At international level, the initiative recognizes outstanding cases in terms of biodiversity, traditional knowledge, and invaluable landscapes, sustainably managed by farmers, pastoralists, fishermen, and forest communities, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
The organization decided six new additions to the GIPAM program, including a traditional agroforestry system for growing yerba mate in Brazil and three sites in China specializing in pearl mussels, white tea, and pears.
A similar distinction was awarded to ancestral expertise that preserves vital food crops and biodiversity in Mexico, as well as to farming in the volcanic landscape of the Spanish island of Lanzarote.
In the face of extreme climate events and biodiversity loss, “these systems are bright spots that show how communities can draw on ancestral knowledge systems and practices to put food on the table, protect jobs, and livelihoods,” said expert Kaveh Zahedi.
The GIPAM are living examples of the harmony between people and nature that have thrived and evolved over generations and have much to teach us as we adapt to an uncertain future, he added.
With the new additions, the FAO Global Agricultural Heritage Network now comprises 95 systems from 28 countries, the organization highlighted in a digital publication.
abo/jdt/ro/mjm
