Results of the first year of the project

A1: Agricultural Heritage Systems Master Course 2018-2019

The first edition of the Master course started in January 2019 and finished in October 2019.

73 applications have been received from 15 AICS Priority Countries and other 15 applications from other 10 different countries.

16 students coming from AICS Priority Countries (Albania, Bolivia, Cuba, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lebanon, Myanmar, Senegal, Tunisia) and 7 from other countries (China, Colombia, Iran, Italy, Portugal, Spain) for a total of 23 students (14 women) have been selected and participated in the master course.

Beside the regular teachings, 9 guest lectures have been organized, to to deepen some themes. The guest lectures were as follows: Yoshihide Endo and Maria Clelia Puzzo (GIAHS Secretariat, FAO), Bas Pedroli (Wageningen University, The Netherlands), Sandra Kiesow (Kiel University, Germany), Alexandra Kruse (EUCALAND network), Quingwen Min (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China), Chiara Mattiello (Consorzio Soave, Italy), Lígia M. Costa Pinto and Paulo J. Ramísio (University of Minho, Portugal).

Five field visitshave been organized for the students of the master course:

Raggiolo, Casentino – Meeting with the local community in order to study their activities for the valorization of their territory through the use of “community maps”.
Assisi-Spoleto – Visit to the GIAHS site of the Olive groves of the slopes between Assisi and Spoleto, meeting with local institutions, visit to farms.
Lamole, Greve in Chianti – Training activity on the restoration of terraced landscapes and on the management of slopes cultivations.
Peccioli – Visit to the Floriddia Organic Farm, to check the traditional productive system, from the sowing of ancient wheat to the realization of the final product
Soave – Visit to the GIAHS site of the Soave Traditional Vineyards, meeting with the Consorzio del Soave, visit to farms.

GIAHS site of the Olive groves of the slopes between Assisi and Spoleto.

Lamole, Greve in Chianti.

Lamole, Greve in Chianti.

Floriddia Organic Farm, Peccioli.

Floriddia Organic Farm, Peccioli.

GIAHS - Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems

GIAHS site of the Soave Traditional Vineyards.

GIAHS site of the Soave Traditional Vineyards.

A two-weeks final stage has been organized in May 2019 in the mountain oases of Chebika, Mides and Tamaghza, in Tunisia. The activities carried out have included field surveys, realization of detailed land use maps, detailed description of the local agroforestry system, surveys with the local populations, analysis of the agrobiodiversity and of the irrigation system. The stage was also based on the collaboration with the researches of the Centre Régional de Recherches en Agriculture Oasienne (CRRAO), which led to the writing and publication of a scientific article.

Meeting with the staff of the Centre Régional de Recherches en Agriculture Oasienne (CRRAO) and daily briefing with the students in order to plan the activities

Field surveys in the traditional oasis of Mides, and the students of the first edition of the Master course in Agricultural Heritage Systems.

A2: Identification of potential GIAHS sites in the Priority Countries of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation.

14 potential GIAHS sites have been identified together with the students of the master course and through the use of remote sensing analysis and the use of GIS software.

Albania – Systems of Agricultural Production on the hills of Vertop, Poliçan
Bolivia – The vertical productive system between the Highlands and the Yungas: the Charazani Valley
Cuba – Traditional agricultural systems in the mountains of Sierra del Rosario, Cuba
Cuba – Sustainable agricultural systems in mountain ecosystems of the Sierra Maestra, Cuba
Cuba – The traditional agricultural system of tobacco in Viñales (Cuba)
El Salvador – The Silvopastoral System of the Sabana de Morro in Dolores, El Salvador
Ethiopia – Terraced agricultural system under the cultural landscape of Konso (Ethiopia)
Kenya – Is Marakwet Traditional Irrigation System a GIAHS site?
Lebanon – The Agriculture System of old terraces in Shouf, Lebanon
Myanmar – Floating Garden Agricultural System of the Inle Lake (Myanmar)
Myanmar – Traditional Agricultural System in Somra (Tangkhul) Naga, Layship Township
Senegal – GIAHS Proposal in Kataba about agroecology
Tunisia – The mountain Oases system of Chebika, Tamaghza and Mides (Tunisia)
Tunisia – The Jessour System in Douiret (Southeast Tunisia)

Three study visits have been made in the Priority Countries to check the characteristics of the potential sites, to carry out field works and to meet local institutions:

March 2019, visit to the mountain oases of Mides, Chebika e Tamaghza, meeting with the staff of the Centre Régional de Recherches en Agriculture Oasienne (CRRAO).

Novembre 2019, visit to the potential GIAHS sites of Bagan (Dry Zone), Inle Lake (floating gardens), Pyndaya (mountain tea cultivations). Meetings with the staff of CESVI in Nyaung-U to discuss the opportunities related to a GIAHS proposal of the Dry Zone and to establish contacts for collaborations and for hosting the students of the master for field works activities. Visit to the floating gardens of the Inle Lake with two local students of the master course and meeting with staff of ICEI and of Inle Speaks to discuss about sustainable tourism in the area.

January 2020. Visits to the potential GIAHS sites of Sierra del Rosario and of Sierra Maestra together with two students of the master course. Meetings with the Agroforestry Research Institute (INAF), the Instituto de Investigaciones Fundamentales en Agricultura Tropical “Alejandro de Humboldt” (INIFAT), the Ministry of Agriculture and FAO Cuba.

A3: communication and dissemination of the results of the project and of the opportunities offered by the GIAHS program.

- Management of the website and of social channels, editing of press releases, relations with the media.
- Production of an episode of Linea Verde.
- Organization of conferences in Florence, Bologna and FAO Headquarters in Rome.
- Organization of exhibitions. Exhibitions in Florence, Siena, Soave, FAO headquarter in Rome, have been organized to spread the awareness of GIAHS-related topics and of the activity of the project. Flyers and brochures have been realized for these events.

Scientific researches on international scientific journals have been published:

Agnoletti M., Errico A., Santoro A., Dani A., Preti F. (2019). Terraced landscapes and hydrogeological risk. The effects of land abandonment in Cinque Terre (Italy) during severe rainfall events. Sustainability, 11, 235. (https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/1/235)
Agnoletti M., Emanueli F., Corrieri F., Venturi M., Santoro A. (2019). Monitoring Traditional Rural Landscapes. The Case of Italy. Sustainability, 11, 6107. (https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/21/6107)
Santoro A., Venturi M., Ben Maachia S., Benyahia F., Corrieri F, Piras F., Agnoletti M. (2020). Agroforestry heritage systems as agrobiodiversity hotspots. The case of the mountain oases of Tunisia. Sustainability, 2(10), 4054. (https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/10/4054)