Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems

Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS), as defined by the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the UNO), are: "Remarkable land use systems and landscapes which are rich in globally significant biological diversity evolving from the co-adaptation of a community with its environment and its needs and aspirations for sustainable development". Worldwide, specific agricultural systems and landscapes have been created, shaped and maintained by generations of farmers and herders based on diverse natural resources, using locally adapted management practices. Building on local knowledge and experience, these ingenious agri-cultural systems reflect the evolution of humankind, the diversity of its knowledge, and its profound relationship with nature. These systems have resulted not only in outstanding landscapes, maintenance and adaptation of globally significant agricultural biodiversity, indigenous knowledge systems and resilient ecosystems, but, above all, in the sustained provision of multiple goods and services, food and livelihood security for millions of local community members and indigenous peoples, well beyond their borders.
For millennia communities of farmers, herders, fishers and forest people have developed complex, diverse, and locally adapted agricultural systems. These systems have been managed with time-tested, ingenious combinations of techniques and practices that have usually led to community food security, and the conservation of natural resources and biodiversity. Agricultural heritage systems can still be found throughout the world covering about 5 million hectares, which provide a vital combination of social, cultural, ecological and economical services to humankind.
These “Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems-GIAHS” have resulted not only in outstanding landscapes of aesthetic beauty, maintenance of globally significant agricultural biodiversity, resilient ecosystems and a valuable cultural heritage Above all these systems sustainably provide multiple goods and services, food and livelihood security for millions of poor and small farmers. The existence of numerous GIAHS around the world testifies to the inventiveness and ingenuity of people in their use and management of the finite resources, biodiversity and ecosystem dynamics, and ingenious use of physical attributes of the landscape, codified in traditional but evolving knowledge, practices and technologies. Whether recognized or not by the scientific community, these ancestral agricultural systems constitute the foundation for contemporary and future agricultural innovations and technologies. Their cultural, ecological and agricultural diversity is still evident in many parts of the world, maintained as unique systems of agriculture.
Through a remarkable process of co-evolution of Humankind and Nature, GIAHS have emerged over centuries of cultural and biological interactions and synergies, representing the accumulated experiences of rural peoples.
A Global Partnership Initiative
In response to the global trends that undermine family agriculture and traditional agricultural systems, in 2002, during the Earth Summit 2002, the Food and Agriculture Organization launched a Global Partnership Initiative on conservation and adaptive management of “Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems”. To achieve this goal, the main objectives are to:
1) Leverage global and national recognition of the importance of agricultural heritage systems and institutional support for their safeguard:
:global recognition through the creation of the Agricultural Heritage Systems category with support of governments, FAO governing bodies, UNESCO, World Heritage Centre and other partners; national recognition, awareness and improved understanding of threats that such agricultural systems face, of their global importance and of the benefits that they provide at all levels.
2) Capacity building of local farming communities and local and national institutions to conserve and manage GIAHS,generate income and add economic value to goods and services of such systems in a sustainable fashion :
:identify ways to mitigate risks of erosion of biodiversity and traditional knowledge, land degradation and threats posed by globalization processes and skewed policies and incentives; strengthen conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and natural resources, reducing vulnerability to climate change and enhancing sustainable agriculture and rural development and as a result contributing to food security and poverty alleviation; enhancing the benefits derived by local populations from conservation and sustainable use of their resources and their ingenious systems and rewarding them through payment for Environmental Services, Ecolabelling, Eco-tourism and other incentive mechanisms and market opportunities.
3) Promote enabling policy, regulatory and incentive environments to support the conservation, evolutionary adaptation and viability of GIAHS:
:assessment of existing policies and incentive mechanisms and identification of modalities to provide support for sustainable agricultural practices; promotion of national and international processes leading to improved policies and incentive mechanisms.
A major outcome of the GIAHS initiative is the contribution to the implementation of Convention on Biological Diversity Article 10c: “protect and encourage customary use of biological resources in accordance with traditional cultural practices that are compatible with conservation or sustainable use requirements”, specifically within agricultural systems; and Article 8j: “respect, preserve and maintain knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous communities embodying traditional lifestyles relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity”.
Currently, a number of agricultural heritage systems are identified in Algeria, Chile, China, India, Japan, Kenya, Morocco, Peru, Philippines, Tunisia, and Tanzania. In these countries, dynamic conservation approaches are being implemented, to assist national and local stakeholders in the conservation and adaptive management of the agri-cultural heritage.
