Agriculture is often considered as one of the main threats to ecosystems. Unsustainable farming practices often result in habitat loss, inefficient use of water, soil degradation, pollution, genetic erosion, among other negative impacts on human life, including hunger, low food quality, reduced access to food resources, as well as the abandonment of rural areas. Nevertheless, when agriculture is practiced in a sustainable way, it can contribute to the preservation of many habitats, to the protection of watersheds, to the preservation and improvement of soil health. The use of sustainable and ecological practices is the key feature distinguishing traditional agriculture from intensive one. It may not provide very high yields, but ensures sustainable harvests over time, thanks to time-tested technologies and traditional know-hows and also represent examples of adaptation to harsh environmental conditions. Based on this approach, in 2002, FAO launched the concept of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) Programme, to identify and safeguard agricultural systems that are ensuring food and livelihood security, while maintaining magnificent landscapes, agricultural biodiversity, traditional knowledge, cultural and social values. This book presents 18 examples of these traditional agriculture systems around the world, with a special focus on Europe, Asia, Africa, Central and South America, as a result of the "GIAHS Building Capacity" project co-funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and carried out by the Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRI) of the University of Florence (Italy).

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Mauro Agnoletti is UNESCO Chair on "Agricultural Heritage Landscapes" and Associate Professor at the School of Agriculture of the University of Florence Italy. He teaches Landscape Planning and Landscape History and coordinates the International Master Course on Agricultural Heritage Systems. He is co-director of the Journal Global Environment (White Horse Press), Director of the Springer Series on Environmental History and Associate Editor of Biodiversity and Conservation (Springer). He is Vice President of the International Association of Landscape Ecology (IALE). He chaired the Scientific Advisory Group of the FAO program Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems. Within the International Union of Forest Research Organization he coordinated the research group "Forest History and Traditional Knowledge". He was one of the cofounders of the European Society of Environmental History and served as Vice President. In Italy he coordinated the National Register of HistoricalRural Landscapes. In 2014 he coordinated the UNESCO-CBD declaration on the linkages between cultural and biological diversity. His research activity is mostly dedicated to rural landscape,he has written about 250 scientific papers, and 20 books.www.landscape.unifi.it Antonio Santoro, PhD, is a researcher at the Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRI) of the University of Florence (Italy), and Deputy Director of the UNESCO Chair on "Agricultural Heritage Landscapes". He is the coordinator of the international project MedAgriFood Resilience, funded under the 2021 joint call SUSFOOD2 and FOSC, that received the official support of the FAO GIAHS Secretariat. He is currently involved in the "GIAHS Building Capacity" project funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation and in the drafting of the Forest Management Plan of the Colline del Prosecco UNESCO site. He participated in two projects of the Italian Ministry of Agricultural Policies, in landscape restoration projects on behalf of the FAI (Italian National Trust), in the drafting of the proposal of the Colline del Prosecco for the UNESCO World Heritage List, in the Management Plan of the UNESCO site Portovenere, Cinque Terre and Islands. He has published about 30 scientific articles in international journals in the fields landscape monitoring, cultural forests, and traditional agroforestry systems. Beatrice Fiore graduated in Forestry Systems Science and Technology at the University of Florence with a thesis on "Identification of tourist routes aimed at enhancing the historic landscape. The case of the Mona Lisa landscape". She has collaborated in the "GIAHS Building Capacity" project and is currently a researcher at the Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Forestry Sciences of the University of Florence within the project "Investigation for the Forest Reforestation Plan of the core zone of thehills of Conegliano Valdobbiadene inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List". She also works as a research assistant of the UNESCO Chair "Agricultural Heritage Landscapes". To date, she has published six scientific articles on forestry, landscape and traditional agriculture. Francesco Piras graduated in Forest Science and Technology from the University of Florence with a thesis on the evolution of forests in Tuscany. He later collaborated as a researcher on the "GIAHS Building Capacity" project at the Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment, and Forestry of the University of Florence. Currently, he works as a research assistant for the UNESCO Chair on "Agricultural Heritage Landscape" and has published 17 articles in the fields of forestry, landscape, and traditional agriculture. Federica Romano Italian-Swiss, achieved her Maturity Degree in Switzerland and her Masters' Degree in Communication at the Cagliari University. Initiated her working activity in the framework of a project funded by the EBRD and further specialized through experiences in food industry companies (Colussi Group Milan), foundations for the valorisation of Denominations of Origin (Qualivita Siena), associations working on the olive oil natural and cultural heritage (Associazione Città dell'Olio), national and regional public institutions (ISMEA, Regional Government of Sardinia). More recently, she worked with FAO in support to the GIAHS Programme Secretariat and, currently, she collaborates with the University of Florence - Department of Agriculture (DAGRI) where she holds the role of Programme Coordinator of the UNESCO Chair "Agricultural Heritage Landscapes" acting in support to research and project management activities concerning natural and cultural heritage, rural landscape and agri-food systems. Alessandra Bazzurro is a research fellow at the Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRY) of the University of Florence, where she graduated in Forest systems sciences and technologies at the University of Florence with a degree thesis on "The landscape role of woodlands in the UNESCO site Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano e Valdobbiadene". She is currently collaborating in the drafting of the Forest Management Plan of the Colline del Prosecco UNESCO site and in the the MedAgriFood Resilience project. She also works as a Research Assistant for the UNESCO Chair "Agricultural Heritage Landscapes".