Over 20 years of GIAHS. A perspective on the impact and future development of the FAO Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems Programme

The Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) Programme is a flagship initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), aimed at identifying and preserving Agricultural Heritage Systems for future generations. GIAHS represent a rural development model based on dynamic conservation principles, provisioning of ecosystem services, and sustainability. This perspective paper aims to assess the evolution, impacts, and future development of the GIAHS Programme after more than 20 years since its establishment. To ensure the long-term effectiveness of the GIAHS Programme, we suggest to: i) identify an official management organization for each site; ii) implement a mandatory monitoring system based on standardized social, economic and environmental indicators; iii) promote the transition to participatory, bottom-up governance; iv) promote educational and training activities and upskilling of stakeholders; v) integrate tourism and dynamic conservation management through multi-stakeholder Action Plans; vi) strengthen the synergies among GIAHS sites for research activities, peer-to-peer learning, and best practices exchange. These recommendations could strengthen the local effectiveness of GIAHS recognition by turning designation into a basis for place-based landscape planning and adaptive management and by improving the Programme’s capacity to contribute to selected SDGs. Such contributions cannot be inferred from designation alone and require site-specific stakeholder involvement to align global conservation with local rural revitalization.