Agricultural heritage: preserve, develop and be proud
On 21 June 2022, the FAO Moscow Office together with the National Association of Rural and Ecotourism and the Department of Social-Economic Geography of Foreign Countries at the Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), and with the support of the FAO GIAHS Secretariat, held an international online conference entitled “Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) in Russia and rural tourism: initial contact” dedicated to promoting the GIAHS Programme and strengthening rural and agri-tourism in Russia.
Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation, Alexey Naumov, Head of the Department of the MSU Geography Faculty and Vadim Kalinichev, Executive Director of the National Association of Rural and Ecotourism were the moderators of the conference.
Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation, in opening noted that “indeed, we are now working on the platform of the first GIAHS national seminar. Today, representatives of state bodies, local authorities, academics, representatives of public organizations, our foreign colleagues, FAO experts, and representatives of a number of countries that have become pioneers in working on Globally Important Agricultural Heritage are taking part in our conference.”
“Russia is just starting this journey, thus this platform is crucial for a first experience exchange to share our own vision, perspectives and chart ways to work together.” the Head of the FAO Moscow Office highlighted.
“Traditional agricultural systems feed millions of rural people around the world. They help maintain biodiversity, preserve genetical resources, build climate resilience and are a livelihood source, as well,” Oleg Kobiakov noted.
“Such practices directly affect food security in the regions, help implement SDG-2, relating to ending hunger, and many other sustainable goals. Traditional activities also include an economic component, which takes in the trade in unique products produced within the GIAHS systems, eco and agri-tourism. It also includes a social component, which consists in the maintenance of small and family farms and the preservation of traditions, as well as an ecological component, aimed at maintaining and preserving the environment and ecosystems, first and foremost, natural landscapes formed by nature,” the Director of the FAO Moscow Office noted.
Endo Yoshihide, FAO Secretariat Coordinator for GIAHS, expressed gratitude to the organizers and participants of the conference for promoting the GIAHS Programme in Russia. “The GIAHS sites are of global importance for preserving agrobiodiversity, traditional agriculture and for preserving natural landscapes,” he noted. “Recently, the GIAHS Programme has been gaining popularity in many countries all around the world, especially as a symbol of sustainable agriculture,” Endo Yoshihide-san said. He noted that at the moment 65 sites in 22 countries have been designated as GIAHS and this figure is expected to only grow in the future.
The main guest of the conference, Ilshat Fazrakhmanov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture of the Republic of Bashkortostan, in his welcoming remarks noted that “we think that agri-tourism and tourism in general are a form of new competences, a new life. We have lived here in the Republic of Bashkortostan, no one here have been involved in attracting investments from other people, tourists, but today, a new phase of life has begun. And with great surprise, we are discovering our own home, our own country from a completely new prospective,” Ilshat Fazrakhmanov noted.
“Today, priority areas of the government, state bodies, business and the population of our Republic are to preserve existing ecosystems and, of course, economic development of territories, all while not damaging our nature and ecology. The Agenda also includes food security. We receive a sufficient amount of agricultural products. We are building a food production system: for example, at the moment we are building livestock industrial farms for the production of dairy products with a zero-carbon footprint,” he informed the audience.
Moreover, Ilshat Fazrakhmanov spoke about the priority areas for the development agricultural industry in the Republic of Bashkortostan noting that special attention is paid to small farms and individual household plots “Of the 4 million population of the Republic, 1.5 million live in rural areas, which accounts for the 38 percent of the population.” In his speech, he particularly emphasized an ancient traditional craft for honey harvesting – the wild-honey farming.
Vladimir Moshkalo, Head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Office in Russia, stressed that tourism is the third largest export industry in the world after the trade in chemicals and energy resources. Referring to the data of the Tourist Organization, Vladimir Moshkalo noted “Last year, tourists made about 415 million trips, which is 4 percent more than the year at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared to 2019, the amount of tourist trips dropped by 72 percent, which made 2021 the worst year ever since 2020.”
“The economic contribution to global GDP last year amounted to about USD 1.9 billion, which is 19 percent more if compared to 2020, but 46 percent less if compared to 2019,” Vladimir Moshkalo said.
Thematic cluster “GIAHS in Russia”
Alexey Naumov, Head of Department of the MSU Geography Faculty, Head of Department of the HSE Institute of Agrarian Studies, as co-moderator, stressed the importance of the GIAHS Programme “it is an important and perspective programme for both Russian and every country in the world.”
“Despite the fact that centuries separate us from those distant times when primitive agriculture was born, despite the fact that modern agriculture has leaped far ahead, a number of very different forms of agricultural practices, which appeared at the dawn of civilization, have been conserved and retained. In the Age of agriculture 4.0, these practices remain highly sought, and thanks to them quite a lot of food products are produced, agricultural heritage is preserved, and they attract tourists,” Alexey Naumov noted.
Aurelie Fernandez, FAO GIAHS Programme expert, in her presentation “Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems Programmes” explained what GIAHS stands for. GIAHS means “remarkable land use systems and landscapes which are rich in globally significant biological diversity evolving form the co-adaptation of a community with its environment and its needs and aspirations for sustainable development,” Aurelie Fernandez defined.