Agricultural Heritage Systems
GIAHS are selected based on their importance for the provision of local food security, high levels of agro-biodiversity and associated biological diversity, store of indigenous knowledge and ingenuity of management systems. The biophysical, economic and socio-cultural resources have evolved under specific ecological and socio-cultural constraints to create outstanding landscapes. The examples of such agricultural heritage systems are in the hundreds and are home to thousands of ethnic groups, indigenous communities and local populations with a myriad of cultures, languages and social organization. Examples of GIAHS could fall into:
Mountain rice terrace agroecosystems
These are outstanding mountain rice terrace systems with integrated forest use and/or combined agro-forestry systems, such as the agroforestry vanilla system in Pays Betsileo, Betafo and Mananara regions in Madagascar; Ifugao rice terraces in the Philippines;
and many more. These systems also include diverse agricultural and other elements: for example, integrated rice-based systems (e.g. rice-fish culture, rice-fish-duck, rice-fishtaro) with numerous rice and fish varieties/ genotypes; and integrated forest, land and use systems, especially found in East Asia and the Himalayas.
Multiple cropping/polyculture farming systems. These are remarkable combinations and/or plantings of numerous crop varieties with or without integration of agroforestry. They are characterized by ingenious micro-climate regulation, soil and water management schemes, and adaptive use of crops to deal with climate variability. These practices are heavily dependent on their rich resources of indigenous knowledge and the associated cultural heritage e.g. maize and root crop-based agroecosystems developed by the Aztecs (Chinampas in Mexico); waru-waru systems or suka collos in and around Lake Titicaca in Peru and Bolivia (Incas in the Andes region).
Understory farming system. These are agricultural systems using combined or integrated forestry, orchard or other crop systems with both overstory canopy and understory environments. Farmers use understory crops to provide earlier returns, diversify crops/products and/or make efficient use of land and labor. These practices are common in the tropics, e.g. in taro-based or root cropping systems, planted along with other endemic plant varieties from local genetic resources. These are common in Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and other Pacific small island developing countries.
Nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoral systems These are the rangeland/pastoral systems based on adaptive use of pasture, rangeland, water, salt and forest resources, through mobility and variations in herd composition in harsh non-equilibrium environments with high animal genetic diversity and outstanding cultural landscapes. These include highland, tropical and sub-tropical dryland and arctic systems such as Yak-based pastoral management in Ladakh and the high Tibetan plateau in India and China; highly extensive rangeland use in parts of Mongolia and Yemen; cattle and mixed animal based nomadic pastoral systems, such as of the Maasai in East Africa; reindeer-based management of tundra of the Saami and Nenets in the temperate forest areas of Scandinavia and Siberia. The landscapes formed by these systems often provide habitats for wild species including endangered species.
Ancient irrigation, soil and water management systems. These are the ingenious and finely tuned irrigation, soil and water management systems most common in drylands, with a high diversity of crops and animals best adapted to such environments: (i) the Qanat ancient underground water distribution systems allow specialized and diverse cropping systems in Iran, Afghanistan and other central Asian countries with associated home gardens and endemic blind fish species living in underground waterways; (ii) the oases of the Maghreb in deserts of North Africa and the Sahara; (iii) traditional valley bottom and wetland management such as the water management systems in Lake Chad, the Niger river basin and interior delta e.g. floating and flooded rice systems;and (iv) other ingenious irrigation systems in Bamileke region, Cameroon; of Dogon tribes in Mali and Diola tribes in Senegal; as well as the village tank system in Sri Lanka and India.
Complex multi-layered home gardens. These agricultural systems feature complex multi-layered home gardens with wild and domesticated trees, shrubs and plants for multiple foods, medicines, ornamentals and other materials, possibly with integrated agro-forestry, swidden fields, huntinggathering or livestock, such as the home garden systems in China, India, the Caribbean, the Amazon (Kayapó) and Indonesia (e.g. East Kalimantan and Butitingui).
Below sea level systems. These agricultural systems feature soil and water management techniques for creating arable land through draining delta swamps. The systems function in a context of rising sea and river levels while continuously raising land levels, thereby providing a multifunctional use of land (for agriculture, recreation and tourism, nature conservation, culture conservation and urbanization) e.g. Polder or dyke systems in the Netherlands; Kuttanad wetlands in Kerala, India; floating gardens in Bangladesh and South Asia.
