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Inputs
Farmer Field School: Learning by Doing
Conservation Agriculture
Forestry and Sustainability
Sustainable Fisheries Livelihood Program
The GIAHS Project
Example
Farmer Field School and Integrated Pest Management
No Till Planting
Improve the Livelihood of Fishermen in West Africa
Forest Management in Central Africa
Candidates for the GIAHS Project
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 GIAHS: Preserve Sustainability of Traditional Agricultural Systems
Globally Important Ingenious Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) and their associated landscapes have been created, shaped, maintained and passed on by generations of farmers, herders, forest dwellers and fish folk. Based on diverse species and their interactions and using locally adapted distinctive and often ingenious combinations of management practices and techniques they have contributed and continue to contribute tremendously to the agricultural biodiversity and the natural and cultural heritage of the world.
GIAHS are defined as:
RemarkableLand Use Systems and landscapes which are rich in biological diversity evolving from the ingenious and dynamic adaptation of a community/population to its environment and the needs and aspirations for sustainable development (FAO).
The GIAHS project aims to establish the basis for the global recognition, dynamic conservation and sustainable management of these systems in the face of economic and cultural globalisation, environmental variability and inappropriate policy, incentive and regulatory environments. It will do so by implementing participatory action plans in 5-10 pilot systems in 5-10 countries around the world. It will strengthen the capacity of farmers and farming communities to conserve and sustainably manage these systems and enhance the benefits they produce, whilst allowing the evolutionary adaptation to ever changing socio-economic and environmental circumstances. It will provide a platform for sharing knowledge and experiences with in situ conservation of agricultural biodiversity and the development of policy and regulatory environments conducive to the sustainability and viability of agricultural heritage systems. Ultimately the project aims to establish a long-term project to safeguard up to 100-150 GIAHS worldwide.
The project aims to establish the basis for international recognition, conservation and sustainable management of Globally Important Ingenious Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) and their associated landscapes, biodiversity, knowledge systems and cultures throughout the world. Specific action programmes will be developed in 5-10 pilot sites/ systems, as well as activities to leverage global, regional and national policy and institutional support.
Heritage for the Future
In many countries specific agricultural systems and landscapes have been created, shaped and maintained by generations of farmers and herders based on diverse species and their interactions and using locally adapted, distinctive and often ingenious combinations of management practices and techniques.
Building on dynamic local knowledge and experience, these ingenious agricultural systems reflect the evolution of humanity and its profound harmony with nature. They have resulted not only in outstanding aesthetic beauty, maintenance of globally significant agricultural biodiversity, resilient ecosystems and valuable cultural inheritance but, above all, in the sustained provision of multiple goods and services, food and livelihood security and quality of life.
Such agricultural and agro-silvo-pastoral systems can be found, in particular, in highly populated regions or in areas where the population has, for various reasons, had to establish complex and innovative land use/ management practices, for example, due to geographic isolation, fragile ecosystems, political marginalisation, limited natural resources, and/or extreme climatic conditions.
These systems reflect rich and sometimes unique agricultural biodiversity, within and between species but also at ecosystem and landscape level. Having been founded on ancient agricultural civilisations, certain of these systems are linked to important centres of origin and diversity of domesticated plant and animal species, the conservation of which is of great global value.
Their ecosystem resilience and robustness has been developed and adapted to cope with change (natural events and social, technological and political context) so as to ensure food and livelihood security and alleviate risk. The dynamic human management strategies and processes that allow the maintenance of biodiversity and essential ecosystem services are characterised by continuous technological and cultural innovation, transfer between generations and exchange with other communities and ecosystems. The wealth and breadth of accumulated knowledge and experience in the management and use of resources is a globally significant resource that needs to be preserved and allowed to evolve.
Threats to their continued viability and sustainability
The rapidity and extent of today's technological, cultural and economic changes threaten many of these agricultural heritage systems, including the biodiversity on which they are based, and their societies. The focus over recent decades on agricultural productivity, specialisation and global markets, and associated disregard of externalities and adaptive management strategies, has led to a relative and generalised neglect of research and development support for diversified, ingenious systems. Pressures are constraining farmer innovation and leading to the adoption of unsustainable practices, overexploitation of resources and declining productivity, as well as agricultural specialisation and adoption of exotic domesticated species. This poses a severe risk of genetic erosion and loss of associated knowledge systems and cultures, gaps in transmission of the important global heritage, as well as socio-economic destabilisation, poverty and threats to livelihoods.
