Ministerial delegations from Brazil, Ecuador and Peru endorse and call for a strengthened agricultural heritage approach by FAO in the region

Ministerial delegations from Brazil, Ecuador and Peru took part in the side event of the Eleventh Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), entitled “GIAHS and Agrobiodiversity Zones for the Benefit-Sharing of Genetic Resources”. The event reaffirmed countries’ commitment to the agricultural heritage approach promoted by FAO and called for deepening its integration at national and regional levels. 

The meeting, held in Lima on 27 November and convened for the first time in Latin America, provided an opportunity to share progress, challenges and public policies related to the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) and to national agrobiodiversity conservation strategies. 

The session was opened by the Minister of Environment of Peru, Miguel Espichán Mariñas, who stressed the role of agrobiodiversity as a foundation for global food security. He recalled that the country hosts 98 wild potato species —78 of them endemic—, 14 of the 17 tomato species recognised worldwide, and 14 of the 42 chili pepper and chili-rocoto species, five of which are domesticated. He underlined that this diversity reflects the continuity of the work of communities that have conserved their territories through sustainable practices. “Communities have safeguarded, for generations, a genetic wealth that is fundamental for food security, and spaces like this allow us to move forward towards models that integrate conservation and development,” he said. 

FAO Representative in Peru, Mariana Escobar, underscored the importance of joint work among governments, scientific institutions and local communities to preserve living systems where agriculture, culture and biodiversity evolve interdependently. Escobar highlighted Peru’s pioneering role in the GIAHS pilot phase funded by the GEF and noted that recent FAO-supported interventions have strengthened in situ conservation, revitalised traditional practices and protected high-Andean ecosystems. “GIAHS show that it is possible to conserve biodiversity, culture and livelihoods at the same time. FAO reaffirms its commitment to continue supporting the region,” she said. 

Miguel Espichán Mariñas, Minister of the Environment of Peru
© Miguel Arreátegui Rodríguez

Mariana Escobar, FAO Representative in Peru
© FAO/Melany González

Speaking on behalf of the GIAHS Programme Secretariat, Lis Sánchez presented the global situation in a key year: in 2025, the number of GIAHS reached 104 systems recognised across 29 countries. She emphasised that these living systems integrate biodiversity, culture, production and territory, and contribute directly to the goals of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. She also highlighted that the agricultural heritage approach requires intersectoral plans, capacity development, and communication efforts to raise visibility on its contribution to climate resilience and rural livelihoods. 

Luis Gustavo Pacheco, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil
© FAO/Melany González

Nelly Paredes, National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIAP), Ecuador
© FAO/Melany González

Ecuador’s delegate, Nelly Paredes from the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIAP), presented the experiences of the Amazonian Chakra and the Andean Chakra, both recognised as GIAHS in 2023 and essential for biocultural conservation. The first integrates food crops, medicinal plants and forest species within an agroforestry system managed mainly by Kichwa women, where forest, chakra and household form a continuous whole. The Andean Chakra maintains a wide diversity of tubers and cereals through traditional practices linked to ritual calendars. Ecuador highlighted strategies to strengthen local capacities, consolidate seed systems, expand short marketing circuits, improve rural infrastructure and protect ancestral knowledge. “The chakras are living expressions of the harmonious relationship between communities and territory, fundamental to addressing the loss of genetic diversity and climate change,” Paredes noted. 

From Brazil, Luis Gustavo Pacheco of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock outlined the and the Traditional Agricultural System in the Southern Espinhaço Range in Minas Gerais and the Shade-grown Erva-mate: a traditional agroforestry system in the Araucaria Forest of Parana. The "sempre-vivas flowers" system is a 1,200-kilometre corridor of rocky ecosystems that host around 70 percent of all Brazilian Eriocaulaceae species, 85 percent of which are endemic. In the Araucaria Forest, the shade-grown yerba mate system conserves Araucaria angustifolia, whose recalcitrant seed can only be maintained through living systems. Pacheco highlighted that these efforts are being consolidated through Decree 12.097/2024, which establishes a national policy for genetic resources and articulates in situ, ex situ and on-farm conservation. “These systems show that local knowledge, landscapes and agriculture can thrive together sustainably,” he said. 

Tulio Medina, Ministry of the Environment (MINAM), Peru
© FAO/Melany González

Cristina Quintana Palacios, National Institute of Agricultural Innovation (INIA), Peru
© FAO/Melany González

Peru, represented by Cristina Quintana from the National Institute for Agricultural Innovation, presented advances on the Andean Agricultural System and the Agrobiodiversity Zones, 11 areas legally recognised since 2016. In the Cuzco–Puno corridor, more than 9,000 local crop varieties, 184 native cultivated species, five domesticated species and 361 traditional knowledge practices are conserved across 233,643 hectares managed by 52 peasant communities. “Peru’s Agrobiodiversity Zones reinforce the foundations of GIAHS and sustain our living agricultural heritage,” Quintana said. 

The meeting concluded with a joint call to deepen the agricultural heritage approach in the region. Countries stressed the urgency of placing communities at the centre of public policies, advancing benefit-sharing mechanisms for farmers who conserve genetic resources, and promoting measures to improve their livelihoods. They also underscored the importance of strengthening dynamic conservation, promoting economic opportunities in rural territories and preventing youth migration through their inclusion in conservation policies. 

Delegates agreed to promote a regional GIAHS meeting during the upcoming International Year of Rural Women, recognising their role as seed guardians and bearers of knowledge. They also highlighted that Latin America comprises a broad landscape of sustainability —a mosaic of living systems, cultures and knowledge— that must be valued to strengthen climate resilience, food security and territorial identity. It was recalled that GIAHS do not only conserve biodiversity: they sustain livelihoods, cultures, territories and innovation whose continuity depends on coordinated commitment among communities, governments and international partners. 

Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) are living agricultural systems that integrate biodiversity, culture, traditional knowledge and livelihoods, conserved by communities that have managed their territories for generations through sustainable practices. 

To date, FAO has recognised 104 GIAHS across 29 countries, a group of territories that preserve unique biological and cultural richness and offer concrete solutions for sustainability, climate resilience and global food security.