GIAHS was launched as an initiative in 2002, became an official FAO corporate programme in 2015. GIAHS’ goal is to identify, designate and promote the dynamic conservation of unique agricultural systems around the world. The motives behind the initiative, as detailed by the FAO expert, were driven by “rapid social, environmental, economic changes; biodiversity, cultural, ecosystem losses and degradation; climate change impact; unadapted policies and low incentives; demographic increases and low control urbanization; lack of visibility of their fragility/threats and recognition for their potentialities as positive change makers – living innovative laboratories.”
Talking about globally important agricultural heritage systems in India, Israel Oliver King, Biodiversity Director, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, described the measures applied, in particular, in the Koraput District, state of Orissa, and the Kuttanad Region named the ‘rice bowl of Kerala’.
Most of these activities were focused on “conservation of local landraces of paddy, millets, pulses and wild edible fruits and tubers” as well as “establishment of Community Gene-Seed Banks and strengthening traditional seed distribution system; varietal purification and participatory varietal selection, popularization of some of the farmers’ preferred rice and millet.”
In the Koraput District, due to efforts by the State Government and various NGOs checking varietal losses has become routine while forest fires were reduced and reserve forests increased.
In the Kuttanad Region, as further Oliver King proceeded, “high yielding, less water intensive and short duration rice varieties were introduced”, “cage aquaculture of indigenous species promoted”, and “flood mitigation project” initiated.
LIU Moucheng, Associate Professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in his presentation “Dynamic conservation of GIAHS in China”, gave the chronology of the realisation of the GIAHS concept in the country. In June 2005, Qingtian Rice-Fish Culture System in China was “designated as one of the first five GIAHS pilot sites in the world”, Dr LIU said. In February 2009, FAO/GEF GIAHS project was launched in Beijing.
In 2012, China officially started the realization of the National Programme and in 2015, the Ministry of Agriculture of the country started the first-round selection of nominees for obtaining the status of GIAHS objects. Many systems on the list were defined as key projects and were recommended to FAO in 2016 after competitive on-site presentation and necessary on-the-spot investigation,” Dr. LIU detailed.
As of today, 128 China-NIAHS were designated by MARA and 18 GIAHS were designated by FAO. For instance, Qingtian Rice-Fish Culture System in the Chinese Zhejiang Province is a sample of “eco-symbiosis”. As Dr LIU noted, “in Asia, fish farming in rice fields has a long history. A Chinese clay plate dating to the Han Dynasty, which ruled almost 2000 years ago shows a fish swimming from its pond into a rice field.”
Summing up, Dr LIU emphasized that today, “more and more citizens know, understand and take care of these systems.”
Clyde B. Pumihic, Project coordinator at the Ifugao Satoyama Meister Training Program (ISMTP) at Ifugao State University, described in his video presentation the case of Ifugao rice terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras. Designated as GIAHS and UNESCO World Heritage Site, the people of this region place rice in the centre of its culture and agriculture.
As Dr Puhimic explained, this is “a system of rice terraces, forests, settlements, farms, and water bodies.” Moreover, it is “an ancient highland agricultural system created by relatively egalitarian Ifugao. A sustainable form of agriculture where water is sourced from a well-maintained forest flowing down to an irrigation system.”
Renata Bibarsova, Deputy Director of the Department for the Development of Rural Territories of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, noted that “in Russia, the concept of “rural tourism” has been fairly recently introduced in legislation. This concept is assigned to the activities of agricultural producers, for this reason the Ministry of Agriculture is actively engaged in this area. We have prepared a number of State support measures that will target the development of this additional type of activity of agricultural producers.”
“Since this year, we have started to provide grant support, we have been holding a number of events to promote rural tourism and agri-tourism. Together with other executive authorities, we have been undertaking a series of activities aimed at developing the infrastructure of such tourist sites,” Renata Bibarsova explained.
She also highlighted some of the industry’s challenges. “They include land degradation, loss of identity, and so on. All this is inherent in the development of rural areas in Russia. I really hope that all the measures that the State has been taking to date, all our joint efforts will be aimed at ensuring that rural tourism contributes to strengthening the rural economy, to preserving national identity, to safeguarding national culture, traditions and to attracting Russian citizens to live in rural areas, as well as to encouraging the youth to return to the village,” Renata Bibarsova emphasized.
Anton Yurmanov, Director of the Youth Work Department of the Russian Geographical Society, spoke about the role of young enthusiasts in many initiatives of the Russian Geographical Society, including on the GIAHS track. “The interest of young people in research activities has always been very high. And the purpose of the Russian Geographical Society is to guide them in many directions, comprising cultural and natural heritage sites identification, the conduct of ethnographic research on the territory of the Russian Federation,” he stressed.
“Within such projects, volunteers submit sites that can be considered for GIAHS in the RGS, and then we can already forward them for consideration by GIAHS after further preparation for consideration by the commission,” Anton Yurmanov explained.
