Side Event

Biodiversity and Climate Change: The role of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS)

Organizer
FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS (FAO)

Date and Time
21 October 2010 16:30 - 18:0

Meeting
Tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 10)

Worldwide, specific agricultural systems and landscapes have been created, shaped and maintained by generations of farmers and herders based on diverse natural resources, using locally adapted management practices. These systems have resulted in the maintenance and adaptation of globally significant agricultural biodiversity, outstanding landscapes, indigenous knowledge systems and resilient ecosystems, but above all, in the sustained provision of multiple goods, services, and food and livelihood security for millions of poor and small farmers. In 2002, FAO launched a Partnership Initiative for the conservation and adaptive management of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS). The Initiative seeks to promote national and international recognition, the dynamic conservation - including where necessary the revitalization of the systems and their globally significant agricultural biodiversity. The GIAHS Initiative contributes to the implementation of the CBD Article 10c “protect and encourage customary use of biological resources in accordance with traditional cultural practices that are compatible with conservation or sustainable use requirements” specifically within agricultural systems, and of Article 8j, regarding “in situ conservation”.