Title: Conservation and Sustainable Management of Globally Important Ingenious Agricultural Heritage System
1Conservation and Sustainable Management of
Globally Important Ingenious Agricultural
Heritage Systems (GIAHS)
PARVIZ KOOHAFKAN, Director, Rural Development
Division, FAO, Rome
2GIAHS Heritage for the future
Definition Remarkable Land 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, 2002)
- Integrated Agricultural, Forestry, Livestock and
Fishery systems - Result of co-adaptation and co-evolution of
plants, animals, humans and landscape under
specific environmental circumstances - Managed through highly adapted social and
cultural practices and institutions - Provide food and livelihood security and
social, cultural and ecosystem services - Important at local, national and global levels
- They are under threat
3- GIAHS are important for their contribution to
- Food security, health and nutrition of many poor,
helpless and isolated people - Human kind and its Agri-cultural diversity
- Biodiversity and genetic resources
- Agro-ecosystem and landscape diversity
- Ecosystem services through functional diversity
- Products and services diversity
- Collective and individual Knowledge systems
- Resilience and adaptive capacity to changes
4- THEY ARE UNDER THREAT BCAUSE OF
-
- Inappropriate policy, legal and incentive
environments, - Industrialization of agriculture and Neglect of
diversified systems and local knowledge, - Low priority given to in situ conservation,
- Low community involvement in decision making,
- Population pressure and cultural change.
5- Examples
- Various types of mountain agriculture
- Rice based traditional farming systems
- Maize and root crop based agro-ecosystems
- Taro based systems
- Pastoral transhumant and nomadic systems
- Ingenious irrigation and soil and water
management systems of drylands (oasis, qanat,
village tanks) - Multi-layered home gardens and agro-forestry
system,
6NUMEROUS EXAMPLES OF GIAHS EXISTS ACROSS THE
WORLD
Japan
Philippines
Peru
Madagascar
Indonesia
7In the Himalaya
In China
In India
In Indonesia and Bali.
People perform rituals to honor Dewi Sri. As
goddess and guardian of rice and the rice
harvest,
the Goddess Guan Yin took pity on humans and gave
her milk and blood to create white and red rice.
Goddess Pavarti, the daughter of the mountains,
was the first to grow rice.
Rice is associated with prosperity and with the
Hindu Goddess of Wealth, Lakshmi.
In Hindu Temples
In Vietnam
In Japan
It is said that the Sun Goddess
Amatereshu-Omi-Kami grew rice in the fields of
heaven, giving the first harvest to Prince
Ninigi. He was told to take it to "The Land of
Eight Great Islands," Japan.
For the Rungo people, the shadows on the moon are
created by the Rice Goddess stacking up her
freshly harvested rice in the shade of a Bo tree.
Large tapestries of rice cakes are made as
offerings to Hindu temples.
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9GIAHS is not about the past but the future
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11What are the best options for the poorest?
GIAHS and POVERTY REDUCTION
- Which work best for the poorest
- great success in past but still 790 million
people are food poor - Key questions
- to what extent can farmers improve food
production with low-cost and locally-available
technologies and inputs? - What impacts do these methods have on
environmental goods and services, and the
livelihoods of people relying on them?
12GIAHS IS BASED ON THE FIVE ASSETS OF RURAL SYSTEMS
Natural Capital natures goods and services
(waste assimilation, pollination, storm
protection, water supply, leisure, wildlife)
Human Capital the status of individuals -
health, skills, knowledge
Social Capital cohesiveness of people and
societies - trust, reciprocity, rules and
norms, networks and institutions
Financial Capital money, savings
Physical Capital infrastructure
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14The overall objective of the GIAHS Partnership
is to establish the basis for the global and
national recognition, dynamic conservation and
sustainable management of agricultural heritage
systems and their associated biodiversity,
knowledge systems and cultures
15HOW ?
- At Global level
- by identification and selection/recognition and
creation of World Agricultural Heritage category
- At National level
- by capacity building in policy, regulatory and
incentive mechanisms to safeguard these
outstanding systems and use them as
sustainability bench mark systems -
- At Local Level
- by empowerment of local communities and technical
assistance for sustainable resource management,
promoting traditional knowledge and enhancing
viability of these systems
HOW ?
16GIAHS DEVELOPMENT GOALS
- Improving understanding of agriculture systems
in their environmental, socio-economic and
cultural dimensions - Generating increased recognition of the global
significance of agricultural systems in global
ecosystem stability, sustainable development and
human wellbeing - Building the capacity of national and local
institutions and providing support to promote
dynamic conservation and sustained viability of
rural communities - Conservation and sustainable use and,
rehabilitation of agricultural biodiversity and
genetic patrimony, ecosystem services and
landscape diversity - Recognition and safeguarding and of the
resilience provided by the combination of
knowledge systems and social organisation - Mitigating threats of degradation and root causes
of dysfunction and enhancing environmental and
socio-economic benefits at local and global
levels and - Adding economic, environmental and cultural value
to products, artefacts and knowledge systems of
GIAHS by supportive policies and incentives for
their sustainability
17GIAHS OUTCOMES and OUTPUTS
- Policies and practices for Sustainable
Agriculture and Rural Development (SARD), - State-of-the art and detailed local knowledge on
productive resources, environment (soils,
rainfall conditions, etc) and agro-ecosystem
functioning, - Knowledge on agricultural biodiversity, genetic
resources and locally adapted varieties and
related wild species, - Criteria for technology development and
goodness-of-fit to local systems and
circumstances (local goals and priorities, gender
preferences, etc), - Criteria for sustainable development based on
diversity and diversification
18Biodiversity can be seen a a life insurance
policy for life itself - Something specially
needed in this time of fast-paced global change.
19- Partners
- GOVERNMENTS, INDIGENOUS NETWORKS
- NGOS AND PRIVATE SECTOR
- FAO, UNDP, GEF, UNESCO, UNEP, IFAD, ICCROM
- IUCN, IPGRI and ISNAR other CGIAR , UNU/PLEC,
GTZ, COMPAS ILEIA IAC
WWW.Fao.Org/SD/giahs www.fao.org/biodiversity
FAO-Contact Parviz.Koohafkan_at_fao.org
David.Boerma_at_fao.org
20Thank you