(AGENPARL) – Fri 31 October 2025 [NewsMedia_NewsRelease]
FAO honours 28 Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems across 14 countries
Award Ceremony celebrates communities preserving traditional knowledge, biodiversity and resilience for a food secure future
31/10/2025
Rome – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) today marked a milestone celebrating 28 sites across 14 countries that have been designated as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) over the past two years.
The Award ceremony at FAO’s Rome headquarters was organized in the framework of FAO’s 80th Anniversary. In honouring the sites, it highlighted their vital contribution to protecting agrobiodiversity, sustaining traditional knowledge and strengthening the resilience of rural communities in the face of climate change.
The global GIAHS network currently comprises 102 systems worldwide.
“My special congratulations go to the farmers, fishers, pastoralists and foresters who keep this traditional knowledge alive, at a time when it is more relevant than ever,” said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu in a video message to ceremony participants.
“These time-tested innovations offer practical lessons for protecting ecosystems, adapting to the impacts of the climate crisis, ensuring food security and safeguarding livelihoods,” Qu said. “Each GIAHS site reflects how agricultural traditions can help achieve the Four Betters: Better Production, Better Nutrition, a Better Environment and a Better Life – leaving no one behind,” he added.
The ceremony included interventions from Guillem Casal Font, Minister of Environment, Agriculture and Livestock and Government Spokesperson of Andorra; Nilton Garrido de Sousa Pontes, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development of São Tomé and Príncipe; and Hakimzoda Qurbon, Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Tajikistan. Messages were also delivered on behalf of the Ministers of Agriculture of Indonesia, Italy, and Japan.
Other High-level government representatives who attended the Award ceremony were Ana Lilia Rivera Rivera, Senator of the Republic of Mexico; Daniele Milano, Mayor of Amalfi, Italy; and Oswaldo Betancort García, President of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Spain.
The Secretary-General of UN Tourism, Zurab Pololikashvili, also shared a video message on the occasion, highlighting the strong links between agricultural heritage systems, sustainable tourism and rural development.
The programme also featured a high-level Policy Dialogue session that gathered senior officials of selected countries to discuss and share experience on the enabling environment conducive for the development of GIAHS. It also included a session on “Talk Show – Voices from Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems”, a vibrant exchange that brought together community representatives from Brazil, Ecuador, the Republic of Korea, Italy, Tanzania and Tunisia.
Among them were a Maasai pastoralist leader, an Indigenous woman farmer from Cotacachi, and a haenyeo diver from Jeju Island – each sharing powerful stories of resilience, innovation and cultural pride. Their testimonies showed how agricultural heritage serves as a living laboratory for sustainability, where traditional knowledge and innovation work hand in hand to protect biodiversity, strengthen food security and inspire future generations.
An exhibition of products, images and stories from agricultural heritage systems around the world accompanied the ceremony in the FAO Atrium. Selected exhibits from GIAHS sites are also displayed in the new Food and Agriculture Museum and Network – FAO MuNe, in the area “Tradition and Innovation,” offering visitors a glimpse of all 102 designated systems.
Since its launch in 2002 and formal endorsement as a corporate programme by FAO in 2015, the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) initiative has identified and safeguarded remarkable agricultural systems in 29 countries across five regions. Characterized by agrobiodiversity, traditional knowledge and cultural heritage, these resilient landscapes are sustainably managed by farming, fishing, pastoralist and forest-dependent communities. By bridging tradition and innovation, GIAHS supports them in preserving ancestral practices while fostering sustainable rural development and more resilient agrifood systems, in line with FAO’s vision for the Four Betters and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
________________________________
Contact
FAO News and Media
Giacomo Martella
Communications Specialist
________________________________
Journalists & editors:
Online tools:
Video download via FAO Digital Media Hub
Photos via the FAO Digital Media Hub and the FAOnews Flickr account
FAO’s online newsroom
RSS feed of FAO news releases