Tribal agricultural heritage systems. These systems feature the various tribal agricultural practices and techniques of managing soil, water and crop cultivars in sloping lands from upper to lower valleys using mixed and/or a combination of cropping systems and integrating indigenous knowledge systems e.g. Seethampheta in Andhra Pradesh, the Apatani rice fish culture, the Zabo system, Darjeeling system in the Himalayas, and many other systems in India.
High-value crop and spice systems. These systems feature management practices of ancient fields and high value crops and spices, devoted uniquely to specific crops or with crop rotation techniques and harvesting techniques that requires acquired handling skills and extraordinary finesse e.g. Saffron systems in Iran, Afghanistan and Kashmir, India.
Hunting-gathering systems. This features unique agricultural practices such as harvesting of wild rice in Chad and honey gathering by forest dwelling peoples in Central and East Africa.
There are numerous other agricultural heritage systems around the world meriting identification, assessment and dynamic conservation. One of the main tasks of GIAHS partnership initiative is this work in collaboration with local communities, national governments and other national and international institutions.
GIAHS pilot systems around the world
The GIAHS initiative has selected pilot systems located in several countries of the developing world. The values of such systems not only reside in the fact that they offer outstanding aesthetic beauty, are key in the maintenance of globally significant agricultural biodiversity, and include resilient ecosystems that harbour valuable cultural inheritance, but also have
sustainably provisioned multiple goods and services, food and livelihood security for millions of poor and small farmers, local community members and indigenous peoples, well beyond their borders.
Despite the fact that in most part s of the world, modernity has been characterized by a process s of cultural and economic homogenization, in many rural areas specific cultural groups remain linked to a given
geographical and social context in which particular forms of traditional agriculture and gastronomic traditions thrive. It is precisely this persistence that makes for the selection of these areas and their rural communities a GIAHS site.
The dynamic conservation of such sites and their cultural organization is the basis for a strategy of territorial development and socio-cultural revival.
Overcoming poverty is not equivalent to resignation to loss of the cultural richness of rural communities. On the contrary, the foundation of regional development should be the existing natural and agro-biodiversity and the socio-cultural context
that nurtures it.
Chiloe Agriculture System

Chiloé island, Chile
The Archipelago of Chiloé, a group of islands in southern Chile, is a land rich in mythology, with native forms of agriculture practiced for hundreds of years based on the cultivation of numerous local varieties of potatoes.
Traditionally the indigenous communities and farmers of Chiloé cultivated about 800-1 000 native varieties of potatoes before the onset of agricultural modernization. The varieties that still exist at present are the result of a long domestication process, selection and conservation made by ancient Chilotes.
The conservation of such rich genetic diversity provides a major social-economic service to the Chilotan people by improving their nutrition, welfare and resiliency, as many varieties are resistant to introduced pathogens and droughts which are increasingly affecting the region.
Native varieties are highly adapted to the range of ecological conditions found in the region and are of key importance for subsistence production.
With more than 60% of the population still living in rural areas, Chilotan small farmers located in inland as well as coastal valleys are cultivating native and exotic potatoes, elephant garlic, wheat, oats and rye. Old apple varieties
in small orchards with native vegetation are utilized to make cider. In addition many farmers preserve native forest areas from which they derive wood and other non-timber products. Others gather from the wild or grow a variety of medicinal plants. Most harvest for subsistence family use but surplus is sold in local markets in nearby towns or cities. Potatoes, sheep
meat, and marine resources are the backbone of the food security of the Chilotan population.
Rural women have traditionally carried out agrobiodiversity conservation activities in small plots on family vegetable gardens, comprising a key source of knowledge about on-farm seed conservation, cultivation and potato-based gastronomy in their respective communities.
Andean agriculture system
The Cuzco-Puno corridor, Peru
The Andes are a range of mountains including valleys, Puna and Páramos. These valleys are considered as one of the most heterogeneous ecological environments in the planet. Andean people have domesticated a suite of crops and animals. Of particular importance are the numerous tubers, of which the potato is the most prominent. Several hundreds of varieties have been domesticated by generations of Aymara and Quechua in the valleys of Cusco and Puno, of which more than 400 varieties are still grown today. The maintenance of this wide genetic base is adaptive since it reduces the threat of crop loss due to pests and pathogens specific to particular strains of the crop. Other tubers grown include oca, mashua, ullucu, arracacha, maca, achira and
yacón. Farmers also grow some fruit trees, corn and chenopods.
