This study investigates whether specialized agricultural development can resolve the structural paradox confronting China's hilly and mountainous areas, which function simultaneously as “economic depressions but ecological highlands”. We treat geographical indication (GI) certification as a quasi-natural experiment and employ a staggered difference-in-differences model to assess the economic and ecological effects of GI certification for agricultural products in hilly and mountainous areas. Our analysis employs a comprehensive county-level panel dataset (2004-2021) covering 1,373 hilly counties, which integrates socio-economic statistics with satellite remote sensing data. The results demonstrate that GI certification generates significant synergistic effects. Certified counties exhibit an average increase of 1.7% in rural per capita disposable income, accompanied by a 10.7% rise in forest coverage and a 0.3% improvement in the biodiversity index. These findings remain robust to an array of robustness checks, including parallel trend tests, placebo tests, and variable substitution tests. Mechanism analysis reveals that economic benefits primarily derive from GI-induced fixed-asset investment and employment multiplier effects generated through industrial linkages. Ecological improvements are mainly attributable to optimized land-use structure and enhanced environmental consciousness among stakeholders.Notably, these synergistic effects exhibit spatial heterogeneity and governance dependency. Economically advanced hilly and mountainous areas demonstrate stronger economic performance but face potential ecological trade-offs, whereas government-led governance models prove more effective in achieving balanced outcomes. The findings confirm that well-designed specialty agriculture can benefit both economies and ecosystems. We recommend establishing county-led management platforms, creating tailored local policies, strengthening green standards with digital tracking, and promoting industrial integration. This integrated approach will sustain the gains and advance rural revitalization.

真诚感谢两位匿名审稿专家在论文评审中所付出的时间和精力。评审专家针对论文题目聚焦凝练以及文献综述紧扣丘陵山区前沿研究的指导，以及在实证设计中强调突出丘陵山区特性，并对结果可视化的规范表达所提出的建议，均显著提升了论文质量，并让作者获益良多。