https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4850-4593
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ABSTRACT
Previous research has shown that products labeled as ‘Protected Designation of Origin’ (PDO) correlate positively with indicators for landscape sustainability. However, specific factors that turn PDO products into sustainable landscape management tools remain vague. We analyze interviews from six European production systems to explore the links between PDO-labeled products and sustainable landscape management. All case studies were linked to extensive animal husbandry. We found that PDO products can contribute to sustainable landscape management if well-adapted incentives for agri-environmental measures supplement income. Successful products are further associated with local networks that use synergies between different stakeholder interests. Due to their promotion of social-ecological goals at the landscape level, PDO products can be a powerful addition to the EU’s Green Deal and rural development strategy, and by introducing eligibility criteria that focus on social-ecological goals, PDO labeling could be classified as a sustainability standard.
Acknowledgments
Most importantly, we want to thank the stakeholders who shared their time, knowledge, and practical experiences during the interview process. Further, we are grateful for the help of our field assistants who conducted and translated interviews. Carla Nogueira supported the interview campaign in Portugal, while Danae Sfakianou and Dimitris Oikonomou carried out the interviews, and provided the translations for the Greek case studies. Regarding the final manuscript, we are thankful for the anonymous reviewers who helped with their critical but constructive feedback to make our arguments much clearer. Also, we would like to thank Brianne Altmann for her copy-editing, which gave the text its final linguistic and stylistic touches.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Authorship statement
All authors had the idea for this article and designed the methodology. LF was responsible for creating the interview guideline, planning and administrating the interviews as well as the field assistants and translators, for data management, and for implementing the PTA method. YZ assisted in designing the interview guidelines, and with transcribing and analyzing the recorded interview material. LF was also responsible for writing the manuscript while receiving constant feedback from YZ, MB, and TP. All authors critically contributed to the draft and approved the final version for publication.
Ethical statement
We enabled the recipients to participate by informed consent in the following ways: (i) During the introduction, we described the objectives of the interview and clarified that the survey is part of a research project. (ii) We pointed out that participation in the interview is voluntary and that the analysis will be conducted anonymously. (iii) We left our contact information to address any arising questions or concerns of the participants.
Data availability statement
The interview guideline is available as supplementary material (Annex 1). The original interview responses cannot be made public due to privacy reasons. Instead, summarized interview results, aggregated for each study region, are presented in Annex 2. The coding frequencies needed for the phenomenon-centered text analysis – distinguished by stakeholder types and regions – can be found in Annex 3. Interview responses that illustrate the topic are collected in an anonymous format in Annex 4, also containing the quotes displayed under results.
Supplementary material
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/1747423X.2024.2326321