Ascending the Andes range of mountains, a transect of different climates and plant communities, and a human landscape composed of
terraces, irrigation works, patchworks of crop fields and settlements can be found. The impact of the complex Andean environment on human economy has resulted in vertical arrangements of settlements and agricultural systems. The pattern of verticality derives from climatic and biotic differences related to altitude and geographical location.
The evolution of agrarian technology in the Central Andes has produced extensive knowledge about using the environment. This
knowledge affected the division of the Andean environment into altitudinally arranged agroclimatic belts, each characterized by a specific field and crop rotation practices, terraces and irrigation systems, and the selection of many animals, crops, and crop varieties.
The most important cultural adaptation to these environmental constraints has been the development of farming systems and technologies designed to yield an adequate diet with local resources while avoiding soil erosion. The highlands of Peru contain more than 600 000 hectares of terraces, mostly constructed during prehistoric times. These staircase farms, built up in steep mountain slopes with stonewalls, contributed vast amounts of food to the Incas.
They provided tillable land, controlled erosion, and protected crops during freezing nights. Many were irrigated with water carried at long distances through stone canals. Today, as in the distant past, the major crops grown on these terraces are native tubers, such as potatoes, oca and ulluco.
The 350 kilometre transect of the GIAHS pilot site captures such environmental verticality and heterogeneity as it extends from the southern area of the Peruvian Andes and includes the environment around the sacred city of the Incas, Machu Picchu, (1 900 m), including the whole Vilcanota river watershed up to the divortium aquarium in the Raya (4 300 m), crossing to the northern part of the Peruvian high plateau to reach Lake Titicaca (3 800 m). In this transect, more than 300 native communities maintain most of the ancient traditional agricultural technologies, in spite of strong outside economic influences. A long list of cultural and agriculture treasures from the Inca civilization can be found in this GIAHS transect, and has been carefully conserved and improved
over centuries to live in high altitudes (from 1 000 to 4 000 meters above sea level). One of the most amazing features of this agriculture heritage is the terracing system used to control land degradation. Terraces allow cultivation in steep slopes and at different altitudes. Andean peasants manage a diversity of crops and crop varieties which have been adapted to different altitudes and are grown in up to 20 plots in different ecological zones to spread risk across the mountain environment. A plot is seldom dominated by a single crop, and even a potato field has up to 10 different varieties. Crops are combined for different purposes.
Mashua and potato are grown together as protection against certain diseases. To prevent cattle damage, tarhui (lupine) is planted on the edge of maize fields. Maize, beans and pumpkin complement each other in maintaining soil fertility
and growing space. In the high plateaus around Lake Titicaca, farmers used to dig trenches (called “sukakollos” or “waru-waru”) around their raised fields.
These trenches were filled with water, modifying
or regulating the microclimate and allowing
for crop production in the midst of frosts. These
ingenious platforms of soil surrounded by ditches
filled with water are able to produce bumper crops,
despite floods, droughts, and the killing frost
common at altitudes of nearly 4 000 m. The revival
of this ingenious system in the form of raised fields
emerged on the high plains of the Peruvian Andes
about 3 000 years ago.
The combination of raised beds and canals has
proven to have important temperature moderation
effects, extending the growing season and leading to
higher productivity on the Waru-Warus compared
to chemically fertilize normal pampa soils. In the
Huatta district, reconstructed raised fields produced
impressive harvest, exhibiting a sustained potato
yield of 8 to 14 tons per hectare per year (t/ha/yr).
In Camjata, with the waru-waru system, the potato
yields can reach up to 13 tons per hectare per year.
Ifugao Rice Terraces
Philippines
The ancient Ifugao Rice Terraces (IRT) are
the country’s only remaining highland
mountain ecosystem (about 68 000 hectares)
featuring ingenuity of the Ifugaos which has
created a remarkable agricultural farming
system and has retained the viability of a 2 000
year-old organic paddy farming. The continued
existence and viability of the rice terraces is a
manifestation of strong culture-nature connections,
marvelous engineering systems, innovativeness
and determined spirit of the Ifugaos to
maximise use of mountainous lands for food
production. In 1995, five terrace clusters in
the Ifugao province were declared UNESCO
World Heritage Sites honouring the spectacular
landscapes reflecting the harmony between
rural society and the environment.
