Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS)
GIAHS is the programme of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) that is aimed at identifying and maintaining unique traditional agricultural systems worldwide.
Through the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems programme, FAO has designated 104 systems in 29 countries across the world.
These are resilient systems characterized by remarkable agrobiodiversity, traditional knowledge, invaluable cultures and landscapes sustainably managed by farmers, herders, hunters, fishers, and people relying on forests and waterbodies in order to ensure their livelihoods and food security.
As of now, one region of the Russian Federation – Bashkortostan – has submitted an application to be granted the GIAHS international status with the Bashkir wild-hive beekeeping product.
©Photos coustersy of : Wild-hive beekeeping in the Republic of Bashkortostan
To put this in perspective, over the last few years, the People’s Republic of China has registered 25 GIAHS sites and annually submits 6–8 sites to register its regional systems and technologies to FAO. Other leading countries in registering GIAHS sites include Japan with 17 sites, the Republic of Korea with 9, Spain with 6, Iran with 6, India with 2, and Brazil with 2. Among the CIS countries neighbouring the Russian Federation, Tajikistan received the GIAHS status for the traditional agropastoral system in the Almosi Valley in 2025.
GIAHS is similar to the UNESCO World Heritage Programme but has its own unique features: it does not preserve sites but rather supports their active, sustainable use by local communities and farmers. In addition to maintaining the system itself, the GIAHS status contributes to raising awareness about it, developing agritourism and increasing the income of the local population.
The variants of brands that have already received the international GIAHS status include the production of traditional foods, the special pastoralist system, the special product production system, the ancestral agricultural system of hunting / livestock fattening – the legacy of herders from a district, culture of herders/hunters/fishers based on communal land and water management, the ancient irrigation system, the fishing system, terraces in mountainous areas, the agroforestry system for growing, the ancient system of pear/mushroom cultivation, traditional gardens, and many others. A complete list of systems by country is available on the FAO website.
Here is the list of GIAHS systems by topic, e.g. Integrated Agricultural Systems.
1. International recognition of a brand: the Globally Important GIAHS Site (as in the UNESCO principle of the UNESCO site). The region receives an international permanent certificate from FAO. Free information from FAO across the globe.
2. Access to international GIAHS cooperation channels: creation of multi-year twinning programmes with regions of the world, participation in scientific research, expanding ties with countries participating in the GIAHS programme: Africa, Asia, South America, and the Pacific.
3. The permanent international status of the GIAHS programme allows for conducting activities all year round and not just during the summer tourist season, as opposed to “project activities”.
4. A growing foreign tourist flow, development of domestic and international agritourism, resulting in increased commercial sales of regional products.
5. Safeguarding and developing the traditional lifestyle of the local population and attracting young people to work in rural areas.
For the Russian Federation, the international recognition of domestic GIAHS brands means raising the status of the state, developing export potential and strengthening food security.
Contact
Fedor Voitenkov
Consultant on GIAHS National support
FAO Liaison Office for the Russian Federation
Email: [email protected]
Tel.: +7-495-787-21-09
IN FOCUS
More than 100 agricultural treasures: GIAHS Award Ceremony and Exhibition
The 2025 GIAHS Award Ceremony took place on 31 October at FAO headquarters in Rome, within the celebrations of FAO’s 80th Anniversary. The event celebrated 28 new agricultural heritage designations across 14 countries...
