Characterization of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) in Europe

Marta Arnés García,Víctor Luis De Nicolás,José Luis Yagüe,José M Díaz-Puente

doi:10.3390/su12041611

Marta Arnés García, Víctor Luis De Nicolás + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su12041611

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Abstract

The recognition and safeguarding of agricultural heritage in Europe are new concepts that are gaining attention due to the contribution they make to sustainability. Of the 57 Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) that exist in the world today, only six have been designated in Europe. Through a qualitative analysis of the proposal documents submitted by these six European GIAHS to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) during the designation process, this study provides a comparative characterization of these sites supported by expert assessment. During the first phase, 24 specific sub-criteria were observed based on the five main criteria that a site has to meet in order to demonstrate its global relevance as an agricultural heritage of humanity. The relevance of the resulting sub-criteria was then assessed by a Delphi panel of experts and the validated ones were applied in an assessment of the six European sites. The European GIAHS sites are characterized by the high value of their cultural landscapes’ evolution, modeled by traditional and adaptive agriculture knowledge and practices that are promoted and maintained thanks to organized and committed social organizations. The results of structuring of sub-criteria can facilitate the application of other possible European GIAHS sites.

Highlights

This study aims to dig into the main features of the agricultural heritage in Europe as an initial overview to comprehend the sustainability lying within these traditional systems, which have been maintained for hundreds even thousands of years
With the aim of characterizing the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) in Europe, this study has focused on the comparative analysis of the proposal documents and is supported by expert judgment
The study has been carried out in three phases: (I) Review of the GIAHS proposal documents and qualitative analysis of their content for the extraction of comparison sub-criteria, (II) Experts’ assessment of the extracted sub-criteria through a Delphi panel, (III) and Characterization of the European GIAHS sites based on the sub-criteria validated by the experts

Summary

Introduction

The rise of globalization has brought numerous changes to contemporary society, especially in recent decades. It is the most relevant phenomenon of the last century in terms of the development of human societies. As core cogs in the globalization machine, food and livelihood systems are changing dramatically, as are the use of natural resources, the environment, and societies. The expansion of the food trade has connected local markets around the world and political agendas in agricultural and environmental matters. Since the 1970s, policies have focused on investment in inputs for modern agriculture, research in technological innovation, and agrarian reforms [1]

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