The rice terraces are supported by indigenous
knowledge management of muyong, a
private forest that caps each terrace cluster.
The muyong is managed through a collective
effort and under traditional tribal practices.
The communally managed forestry area on top
of the terraces contains about 264 indigenous
plant species, mostly endemic to the region.
The terraces form unique clusters of microwatersheds
and are part of the whole mountain
ecology. They serve as a rainwater filtration
system and are saturated with irrigation water
all year round. A biorhythm technology, in
which cultural activities are harmonized with
the rhythm of climate and hydrology management,
has enabled farmers to grow rice at over
1 000 meters.
IRT paddy farming favours planting traditional
rice varieties of high quality for food
and rice wine production. Varieties of mudfish,
snails, shrimps, and frogs (many of them
endemic) are associated with the rice paddies.
The muyong associated with the rice terrace
paddies serve as biodiversity reservoirs (171
tree species, 10 varieties of climbing rattan, 45
medicinal plant species, and 20 plant species
used as ethno-pesticides, about 41 bird species,
6 indigenous mammal species, including
beneficial species of rats, and 2 endemic species
of reptiles) and are fundamental to the agroecosystem.
Rice-Fish Culture
Qingtian county, China
In Asia fish farming in wet rice fields has
a long history. Over time an ecological
symbiosis has emerged in these traditional
rice-fish agricultural systems. Fish provide
fertilizer to rice, regulate micro-climatic conditions,
softens the soil, displace water, and eat
larvae and weeds in the flooded fields; rice
provides shade and food for fish. Furthermore,
multiple products and ecological services from
the rice ecosystems benefit local farmers and the
environment. Fish and rice provide high quality
nutrients and an enhanced living standard for
farmers. The rice-fish association reduces cost
and labor, increases productive efficiency and
reduces use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides
and herbicides for insect and weed control
through agro-biological conservation and on
field environmental protection. In the Longxian
village of the Zhejiang province this system
demonstrates an ingenious approach to generating
ecological, economic and social benefits
through integrated systems that perform essential
ecological functions.
About 20 native rice varieties - many threatened
- grow in the rice paddies, interwoven in
the landscape with home gardens, livestock,
poultry; trees, field hedges; small plots featuring
numerous native vegetables and fruits including
lotus root, beans, taro, eggplant, Chinese plum
(Prunus simoni) and mulberry; 6 native breeds
of carp; 5 other species of fish, several amphibians
and snails can also be found in the paddies.
Seven species of wild vegetables are commonly
collected along field borders where 62 forest
species thrive with 21 species used as food
as well as 53 species for medicinal and herbal
purposes.
Hani Rice Terraces
China
Hani Rice Terraces are located in the Southeast
part of the Yunnan Province. The Hani
are the main minority group and have lived in the
region for over 1 300 years. Their rice terraces are
distributed along the South slopes of the Ailao
Mountains covering an area of about 70 000
hectares. Hani villages are usually located on the
mountainsides in a landscape with flourishing
forests above and the Honghe River below. Hani
Rice Terraces are rich in agricultural biodiversity
and associated biodiversity. Rice planted in Hani
terraced fields is extremely diverse even though
it has been subjected to genetic erosion. Of the
original 195 local rice varieties, today there are
still about 48 varieties. Local varieties of rice
include Hongjiaogu, Shuihongjiaogu, Dabaigu,
Maxiangu, Mazhagu, Pizagu, Changmaogu,
Shangu, Xianggu, Shuihuangnuo, Damaonuo,
etc. To conserve rice diversity, Hani people
are exchanging seed varieties with surrounding
villages.
In addition to the diversity of rice
in Hani terraced fields, other common types of
plants and animals include a large variety of
local aquatic flora and fauna such as fish, snail,
eel, loach, shrimp, stone mussels, crab, as well as
duckweed, lotus and other aquatic plants. Wild
herbs like water celery, plantain, Houttuynia
are grown on the ridges of terraced fields. Hani
communities also raise ducks and culture a
variety of fishes including common carp, silver
carp, crucian carp, and other fish species within
the rice terraces and also plant soybeans in the
ridges between fields.
