http://www.fao.org/giahs/en/ This presentation was presented during the Joint Meeting of Steering and Scientific Commitee that took place at FAO headquarters 28-29 April 2015. The presentation was made by Prof. Stuart Harrop, University of Sussex

1. Professor Stuart R Harrop
Chair of Environmental Law
University of Sussex, UK
Email: S.Harrop@sussex.ac.uk
April 2014 – UN FAO - Rome

2. ¨ The recommendations in previous reports given by
Prof S R Harrop regarding the legal and policy context
for GIAHS included the idea that GIAHS could be
implemented through a non-binding framework
approach comparable, by example, to the UNESCO
Man And Biosphere approach.
¨ The presentation first describes how that approach
would fulfil existing, contemporary policy.
¨ The potential elements of a framework approach for
GIAHS are then considered.

3. ¨ Article 8(j); Article 10(c) and aspects of Nagoya protocol on
Access and Benefit Sharing support GIAHS
¨ GIAHS aspects of the Aichi Targets as follows (non-exclusive
list):
¡ Target 2:… biodiversity values …integrated into national and
local development and poverty reduction strategies and planning
processes ..
¡ Target 4: …Governments, business and stakeholders at all levels
have taken steps to achieve or have implemented plans for
sustainable production and consumption and have kept the impacts
of use of natural resources well within safe ecological limits.
¡ Target 7:..areas under agriculture, aquaculture and forestry are
managed sustainably, ensuring conservation of biodiversity

4. ¡ AICHI targets continued….
¡ Target 11: …at least 17 per cent of terrestrial and inland
water, and 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas,
especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity
and ecosystem services, are conserved …[and]…
effectively and equitably managed…
¡ Target 13: …the genetic diversity of cultivated plants and
farmed and domesticated animals and of wild relatives,
including other socio-economically as well as culturally
valuable species, is maintained, and strategies have been
developed and implemented for minimizing genetic
erosion and safeguarding their genetic diversity

5. ¡ AICHI targets continued….
¡ Target 14: …ecosystems that provide essential services,
including services related to water, and contribute to health,
livelihoods and well-being, are restored and safeguarded, taking
into account the needs of women, indigenous and local
communities, and the poor and vulnerable.
¡ Target 15…ecosystem resilience and the contribution of
biodiversity to carbon stocks has been enhanced, through
conservation and restoration, including restoration of at least
15 per cent of degraded ecosystems, thereby contributing to
climate change mitigation and adaptation and to combating
desertification.

6. ¨ AICHI targets continued….
¨ Target 16…. the traditional knowledge, innovations
and practices of indigenous and local communities
relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of
biodiversity, and their customary use of biological
resources, are respected…..
¨ Target 18…. knowledge, the science base and
technologies relating to biodiversity, its values,
functioning, status and trends, and the
consequences of its loss, are improved, widely shared
and transferred, and applied.

7. ¨ An integration of GIAHS with the general agendas
described and with the cooperation of multiple
agencies in joint venture would be an efficient and cost-
effective means of contributing to fulfilling a large
tranche of the Aichi targets already agreed at Nagoya
along with other food security, food safety and
resilience goals established since the World Summit in
2000.
¨ Bearing in mind the recent hard-hitting IPCC report on
the current climate change projections; a resolution
depicting a framework for taking GIAHS further
would also contribute to facilitating climate change
buffers and to strategies for food security and resilience
in the context of the complexity and uncertainty of
climate change.

8. ¨ Current UN FAO priorities and strategies and relevance of GIAHS for
national and global food security and resilience, food safety,
environmental sustainability, human health and well-being and
averting negative climate change feedback
¨ GIAHS sites comprise dynamic and adaptive“systems” rather than
geographically restricted museum activities
¨ Promote support for these systems generally in regional, national and
local planning/land use regulation
¨ Promote nationally/regionally eco-labels supporting GIAHS-sourced
products in order to secure local economic stability and resilience
¨ Promote zoning around and within biodiversity protected areas for
GIAHS operations
¨ Promote global knowledge exchange, knowledge repositories for
GIAHS in line with other instruments such as PGRFA
¨ Refer to links with the PGRFA, CBD, the Aichi targets, the UNESCO
MAB programme, RAMSAR, WIPO etc.
¨ Describe obstacles and challenges to fulfilling GIAHS goals and recite
commitment to measures to respond to such obstacles/challenges

9. ¨ Article 1 – GIAHS definition and function
¨ Article 2 – Description of parties to the GIAHS network (e.g..
Cooperation between state partners and international agencies etc.
¨ Article 3 –Governance structure and committees - detailed mode of
establishment, reporting, meetings, secretariat, funding and other
administrative matters etc. in the ANNEX.
¨ Article 5 – Knowledge sharing and intellectual property rights –
linkages to PGRFA etc.
¨ Article 6 – Prior informed consent issue etc. – linkages to Nagoya
Protocol/CBD
¨ Article 7 – Arrangements for shared sites (e.g. with UNESCO MAB,
RAMSAR etc.)
¨ Article 8- Scientific monitoring
¨ Article 9 - Reporting and monitoring of progress/status of GIAHS
designated sites and state/party action
¨ ANNEX -GIAHS criteria for acceptance; procedural detail for approval
and operation of GIAHS sites; terms of reference for committees/
detailed governance measures etc. as referred to in Article 3

10. Professor Stuart R Harrop
Chair of Environmental Law
University of Sussex, UK
Email: S.Harrop@sussex.ac.uk
April 2014 – UN FAO - Rome