Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) 101
Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) are agricultural communities that are internationally recognized as sustainable. These sites are super important and most def deserve more publicity than they get. In this post, I'll tell you all about GIAHS and how these sites are making the world a better place.
What are GIAHS?
In 2002, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) created a system to recognize and preserve traditional, sustainable and culturally significant farming communities, AKA "Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Sites" (GIAHS). After designating sites as GIAHS, the FAO works with the sites and their home nations to protect the culture, social structure and agricultural methods used at those sites. In doing this, the FAO hopes to promote sustainability and protect traditional knowledge systems (i.e., specialized information that has been passed down through cultures).
With resources from the FAO and UN, these farming communities can more effectively advocate for themselves and participate in their nations’ politics. This advocacy and political participation can help nations realize the importance of their traditional farming communities and create policies to reflect that value. In this way, the FAO is using the GIAHS program to create a more sustainable future for our global food system.
What are some characteristics of GIAHS?
First and foremost, GIAHS are sustainable. In terms of environmental sustainability, the methods used in GIAHS often promote biodiversity, healthy soils, efficient resource use, high levels of productivity and/or other elements of healthy ecosystems. These sites can all serve as examples to the rest of the world as we all try to create more environmentally sustainable farming methods.
GIAHS are also culturally and socially sustainable. Most of the GIAHS communities have been using some version of their current agricultural methods for thousands of years. These methods have created entire cultures, knowledge systems and ecosystems as they have been passed down from generation to generation, making them central to many cultures around the world.
Resilience is another key component of GIAHS. During these communities' long agricultural histories, they have created techniques to continue producing food during unpredictable weather patterns, political instability, technological change and other external threats to their crops and livelihoods. Overcoming these challenges throughout history has made GIAHS ultra adaptable and has helped build resilience in their cultures and communities. This resilience is super important because the more adaptable an agricultural system is, the better the system can feed its population.
Another important element of GIAHS is that they are ever-evolving. Even though the ag practices of GIAHS are based on traditional methods and the UN designates these sites based partially on their longevity, the UN also recognizes that cultures change as time passes. In recognizing ag operations as GIAHS, the UN is not locking these systems into their current ways — they are simply recognizing these sites as sustainable and arming them with the tools they need to continue to evolve sustainably.
Where are GIAHS?
Currently, 57 GIAHS are designated all around the world and 6 more have been proposed. The majority of these are in Asia and the Pacific, but the sites really span the globe. On FAO’s website, all GIAHS are listed and each have their own profiles detailing how their agricultural communities operate and what makes them sustainable. These profiles are an easy way to learn about agricultural practices around the globe, beyond the vast monocultures we tend to see here in the United States and other Western nations. These sites are paving the way for a more environmentally, socially and culturally sustainable future for us all and they deserve all your recognition.