The vertical distribution along the mountain
slopes of the Forest - Village - Terrace -
River landscapes constitutes a unique system
of energy and material flows. Part of surface
rainfall runoff percolates into the underground
water system, while the balance of the runoff
and springs flow through the forests, villages
and terraces. The flowing water carries nutrients
from the forest litter, village sewage and waste,
and soil into the layers of horizontal terraced
fields. These nutrients and sediment are trapped
and filtered in the fields, hence improving soil
fertility of the terrace fields. The spatial distribution
of the different components of the Hani
terrace system performs multiple ecological
functions, including soil and water conservation,
control of soil erosion, maintenance of
system stability and water-purification.
The Hani people also invented two traditional
methods of “fertilization of rice fields
with hydropower”. The first fertilization method
requires each village to dig a communal manure
pond, in which livestock manure is gathered.
During spring ploughing, water is released from
the large pond and nutrient-rich water washes
into the terraced fields. Nutrients are ploughed
into the subsoil to provide long-lasting basic
fertility.
The second type of fertilization method
uses June or July rains, which wash dung and
humus from the mountain into ditches and
diverts them into terraced fields to fertilize the
flowering rice. These traditional methods of soil
fertilization not only save energy and labour in
the fertilization process but also make full use
of the organic “garbage” in the village and the
nutrients carried by water runoff and natural
soil erosion. Management of ditches plays a
very important role in terraced field irrigation.
Water coming down from the hills has to go
through ditches to reach the whole terrace. The
purpose of digging, cleaning and maintaining
ditches is to catch flows from mountain forests
and spring water seeping from mountains to
irrigate terraces. In addition, the ditches also
deposit sediments before entering the terrace to
avoid continuously elevating the terrace surface
due to sediment deposition resulting in declining
water-retention capacity. To enable every
household reasonable access to water, the Hani
invented a unique water allocation method with
“water dividing wood”, “water dividing stone”
and “watershed distribution”.
A wood or stone
bar is placed at the junction of water diversion
to lower ditches. The wood or stone is carved
with different sizes of water outlets to divide
and allocate a specific volume of water flow to
lower ditches. The size of the water outlet for
each lower ditch is decided according to the
irrigation area of the ditch, the water flow in the
upper ditch, and the historical order of irrigation
priority. This water distribution method not
only conserves water but also ensures irrigation
of lower hill paddy, and has set a precedent for
irrigation of mountainous regions.
Wannian traditional rice culture
China
The Wannian County is located in the
Northeast of the Jiangxi Province and the
lower reaches of the Lean River. It is under
the jurisdiction of Shangrao City in Jiangxi.
The Wannian has a long history, a splendid
ancient civilization and is believed to be at the
regions of origin of rice cultivation. Its wild rice
ancestor is found in the neighbouring Dongxiang
County.
Wannian traditional rice was formerly
called “Wuyuanzao” and is now commonly
known as “Manggu”, cultivated in the Heqiao
Village since the North and South Dynasty.
Wannian varieties are unique traditional rice
varieties as they only thrive in the Heqiao
Village. The varieties require cold spring water
and special soil conditions and climate that can
be found in this Village. The traditional rice is
of high nutritional value as it contains more
protein than ordinary hybrid rice and is rich in
micronutrients and vitamins.
Rice culture is intimately related to local
people’s daily life, expressed in their customs,
food and language. As ancient but dynamic
tradition, Wannian people have developed a set
of experiences in rice seedling preparation and
transplanting, field management, harvesting,
storage and processing. Traditional rice is resistant
to insects and adapted to poor soils, hence
farmers do not need to use chemical fertilizers
and pesticides. This contributes to environmental
quality and biodiversity conservation.
Oases of the Maghreb
El Oued, Algeria and Gafsa, Tunisia
The oases of the Maghreb region are green
islands flourishing in a constraining and
harsh environment. They are home to a diversified
and highly intensive and productive system,
which has been developed over millennia. Sophisticated
irrigation infrastructure constitute a
crucial element of the oasis systems, supported
through traditional local resource management
institutions which ensure a fair water distribution.
