Geographical indications associated crops and biodiversity in the Western Ghats, India

India has taken the lead in protecting Geographical Indications (GI)s, in accordance with WTO Agreement on TRIPS. Since the entry into force of the GI Act on 15th September 2003, it has been implemented with great dynamism, with more than 160 applications, out of which more than 100 have been effectively registered as of April 1st 2009. The first motivation to pass the GI Act was to protect Indian GIs against misuse following conflicts over misuse of well known products such as the Basmati rice and the Darjeeling tea. A second reason for passing the GI Act was to protect India's rich heritage of products originating from specific regions that were nurtured by knowledge and tradition built up by communities over the years. These geographical indications were vectors of national, regional and local cultural identities providing value addition to the products. At the international level, during the negotiations on the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), GIs were also seen as a way to protect biodiversity for products originating from biodiversity rich landscapes. The paper will analyse two GIs registered for products originating from Kodagu District (Karnataka State), a major coffee-growing region located in the mountain range of the Western Ghats: Coorg Orange and Coorg Green Cardamom. In this district, over the last 30 years, in response to external market driven dynamics, intensification of coffee cultivation has led to the loss of 30% of the forest cover, essentially in the species rich wet evergreen belt of the district. The examples of GIs on Coorg Orange and Coorg Green Cardamom will give an understanding of whether GIs can be a useful tool for the management and the conservation of the cultural and biological diversity associated to the GI product itself and to the landscape where it is cultivated, while providing benefits to the producers. (Résumé d'auteur