ABSTRACT
The term conuco is used in Cuba to refer to the subsistence garden, whose origin date back to pre-Columbian agriculture. The chapter analyses how the conuco has continuously enriched its phytogenetic pool since Spanish colonization, with the incorporation of a wide agricultural biodiversity associated with different productive systems. These transformations have a great social impact and reinforce the distinctiveness of the conuco, such as its high phytogenetic diversity and anthropological significance as well as its contribution to the shaping of the agricultural landscape. In this sense, the conucos in mountain coffee landscapes are notable for their diversity in an environment of great natural and cultural richness. The chapter presents the conuco as a special type of landscape that may become a category within the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS).
