On March 6, FONTAGRO held a webinar focused on recognizing the significance of the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) Program, an initiative launched by FAO in 2002. This program highlights traditional agricultural systems as evolving and resilient socio-ecological entities that integrate ecological, social, and cultural dimensions. The event served as a platform to discuss the impact of GIAHS on the dynamic conservation of traditional agroecosystems in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In the region, seven sites across five countries have already been designated as GIAHS: Brazil, Chile, Peru, Ecuador (two sites), and Mexico (two sites). However, the program has significant potential for growth in the region, where more than 17 million family farmers play a key role in environmental sustainability and biodiversity conservation.
Throughout the webinar, speakers emphasized that transdisciplinary collaboration, where local communities play an active role, is essential to ensuring that agricultural heritage remains adaptive, resilient, and relevant in the face of contemporary challenges, including climate change.
The event featured Dr. José María García Álvarez-Coque from the International Economics and Development Group at the Universitat Politècnica de València and a member of the GIAHS Scientific Advisory Group, and Dr. Clelia María Puzzo, Senior Officer of the GIAHS Secretariat at FAO, as panelists. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Eugenia Saini, Executive Secretary of FONTAGRO.
The webinar also fostered dialogue on how agricultural heritage systems not only contribute to environmental sustainability but also enrich the cultural and social identity of the communities involved.
For more information on the GIAHS Program, visit: https://www.fao.org/giahs/regions/latin-america-and-the-caribbean/en
To watch the recording of this webinar, visit: https://www.youtube.com/live/1XAi7I_UEaI?si=rXbYkP2pgwHLrpu6
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About FONTAGRO
FONTAGRO was created 1998 with the purpose of promoting the increase of the competitiveness of the agri-food sector, ensuring the sustainable management of natural resources and the reduction of poverty in the region. The objective of FONTAGRO is to establish itself as a sustainable financing mechanism for the development of agricultural technology and innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean and Spain, and to establish a forum for the discussion of priority topics of technological innovation. The member countries are: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela. In the last 27 years 204 regional agricultural innovation platforms have been co-financed for an amount of US $ 150.7 million, which has reached 531 institutions and 35 countries worldwide.