognised ground for permissible adaptation. It affirms that the regulatory framework accommodates proactive responses to environmental challenges, reinforcing the legitimacy of climate-driven modifications within the GI system.

China

Apart from enterprises, Chinese farmers also harvest benefits of GI products. Since last year, the administration has invested more than 10 million yuan in 43 poverty-stricken counties in 17 provinces in the nation’s central and western regions to cultivate 21 GI project developments. One example is Sangzhi white tea, which was listed as a GI product in 2019. Since 1994, the administration has dispatched a group of officials to Sangzhi county, Central China’s Hunan province, to assist local poverty alleviation efforts. The white tea industry in the county has developed quickly since it acquired the GI label. More factories and farmers are now involved in tea production and marketing. Article 16(2) of the Trademark Law defines GIs as signs ‘‘that identify a particular good as originating in a region, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the goods is essentially attributable to its natural or human factors”.¹² The inclusion of human factors along with natural factors differentiates China’s recognition of GI products from the conventional protection granted under Article 22.1 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, 1994. With the advent of escalating climate change recognising human induced factors in assessing product qualities may become a necessity to protect the recognition from climate induced factors like rise in temperature, humidity, changes in the natural composition of food products like grapes used for wine, milk used for cheese, etc. To enhance its reach of GI products and affiliated rights, China has signed multiple agreements with countries like EU and USA in the form of EU-China GI agreement and the US-China economic and trade agreement which allows regions to partly share the distinctive parts of a GI, provided that the incumbent GI users are compensated for their knowhow and reputation.

Reimagining GIs in the age of climate uncertainty

As GIs are a lens through which the entire world witnesses the rich cultural, environmental and ecological heritage of any region, which makes them the most valuable asset in the global food system. Therefore, the need of the hour is to safeguard the ecosystems is through conservation efforts, giving long due weightage to indigenous practices and traditional knowledge to minimise the aggravating effect of climate change and create a sustainable environment to preserve the geographical uniqueness of the GI tags. One way to protect the GI tags can be through their integration in national biodiversity strategies and action plans. This method guarantees that the legal recognition and strategic utilisation of the conservation benefits of geographically inaccessible GI areas safeguard endangered species and their habitats. It should be made mandatory for the producers of GI tags to attach environmental certification with the products which would encourage environmentally friendly behaviour. The criteria should incentivise sustainable harvesting, minimise environmental consequences, and protect habitats and aiding preservation of threatened species. The plants and species producing GI products should be given legal recognition in conservation laws. Third-party audits and compliance checks are necessary to ensure that the prescribed environmental guidelines are abided by. On the basis of this objective evaluation environmental certificates should be awarded. Through cross-border cooperation, international collaboration, exchange of best practices and laying down worldwide guidelines for the application of GIs in conservation initiatives is imperative.

There is a fundamental gap in the definition of GI given under Section 2(1)(e) of the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999¹³ assumes environmental stability to maintain the quality, texture and characteristics of the product. This assumption is being altered due to the increasing impact of climate change. Therefore, such products which preserve and continue to represent the geographical area should only be protected. A review mechanism within a fixed time period especially in climate specific sectors is necessary to ensure that the products continue to represent their area of origin from their unique characteristics and quality. Various provisions of the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999, need to be amended to cope with the aggravating challenges posed by climate change. For instance, Section 23¹⁴ which regards registration as the prima facie evidence of the validity of GI products should include a clause highlighting that where modifications occur in the registered GI product, method of production is made in furtherance of climate change, while retaining the core traditional unique characteristic, then it would not invalidate the registration of the GI product. The registration should also be subject to periodic review assessing the quality, scientific composition, characteristics, production method, consumer satisfaction from the product.

In cases where due to climate change the recognised GI product cannot be produced in that specific geographical are without any substantial alteration of quality, texture, fragrance or its other unique characteristics, should be admitted as grounds for prohibiting or altering the recognition of the product as a registered GI. Such changes in uniqueness of the product should also be recognised as a ground to cancel or vary the status or protection granted to the products based on their geographical origin. Such measures are necessary to uphold consumer trust, deeply embedded in the most valuable asset of the global food system.

To cope up with these challenges the Government has also rolled out schemes like National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture which aims to make the Indian agriculture and crops more resilient to climate change through resilient intercropping systems, changed planting methods like zero till drill sowing of wheat to escape terminal heat stress, raised bed planting, cropping intensification with harvested water can be used to mitigate the impact of climate change on Indian agriculture and farmers. These schemes should be leveraged by ensuring a proper on ground implementation and should include protection of GI products which can also serve as the starting point for building a broader conservation-oriented ecosystem.