Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) and Fisheries

2.  Introduce the concept and programme of
GIAHS to the fisheries community
 Discuss the GIAHS criteria in the context of
fisheries systems
 Identify possible fisheries systems or
interested communities
 Identify potential partners for fisheries and
GIAHS and way forward

3. Well accepted by fisheries experts -
criteria could be applied to fisheries
It would be desirable to have high
level principles which equally apply
to fisheries, forestry and agriculture
• Adaptation may be needed in the text including the
definition of GIAHS:“Remarkable land use systems and
landscapes which are rich in globally significant biological
diversity evolving from the co-adaption of community with its
environment and its needs and aspirations for sustainable
development”

4.  Migration: Fish move
• Fisheries often less ‘site specific’ (e.g.‘traditional’
migrations in West Africa; transboundary stocks)
• Challenges to conserve cultural heritage
 Open access nature fisheries
 Common property nature of fisheries
resources
• Differences between state norms and local/traditional
practices and resource management approaches
• Importance of the enabling environment is key

5.  Biodiversity and ecosystem functions may be
different for fisheries
• agriculture adds to systems while most fisheries
extracts from systems
• However both require healthy ecosystem functions
and biodiversity

6.  Considerations for social inequalities in
fisheries
• social inequalities need to be transformed
• Customs and culture change constantly – how to conserve
without constraining evolution and innovation (‘creative
destruction’)?
• Some customs may not be worth conserving (e.g. women
cannot go on a boat) and traditional systems may not always
be desirable (e.g. in terms of safety at sea)

7.  How could fisheries sites be better promoted or
encouraged to participate in GIAHS?
 What types analysis or adaptation for fisheries specific
circumstances needs to be done?
 How can lessons learned from one type of system be
transferred to others (eg terrestrial to marine,
agriculture to aquaculture, etc) with the GIAHS
initiative?
 What types of partnerships or collaborative work
should be undertaken? And how?
• Example - Indonesia work (including fisheries)
• The Community Conservation Research Network (CCRN)
• CBD Sustainable Oceans Initiative (SOI)