Geographical indication (GI) identifies a good as originating in a particular territory where a given quality, reputation, or other characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin. GI protects origin-specified products and has been recognised as a mechanism for food system relocalisation and revitalisation. The rapid expansion of GI in recent years in the global South has drawn the interest of scholars of rural economic development, yet there has been a dearth of scholarship considering the role of territory in creating, managing, and marketing such standards. In contrast, we address global South GI through application of a localised agro-food systems (LAFS) approach, which addresses the interrelationship between identity-based foods and the territory. In this article, we examine how territorially exogenous and endogenous dynamics shape local dynamics of GI implementation and the capacity of GI to reinforce and sustain elements of a LAFS. Using a case study approach, we explore GI for coffee grown on the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador and analyse how territorial resources are mobilised through GI. We demonstrate that the Galápagos coffee sector exhibits elements of a LAFS, including a distinct coffee heritage and potential for collective action in production and commercialisation. However, intellectual property laws, agro-export policy priorities, institutional dysfunction, and lack of local cooperation impeded the mobilisation of territorial resources. Our case study demonstrates the analytical purchase gained from examining the role of territory for tropical commodity sectors characterised by territorial disembeddedness, complementing and extending critical scholarship on global South GI.
Zinsli et al. (2025) studied this question.