Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems: Learning from the past, securing a resilient future

GIAHS is a programme of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), founded as a UN partnership initiative for sustainable development in 2002. It aims to identify, support and safeguard globally important agricultural heritage systems and their livelihoods, agricultural and associated biodiversity, knowledge systems, cultures and landscapes around the world. GIAHS sites are not living museums, but places where people practise ‘dynamic conservation’. They retain the best of the past to build a sustainable future. This factsheet highlights the work done by Bioversity International and the World Agricultural Heritage Foundation (WAHF) to support GIAHS to become stronger and more action oriented e.g. they provide on-the-ground technical support to farmer communities, promote market opportunities and mobilize financial resources for the implementation of GIAHS dynamic conservation action plans.