Dominated by the date palm, intertwined
with trees and crops, these long-standing systems
produce a surprising variety of fruits (pomegranates,
figs, olives, apricots, peaches, apples, grapes,
citrus) and vegetables, cereals, forages, medicinal
and aromatic plants. In Algeria there are about
100 date varieties and 50 can be found in Gafsa,
Tunisia. The palm groves offer shade and lower
the ambient temperature, making it the best place
to live in the Sahara and an important place for
recreation.
Agricultural products from the oasis provide
an important source of nutrition and income for
its inhabitants and for many it is their primary
or secondary source of livelihood. The systems
of production and irrigation and the culture of
the oases vary between the different locations in
relation to their environment. There are oases in
the plains and mountains, as well as in littoral
areas. With their rich diversity these oases
systems constitute an agricultural and cultural
heritage.
In Algeria, social institutions such as the
Aoumma represent the local community and
are charged with the oversight, control, and
maintenance of oasis resource systems. The
Aoumma derives its legitimacy and authority
from customary law and is dependant upon the
council of local religious dignitaries- the Halqa
of Azzabas- which is also the focus of social life
and local norms. Agricultural products from the
oasis provide an important source of nutrition
and income for its inhabitants and for many it is
their source of livelihood. Most of the agricultural
products derived from the oasis are for family
consumption and guarantee food security that is
high in quality and quantity.
In Tunisia, the oasis dwellers are descendents
of indigenous Berbers and people from numerous
civilizations that have invaded, migrated to and
assimilated into the population over millennia.
Since the beginning of the extraction of phosphate
(at the end of the 19th century) there has been a
significant influx of workers and families looking
for work in phosphate mines from Libya and
Algeria. The backbone of Oasis livelihood is the
irrigated date palm culture with integration of
other crops and livestock. In recent times other
economic activities such as tourism and remittances
from emigrated community emigrants
have provided for other sources of income and
investment.
The traditional social water management
system has been largely replaced by: an association
of farmers for water management (Groupement
d’Intéret Collectif: GIC for water), a co-operative
of agricultural services, Omda (responsible for
the smallest administrative unit), agricultural
engineering services, and local farmer unions.
As there is no integrated collaborative community
approach to water management, access to
the principal natural water sources and disputes
between water users are beginning to be a problem.
Also, due to the increased demand for drinking
water of the city of Gafsa, the irrigation systems of
the Gafsa oases are under increased stress.
The Maasai pastoral system
Kenya and Tanzania
The Maasai pastoral system in Tanzania
occupies Northern areas bordering Kenya
(from Loliondo to West Kilimanjaro) and extends
Southward as far as parts of Manyara (Kiteto to
Simanjiro), along the Great Rift Valley on semiarid
and arid lands including parts of the Ngorongoro
National park and the Serengeti Plains. The
Maasai live in extended households and manage
livestock herds to increase herd size (sheep and
goats for market slaughter, and camels and cattle
for wedding, rituals and insurance), produce milk
(for young children), for wool (sheep) and for hide
(goats). It is an old pastoral system and culture
of over 1 000 years and it continues to strike a
social and environmental balance in a fragile
environment. The Maasai are trying to maintain
their unique identity through the maintenance
of socio cultural institutions, which are critical
in regulating natural resource uses, maintaining
grazing cycles and promoting conservation
values. Maasai practices of rotational grazing
and other natural resource management practices
have contributed to creating the typical East
African rangeland landscapes that provide such
critical habitat for wildlife. In areas where traditional
Maasai pastoralism is practiced, the synergies
between their natural resource management
practices and the prevalence of wildlife continue.
However, this traditional pastoral system is under
pressure, threatened by several factors including
recent policy reforms, an increase in human and
livestock population, socio-economic changes,
and climatic changes. The livestock pasture and
water are diminishing due to shrinkage of grazing
areas, successive years of droughts, prolonged dry
seasons and increasing stocks. The Engaresero
village on the Western shores of Lake Natron has
been chosen by the government of Tanzania to
exemplify the Maasai pastoral system given its
singularity, integrity, high diversity of habitats
and biodiversity. The site also has major additional
significance, because of the presence of Lake
Natron and the volcano Oldonyo L’Engai, which
have immense ecological, geological and cultural
value. The community has demonstrated a strong
resilience in facing threats to their systems, and
has maintained associated social and cultural
institutions, which ensure its sustainability under
prevailing environmental conditions.

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