ABSTRACT
As discussed in this book, the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) represent unique subsets of smallholders’ family agricultural systems that exemplify, among other things, the customary use (Articles 10c and 8j of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), 1992) of globally significant agricultural biodiversity, and merit recognition as a heritage of humankind within national and sovereign jurisdictions (Koohafkan and Altieri, 2010). With the rapid advances in globalization, liberalization of trade and revolution in communications, these traditional systems increasingly face challenges from factors such as (a) agricultural transformation, emergence of agribusiness and loss of traditional agricultural know-how and techniques; (b) lack of payment for non-market goods and services; (c) outmigration of farmers due to economic crisis or opportunities elsewhere; (d) loss of biodiversity; and (e) cultural erosion. In the absence of a dedicated global support structure, however, many of these heritage systems and associated communities are threatened with virtual extinction.
