In developing the Scientific Conceptual Framework for the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) Programme, FAO seeks to accomplish the challenging task of integrating perspectives from those sciences that are most directly concerned with conservation and development: ecology, agronomy and forestry, economics, and anthropology. The goal is to scientifically conceptualise GIAHS as integrated social and ecological systems that are dynamically embedded in larger systems (at regional, national, and global scales), and that are subject to both endogenous and exogenous change drivers at various scales. An adequate scientific framework for the GIAHS Programme should help it to reinforce the capacity of their stewards to sustain and enhance their lifeways and livelihoods, to safeguard against losses in biodiversity and ecosystem services and, as per the objectives of the Programme, allow for the continued evolution and adaptation of these systems at a time when they are under (possibly severe) stress and subject to major disturbances as a result of social, economic and environmental change.