Sites in Spain Europe’s first Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems

Figure: Given the very steep slopes where production occurs in La Axarquía (Spain), mechanization is not possible, obligating farmers to use manual labor and mules in the same environmentally-friendly way they did in ancient times.

FAO 28 November 2017, Rome - Five traditional farming systems in China, Korea and Spain have been designated by FAO as "Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems". 

These include two sites in Spain which are the first such sites ever to be recognized in Europe– the Malaga Raisin Production System in La Axarquía and the Salt Production System in Añana. 

Two sites in China were also named - an integrated system of agriculture, animal husbandry and forestry (the Zhagana Agriculture-Forestry-Animal husbandry Composite System), and an integrated system that produces mulberry and fish (the Mulberry Dyke and Fish Pond System in Houzhou).

And in the Republic of Korea, the traditional production system for Hadong tea in Hwagae-myeon–a very ancient sustainable and eco-friendly way of producing tea – was also designated.

The new sites were officially recognized during the meeting of FAO’s Scientific Advisory Group (SAG) on Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) in Rome on November 23-25. 

“The newly recognized GIAHS sites represent a wide variety of agricultural practices and showcase how traditional knowledge, together with strong cultural identity and a harmonic relationship with nature, can create sustainable agricultural systems, while maintaining landscape features, biodiversity, natural resources, as well as providing food and livelihood security to local farmers over time,” said GIAHS Programme Coordinator, Yoshihide Endo. 

“The two Spanish sites present very unique characteristics and represent the heritage of sustainable agriculture in Spain, with very long history and strong cultural values related to the production systems,” he added noting that this is a “historical designation” since they are the first GIAHS sites recognized in Europe. 

See more: http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1069903/icode/