Biodiversity And Geographical Indication

What is biodiversity?

The first thing which comes into our mind by listening this term is the green forest, beautiful flowers, sounds of the birds chirp etc. How we all used to enjoy and always wish to return it again and again. But now the time has come to protect this biodiversity from getting destroyed.

Biodiversity is the variety of species among the living organisms from all ecosystems which includes marine, terrestrial and aquatic animals living inside water. India is a hub of biodiversity exactly there are 18 major hotspots in India which is rich in biodiversity. These hotspots are the Western Ghats, Eastern (Himalayas) which covers a very dense forest with incredible biodiversity. There are many mangroves forest in India which is rich in biodiversity they are sunderban delta - it is the largest forest in the world located in Ganges rivers. Usually the mangroves forest includes the brackish water. These are very rich in biodiversity with a specified way because many of the migratory birds used to travel from other countries to India in order to get shelter in the wetland. The Chillika lake is the best example of the wetland because it is a very beautiful lake rich in biodiversity used to provide shelter to many migratory birds. Now we have got some overall idea about the biodiversity and how it is need to get protected due to its rich culture.

Now question comes to mind is how this biodiversity is being protected through our Geographical Indication.

Geographical Indication

A geographical indication is known as GI it is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. In order to function as GI, a sign must identify a product as originating in a given place. In addition, the qualities, characteristics or reputation of the product should be essentially due to the place of origin. Since the qualities depend on the place of production and product.[1]

According to the context mentioned in (Wadhera, 2017) Geographical Indication means any agricultural goods, natural goods or manufactured goods or any goods of handcrafted or goods of industry including the food stuffs, there is no specific law governing geographical indications of such goods, which could adequately protect the interest of producers of such goods. To prevent unauthorized persons from misusing geographical indications would protect consumers from deception and would add to the economic...