Thematic cluster “Rural and agri-tourism development in Russia”
Vadim Kalinichev, Executive Director of the National Association of Rural and Ecotourism, in opening the section highlighted that “there are two words in the title of our conference – “Initial Contact”. Indeed, this is the initial contact between two lines of development, namely the GIAHS programme and rural tourism. These are areas that until recently have been developing individually and independently of each other.”
He spoke about the activities of the Association of Rural and Ecotourism and recalled that quite recently (July 2, 2021) the term “rural tourism” had been introduced in the Russian legislative framework (Federal Law of July 2, 2021 No 318-FZ).
Vadim Kalinichev noted that the priority task for the Association and for all rural tourism sector representatives is to develop partnerships and disseminate knowledge while involving government representatives at all levels in the process. “The success of our whole endeavor will depend on how they understand what is meant by rural tourism and other related areas of tourism,” he added. Vadim Kalinichev presented to the audience a new programme of the Association entitled “Modern approach to the development of tourism in rural areas”.
Grigory Dyukarev, Chairman of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Taimyr, Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON), noted the relevance of rural tourism promotion for the Association, separately emphasizing the challenges in the development of tourism in the regions of the North, Siberia and the Far East. “In the conditions of the Far North and the Arctic, amid transport inaccessibility, it is quite difficult for us to develop this sector. Nevertheless, we already have such examples, including in Taimyr, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory,” said Grigory Dyukarev. He shared with the audience information about successful promotion of tourist destinations in the regions of the North, Siberia and the Far East.
Grigory Dyukarev spoke about the difficulties of developing a tourist destination. “Communities are very often engaged in such activities. On the one hand, the law on non-profit organizations provides the opportunity to engage in entrepreneurial activities and direct income to solve statutory tasks, but we are faced with the fact that the regional territorial departments of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation insist on amending the charters of communities, arguing that the latest are non-profit organizations which are essentially occupied with traditional economic activities of indigenous peoples,” outlined the problem Grigory Dyukarev.
Yulia Romanenko, Entrepreneur, Co-Founder of “LIPKOSLADKO”, Founder of Online Beekeeping School, shared her experience in running an apiary and a beekeeping school as a way to attract new flows of rural tourists.
“We are one of those who have been receiving tourists at an apiary since 2012. An apiary is an object of increased interest, especially within a broader understanding of the process of beekeeping products production,” said Yulia Romanenko. She noted the importance of discussing the issues of rural tourism and tourism infrastructure development in rural areas.
Natalia Andreeva, PhD in Economics, Head of the Engineering Center for Organic Agriculture of the Russian Engineering Academy of Management and Agribusiness, said that “we have had rural tourism for a long time. Another thing is that now it is more systematized. The competencies that are most needed by people who plan to engage in rural tourism are identified.” “It’s great that government agencies are announcing support for the development of such a sector,” Natalia Andreeva emphasized. She noted that agri-tourism and the production of organic products in Russia contribute to the implementation of the sustainable development strategy of rural areas.
Alexander Merzlov, President of the Association of the most beautiful villages in Russia, spoke about the activities of the Association and the history of its creation. He listed, in particular, the criteria for joining the Association, noting the overlapping with the criteria for selecting GIAHS sites. These include: “1. Environmental criterion; 2. Aesthetic criterion; 3. Urban planning criterion; 4. Architectural criterion; 5. Infrastructural criterion; 6. Gastronomy and handicrafts criterion; 7. Informational and cultural-mass criterion,” he said. “We have a very well-established procedure, entry rules and monitoring. The procedure is divided into seven steps,” explained Alexander Merzlov. At the same time, “new certification takes place every five years.”
Yulia Talanina, Member of the National Association of Rural and Ecotourism Development Organizations, spoke about the Voronezh region from the point of view of its consideration as a potential GIAHS site in future applications, and touched upon the most popular functions of rural tourism. In particular, she singled out the following ones: ensuring recreation; getting acquainted with the countryside, culture, customs; farm goods and local cuisine; artisanal handicrafts; educational/cognitive function.
Yulia Talanina outlined the problems associated with permanent residence in urban areas, which can be solved through the development of rural tourism. Among other things, she highlighted: a lack of knowledge about everything related to soil management and crop production, the risks of using chemical pesticides, the opportunities and benefits of organic farming, and rural hospitality technologies.
Alexey Matveev, General Director of “Selsky Tourist” LLC, shared methods of tourism promotion among the population, of tourist trips and excursions sales automation, as well as of accommodation facilities management. He also provided the results of research and tourist surveys on rural areas.
At the end of the discussion, Oleg Kobiakov expressed his wish to continue the efforts to develop rural tourism, recalling that the conference was held on the sidelines of the first national Russian seminar on the GIAHS programme. He informed that FAO will proceed with the submission of the first applications from the Russian Federation for GIAHS status.
The video conference recording: https://fao.zoom.us/rec/play/8ja4FOP5yA5k4uSmD68oWeq9MSQ1nFuzLiBCwHcTTcEdfR3nCVP7wOh5RAJabIQy17Bjy8oT5nXLVen-.kLu8AWPANLNgZ8Ns?continueMode=true