Sustainable Tourism Law

APPELLATIONS OF ORIGIN IN TOURISM 517 These functions, designed for the AO, are in turn linked to the recognized functions of the rural world, going beyond food production. According to Ceballos (2017), they are: 1) To constitute a vital and economic space and a family environment for part of the population. 2) To have a characteristic and proper cultural life. 3) To represent the basis of the production of rawmaterials and food products. 4) To maintain the natural foundations of life, for example, water, soil and air. 5) To offer a varied landscape of civilization, suitable for the rest of Humanity. 6) To constitute the living space of a great variety of animals and plants. Based on the functions that AO can perform, especially those that enhance residents’ interests, local heritage and symbolic values associated with a territory, the following section analyses the role of this legal institution in sustainable tourism development. V. APPELLATIONS OF ORIGIN AS A TOOL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT V.1. Non-commercial issues of AO An analysis of the role of appellations of origin in the sustainable development of the geographical areas to which they are linked implies, in the first instance, considering the role of these territories per se. At the European level, during the 1990s, the Cork Declaration, in the framework of The European Conference on Rural Development, stressed the need to prioritise the sustainable development of rural areas and to establish it as a fundamental principle. In the same vein, Agenda 2000: For a stronger and wider Union, established rural development as the second pillar of the common agricultural policy, in order to secure the future of Europe’s rural areas. In this context, and taking the previously examined functions of the AO into account, the potential of this legal institution with regard to sustainable development could be considered. Although there are some studies on the public-legal implications of the AO (cf. López, 1996; González, 2003; Serrano-Suñer and González, 2004 and Ceballos, 2017), there is still insufficient research into their legal system by