ABSTRACT
Intellectual property (IP) instruments, such as the Geographical Indications included in the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), have acquired growing relevance in the identification, support and protection of local and traditional food products. However, due to their legal nature and their regulatory structure, IP-based apparatuses risk stifling the evolution of traditions, which by nature change and shift over time. Furthermore, they are not easy to establish for many communities, especially in the Global South, due to their complexity, their rootedness in Western juridical systems and the financial and logistic efforts they require. Is IP the only viable tool to effectively support local and traditional practices, as well as the product originating from them? Or can other approaches, such as UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH), Slow Food’s Presidia and the new expanding field of Indigenous Knowledge, contribute to their survival and expansion, while letting them transform to respond to new contexts and environments?
