On 31st October 2018, the Mexican National authorities organized together with FAO Representation in Mexico, the first GIAHS National Workshop in Mexico.
The objective of this Workshop was to launch a National strategy to disseminate GIAHS in the territory of Mexico, in addition to Mexico City, which has already one GIAHS site: the Chinampa agricultural system. 

Due to the environmental degradation that the planet is suffering, climate change, deforestation and loss of biodiversity, it is important to learn the lessons from the traditional methods of production that the ancient Mexicans developed, affirmed Miguel Ruiz Cabañas, Undersecretary of Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during the inauguration of the event.
"It is important to recover this, because it also combines with the Objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with the universal purpose of eradicating hunger and poverty on the planet and protecting the environment. What FAO does when recognizing GIAHS is to return to traditional historical wisdom, but with a mindset of the 21st century, to contribute to sustainable food production and contribute to the safeguard of the environment" said Ruiz Cabañas.
Crispim Moreira, Representative of the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO) in Mexico, acknowledged and welcomed the decision of the Mexican government to coordinate political and institutional actions, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to promote new candidacies to receive the GIAHS recognition.
"Mexico has already achieved the recognition of the Chinampa Agricultural System of Mexico City and now the Milpa Maya System of the Yucatan Peninsula is being presented. We trust that they will not be the only two. The thousand-year-old wealth of agricultural production systems, ancestral knowledge of native peoples for the production of food, extends throughout Mexico", said Moreira.
Yoshihide Endo, Coordinator of the FAO GIAHS Program, explained that the designation of GIAHS seeks to identify and recognize agricultural systems that share traditional knowledge, pay attention to biodiversity and have amazing landscapes.
"In the process to present a new candidacy and elaborate the consequent plan of action, it is necessary that all the actors: the communities, producers, local government, academia and civil society organizations, must come together to share and revalue traditional knowledge." Endo said. 
GIAHS are productive alternatives that make sustainable use of biodiversity while recovering traditional agricultural practices of low or no environmental impact.

The Workshop was attended by representatives from four Mexican states, including the one of Yucatan Peninsula, for which its new government presented the candidate site of Peninsular Milpa Maya.

To see the photo gallery of the event, please click here