GIAHS supports local small holder/traditional family farming communities and indigenous peoples who are pro dynamic progress as regards managing the five types of rural assets.
The idea of « supporting » should be understood in the sense of accompanying the initiatives taken by the local small holders/traditional family farming communities and indigenous peoples – not in the sense of substituting them or taking decisions on their behalf.
In the face of growing climate change/variability, growth in food and agricultural production would need:
1) sustainable intensification and diversification
2) environmental and friendly technologies
3) maximizing resource use and efficiency
Given this, GIAHS Initiative promotes an “adaptive management” approach to explore and develop novel social, economical and governance processes that strengthen the existing livelihood and management practices that generate sustainable agriculture and rural development – that is, enhance the ecosystem goods and services and provide other globally important outcomes such as cultural diversity and indigenous knowledge systems. Thus, the development processes may be different from the ones presently promoted and contain new and modern elements that maintain the functionalities and principal values of these agro-ecosystems. The GIAHS Initiative ultimately, assist the traditional and family farming communities living in and around GIAHS, to establish strengthened socio-political (governance) and economic processes (eco-tourism, niche markets and new employment opportunities) that help them address the challenges of globalization and let them to take advantage of the opportunities of modern living, while at the same time maintaining the agro-ecosystems of global importance.
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