Mobilising world-wide recognition and support
There have been over the past 10-15 years a number of project-level efforts to promote local/indigenous agricultural systems and raise awareness of their importance for biodiversity conservation and food security. However, there is an urgent need to broaden these efforts to promote a world-wide recognition of the cultural and natural patrimony provided by GIAHS, to mobilise concerted efforts to dynamically conserve such systems and their associated biodiversity, and to disseminate knowledge and experience that may have replicability in addressing common problems.
This project will address this challenge by aiming to establish the basis for the recognition, conservation and sustainable management of GIAHS and their associated biodiversity throughout the world, through specific action programmes in 10 pilot sites/ systems and activities to leverage global, regional and national policies and institutional support. Specifically, the project aims to:
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Enhance the global understanding and recognition of GIAHS, by informing, raising awareness and mobilising recognition of the global significance of GIAHS by multiple national and international stakeholders and public, and leveraging sustained institutional, financial and global policy incentives and support for their safeguard and continued evolution
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Demonstrate dynamic conservation in priority systems, through the development and testing of strategies and participatory methods for their safeguard and sustainable management, and building the capacity of farming communities and populations and local and national institutions to sustainably manage such biodiverse land-livelihood systems, as well as the creation of economic opportunities and incentives to enhance their viability and global benefits they generate.
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Promote conducive policy, regulatory and incentive environments: Enhance awareness and capacity of national and local policy makers of the specific and differential policy and legal needs for the sustainable management and viability of GIAHS, leading to innovative policy and regulatory tools and mechanisms for their safeguard and incentive structures for their enhanced viability.
The project will work through intermediaries in the participating countries, including government bodies, NGOs, indigenous peoples' and local community based organisations in selected systems. In each pilot system participatory multi-stakeholder mechanisms will be established for the development and implementation of activity frameworks. Liaison and cooperation between the participating countries will be encouraged with a view to developing strong national initiatives and mechanisms for sharing experiences and expertise among countries. The project will allow to build on synergy and lessons learnt across several sites and will thereby enhance lobbying and actions to mobilise global recognition.
An underlying strategy will be to avoid or reverse the loss or degradation of essential features and attributes of these systems - especially their biodiversity - while allowing their necessary evolution and at the same time enhancing the socio-economic development of resource users and national benefits. This will require studies to improve our understanding of the evolution of these systems, using participatory approaches in the identification of ways and means to conserve such biodiverse systems while keeping them dynamic through the innovation of men and women farmers. Emphasis will be placed on strengthening the social and human capital and cultures of local and indigenous communities that underpin the sustainable management and adaptive capacity of these systems.
Ultimately the experiences, lessons learnt and tested methodologies of the project will form the basis of a long term multi-donor program for the safeguard and sustainable management of GIAHS that could eventually encompass 100-150 agricultural heritage systems worldwide.
Selection of Globally Important Sites
The project will target a selection of agricultural systems, selected on the basis of rigorous criteria, that represent a range of globally important ingenious agricultural heritage systems, with regard to their autochthonous agricultural biodiversity and associated knowledge, innovative management practices and livelihood strategies and eventual demonstration value and replicability, and the different biomes in which they occur. Site selection is done through a consultative process, which includes the perspectives of a broad range of stakeholders. Examples of targeted GIAHS could include the following "types":
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Outstanding rice based systems. This type includes remarkable terraced systems with integrated forest use (swidden agriculture/agro-forestry and hinting/gathering), such as rice terraces and combined agro-forestry vanilla system in Pays Betsileo, Betafo and Mananara in Madagascar, and diverse rice-fish systems with numerous rice and fish varieties/genotypes and other integrated forest, land and water uses in East Asia and the Himalayas;
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Maize and root crop based agro-ecosystems developed by Aztecs (Chinampas in Mexico) and Incas in Andes (Waru-Waru) around lake Titicaca in Peru and Bolivia), with ingenious micro-climate and soil and water management, adaptive use of numerous varieties of crops to deal with climate variability, integrated agro-forestry and rich resources of indigenous knowledge and associated cultural heritage;
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Taro based systems with unique and endemic genetic resources in Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomon islands and other Pacific Small islands developing countries;
