Noto Communiqué 2021 on Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems

Ishikawa International Conference on GIAHS 25-26 November 2021

We, the participants in the International Conference on GIAHS 2021 in Ishikawa, representing national governments and local authorities in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, international organizations, civil society organizations and others:

a) Welcome the conclusions of the International Conference on GIAHS 2021, held with the objective of conserving GIAHS sites and promoting the development of their regions;

b) Underscore the importance of the ecological, social, economic, cultural and landscape values embedded in the GIAHS and its inheritance;

c) Acknowledge that GIAHS has important clues in solving global issues such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation, through integrated and localized approaches, and contributes to building a with/post COVID-19 sustainable society;

d) Reaffirm that the GIAHS-related activities are carried out for the conservation of designated sites and potential areas, and the benefit of local communities;

e) Appreciate the opportunity provided by the sessions and the commemorative symposium at this Conference to share and discuss the efforts, achievements, challenges and future prospects of the GIAHS;

f) Appreciate the initiative of Ishikawa Prefecture in organizing this Conference and note its various contributions to the GIAHS.

g) Welcome the voices and recommendations of the GIAHS Youth Declaration, and the enthusiasm for GIAHS conservation expressed by senior high school students from the GIAHS Youth Summit held on the sidelines of the Conference.

Considering the aforementioned, the Conference recommends:

1. Offering the information on GIAHS continuously on various possible opportunities so that its awareness can be enhanced and the conservation activities are widely understood;

2. Promoting national, regional and international cooperation (global partnership and twinning) and exchange of opinions and sharing of experiences, as well as encouraging support for potential GIAHS sites in developing countries;

3. Governments, stakeholders and experts of GIAHS sites to steadily implement their action plans designed to achieve dynamic conservation and support the development of frameworks for monitoring and evaluation to facilitate their implementation;

4. Gathering information on the science of agricultural systems, activities, successful cases and lessons learned in GIAHS sites, and sharing this information with other national and international agricultural stakeholders and policymakers to make an effective contribution from a regional perspective in addressing global challenges and the SDGs;

5. Encouraging the inheritance of agro-biodiversity held within the GIAHS for future generations, in collaboration with other affinity initiatives such as the SATOYAMA Initiative;

6. Facilitating the creation of new economic activities that utilize the local resources of GIAHS sites, in particular, increasing the income through the promotion of agro-tourism specific to GIAHS which conserves and utilizes natural, cultural, historical resources and improved commercial value of locally produced products, as well as encouraging mechanisms to upscale individual initiatives to region-wide activities;

7. Promoting inclusive systems for the dynamic conservation of GIAHS sites that include women, the youth, and other stakeholders, acknowledging their roles in building a sustainable society and strengthening network within and outside the sites, taking into account the current situations of local communities;

8. Continuing sustainable use, through management and technologies that can avoid the degradation, of natural resources, ecosystems and harmony with environment cultivated in GIAHS sites, and disseminating the outcomes of this Conference at every opportunity, including its contribution to UNFCCC and CBD.