The proposed agricultural system contributes to food and/or livelihood security of local communities. This includes a wide variety of agricultural types such as self-sufficient and semi-subsistence agriculture where provisioning and exchanges take place among local communities, which contributes to rural economy.

Agricultural biodiversity, as defined by FAO(*) as the variety of animals, plants and micro-organisms that are used directly or indirectly for food and agriculture, including crops, livestock, forestry and fisheries. The system should be endowed with globally significant biodiversity and genetic resources for food and agriculture (e.g. endemic, domesticated, rare, endangered species of crops and animals).

(*) FAO defines agro-biodiversity as follows: "The variety and variability of animals, plants and micro-organisms that are used directly or indirectly for food and agriculture, including crops, livestock, forestry and fisheries. It comprises the diversity of genetic resources (varieties, breeds) and species used for food, fodder, fibre, fuel and pharmaceuticals. It also includes the diversity of non-harvested species that support production (soil micro-organisms, predators, pollinators), and those in the wider environment that support agro-ecosystems (agricultural, pastoral, forest and aquatic) as well as the diversity of the agro-ecosystems."

The system should maintain local and invaluable traditional knowledge and practices, ingenious adaptive technology and management systems of natural resources, including biota, land, water which have supported agricultural, forestry and/or fishery activities.

Cultural identity and sense of place are embedded in and belong to specific agricultural sites. Social organizations, value systems and cultural practices associated with resource management and food production may ensure conservation of and promote equity in the use and access to natural resources. Such social organizations and practices may take the form of customary laws and practices as well as ceremonial, religious and/or spiritual experiences.

1. Social organization is defined as individuals, families, groups or communities that play a key role on the agricultural systems´ organization and dynamic conservation.

2. Local social organizations may play a critical role in balancing environmental and socio-economic objectives, creating enhancing resilience and reproducing all elements and processes critical to the functioning of the agricultural systems.

GIAHS sites should represent landscapes or seascapes that have been developed over time through the interaction between humans and the environment, and appear to have stabilized or to evolve very slowly. Their form, shape and interlinkages are characterized by long historical persistence and a strong connection with the local socio-economic systems that produced them. Their stability, or slow evolution, is the evidence of integration of food production, the environment and culture in a given area or region. They may have the form of complex land use systems, such as land use mosaics, water and coastal management systems.