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Remarkable pastoral systems based on adaptive use of pasture, water, salt and forest resources through mobility and herd-composition in harsh non-equilibrium environments with high animal genetic diversity and outstanding cultural landscapes. These include highland, tropical and sub-tropical dry-land and arctic systems such as Yak based pastoral management in Ladakh, high Tibetan plateau, India, and parts of Mongolia; Cattle and mixed animal based pastoral systems such as of the Maasai in East Africa; and Reindeer based management of tundra and temperate forest areas in Siberia such as Saami and Nenets;
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Ingenious irrigation and soil and water management systems in drylands with a high diversity of adapted species (crops and animals) for such environments such as: ancient underground water distribution systems (Qanat) allowing specialised and diverse cropping systems in Iran, Afghanistan and other central Asian countries with associated home-gardens and endemic blind fish species living in under-ground waterways; and integrated oases in deserts of North Africa and Sahara, traditional valley bottom and wetland management e.g. in Lake Chad, Niger river basin and interior delta (e.g. floating rice system) and other like ingenious systems in pays Bamileke (Cameroon), Dogon ( Mali) and Diola (Senegal);
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Complex multi-layered home gardens, with wild and domesticated trees, shrubs and plants for multiple foods, medicines, ornamentals and other materials, possibly with integrated agro-forestry, swidden fields, hunting-gathering or livestock such as home garden systems in China, India, the Caribbean, the Amazon (Kayapó) and Indonesia (e.g. East Kalimantan and Butitingui);
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Hunting-gathering systems such as harvesting of wild rice in Chad; and honey gathering by forest dwelling peoples in Central and East Africa.
Opportunities for Support
The project is timely in view of the current national and international efforts for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and combating land degradation and desertification, recognition of farmers' and indigenous peoples' contribution to biodiversity and knowledge systems and increased attention to the world's combined natural and cultural heritage, notably:
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The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in regard to agricultural biodiversity, sustainable use of biological diversity, and the knowledge, innovations and practices of local and indigenous communities (Article 8j)
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The World Heritage Convention (WHC), in line with its designation of outstanding sites and protected areas and UNESCO's Man and Biosphere (MAB) Programme
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The Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (FAO, 1996). The request of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture to develop, as part of the FAO Global System for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources, a network of in situ conservation areas is also addressed by this project
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The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (FAO, Nov. 2001).
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The ongoing assessment co-ordinated by FAO of the State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources
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The implementation of Agenda 21 and the Conventions on Desertification and Climate Change. (UNCCD and UNFCCC)
Project Planning
The PDF-B stage (14 month) of the project is expected to start in April of 2004. During this stage the project will: 1) select through a consultative process, up to 10 pilot demonstration systems and 5-10 partner OP 13 projects (that are potentially GIAHS sites) for networking; 2) develop a methodological framework and a step by step approach for the participatory development and implementation models for a "dynamic conservation" through site-specific "Pilot Frameworks" in pilot systems; 3) establish participatory mechanisms and processes in each pilot system and country and design Pilot Frameworks for each pilot system through a fully participatory process; 4) leverage global and national support and co-funding arrangements for the full scale project; 5) develop a communication strategy and plan; 6) develop the full project executive summary and project document.
The full scale project (5-7 years) will: 1) implement the Pilot Frameworks and activities within the pilot systems with the view to demonstrating dynamic conservation and generating global, national and local benefits; 2) establish international mechanisms for the recognition of and support to GIAHS; and 3) develop and establish a longer term programme to support GIAHS, including the phased extension of the initiative to possibly up to 100-150 systems, through a multi-donor, multi-agency initiative.
Project Management and Participation
The GIAHS project will be executed by FAO in close collaboration and partnership with selected member countries, International Organisations, NGOs and representatives of local communities and indigenous peoples. Partners include UNDP, UNESCO, WHC, ICCROM, CGIARs, IUCN, NGOs and other international institutions, universities, private sector, and civil society organisations, as well as interested donors. At the first stakeholder workshop an international Steering Committee was formed that includes project partners, donors, NGOs, other UN Agencies, CGIAR centres, and will in the future include other stakeholders as well, such as the governments of countries with selected priority systems and indigenous peoples' representatives. Technically the project is supported in FAO by an interdepartmental task force and internationally by a technical advisory body consisting of a broad range of stakeholders and experts
References:
GIAHS Web Site
Presentation Brochure
Power Point Presentation
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