Design and Application of the Annual Report of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) Monitoring

doi:10.5814/j.issn.1674-764x.2021.04.008

Abstract

Abstract:

Scientific and effective heritage monitoring can not only realize the conservation of the heritage itself and the maintenance of its values, but it can also realize the sustainable development of the heritage site. In order to promote the conservation and management of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS), this study proposed a design for the annual report of GIAHS monitoring under the overall framework of the GIAHS monitoring system, and explored the application of the annual report in the first GIAHS site in China: the Qingtian Rice-Fish Culture System. In the design scheme of this study, the GIAHS annual monitoring report is composed of 24 monitoring items, with each of them logically related. It is to be filled in by the bureaus of the heritage site and reported through the GIAHS dynamic monitoring system. The results of an analysis of the annual reports of Qingtian Rice-Fish Culture System for four years showed that Qingtian County has taken a series of conservation and development measures which have reduced the area of abandoned paddy, enhanced the unit benefit of agri-products, and increased the farmers’ income. At the same time, the heritage site is faced with various challenges and threats, such as the weakening of the tourism attraction, the aging of the heritage practitioners, and the limitation of the heritage-themed agri-products and tourism income, which need to be addressed with proper measures. The results can also provide guidance for other GIAHS based on indications that heritage sites should improve the development of cultural products, the construction of social organization and the cultivation of spontaneous publicity, and an exchange and learning mechanism should be established among them in the future. The design and application of the GIAHS annual monitoring reports can not only provide specific guidance for conducting the GIAHS monitoring, but also lay the foundation for evaluating the effectiveness of GIAHS conservation and management. This study is expected to help enrich the theory of GIAHS monitoring, further promote China’s GIAHS monitoring work, and also provide China’s experience for the benefit of international GIAHS monitoring efforts.

Key words: Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS), monitoring, annual report, Qingtian Rice-Fish Culture System

JIAO Wenjun, WANG Bojie, SUN Yehong, LIU Moucheng. Design and Application of the Annual Report of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) Monitoring[J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2021, 12(4): 498-512.

Figures/Tables 18

References 38

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Monitoring scope	Monitoring content	Monitoring item	Description	Monitoring indicator
Changes of GIAHS	Ecological conservation	Agri-biological resources	Important agricultural species and their local varieties, other local varieties and ancient trees	Species name, variety name, variety number, ancient tree number, etc.
	Ecological conservation	Land use	Land use and heritage system	Land use area, heritage system area, etc.
	Economic development	Production and sales of important agri-products	Production and sales of important agri-products	Product name, production area, yield, sales volume, sales value, etc.
		Processing and sales of important agri-products	Processing of important agri-products	Product name, producer, production time, yield, sales volume, sales value, product characteristics, etc.
		Branding	Certification of important agri-products and their processed products by authoritative institutions (such as pollution-free agricultural products, green food, organic food, etc.)	Product name, manufacturer, brand type, certification body, effective time, identified area, identified output, etc.
		Tourism reception capacity	Development of tourism in GIAHS site	The number of tourists, the annual income of tourism, the number of farmers providing heritage tourism services, the number of farmhouse entertainment, etc.
		Economic income	Income from GIAHS management and its proportion	The total income of rural economy, the income of GIAHS practitioners, the per capita net income of farmers, the per capita income of GIAHS management, etc.
	Social maintenance	Population statistics	Population and employment	Registered resident, permanent resident, migrant worker, GIAHS practitioner, etc.
		Agricultural business types	Agricultural business types in the production, sales and processing of important agri-products (such as professional large households, family farms, farmer cooperatives, leading enterprises of agricultural industrialization, etc.)	The name of agricultural business types, establishment time, location, business content, business area, number of participating farmers, etc.
		Social organization	Self-help organizations of community residents participating in the conservation and management of GIAHS	Name, time of establishment, location, main functions, etc.
	Cultural inheritance	Development of cultural products	Commodities and activities developed for the purpose of protecting and inheriting traditional culture	Product name, developer, suitable season, product features, object-oriented, etc.
		Utilization of cultural facilities	Utilization of public facilities (such as museums, exhibition halls, study halls, etc.) for carrying out traditional cultural inheritance activities, art activities, educational practice activities, etc.	Facility name, establishment time, location, management unit, main purpose, etc.
		Inheritance of traditional knowledge and technologies	Application of technology, skills and other folk skills closely related to traditional agricultural production	Including technology name, technology description, application scope and number of farmers
		Spontaneous publicity	(farmers, new agricultural operators, community organizations, villagers' committees, etc.) spontaneous publicity activities	Including time, place, main content, organization unit, scale and effect, etc.
Conservation and development measures	Institutional construction	Institutional construction	Construction of GIAHS management institutions and other institutions	Organization name, establishment time, location, main functions, personnel and gender structure, time investment, fund investment, etc.
		Normative documents	Formulation of normative documents (systems, policies, plans, standards, etc.) for GIAHS management	Issuing time, issuing organization, document name, main content, etc.
		Subsidies for important agri-product production	Subsidies for traditional agricultural production	Subsidy content, subsidy object, subsidy scope, subsidy standard, subsidy total amount, funding source, etc.
		Conservation and development projects	Construction of engineering facilities and service facilities for the conservation and development of GIAHS (such as repair of production facilities, repair and expansion of production base, establishment of heritage signs, construction of cultural facilities, repair of traditional villages, etc.)	Project name, starting and ending time, project location, main contents, total investment, current year investment, capital source, etc.
		Other related projects	Development of other conservation and development projects	Project name, starting and ending time, project location, main contents, etc.

Monitoring scope	Monitoring content	Monitoring item	Description	Monitoring indicator
Changes of GIAHS	Ecological conservation	Agri-biological resources	Important agricultural species and their local varieties, other local varieties and ancient trees	Species name, variety name, variety number, ancient tree number, etc.
	Ecological conservation	Land use	Land use and heritage system	Land use area, heritage system area, etc.
	Economic development	Production and sales of important agri-products	Production and sales of important agri-products	Product name, production area, yield, sales volume, sales value, etc.
		Processing and sales of important agri-products	Processing of important agri-products	Product name, producer, production time, yield, sales volume, sales value, product characteristics, etc.
		Branding	Certification of important agri-products and their processed products by authoritative institutions (such as pollution-free agricultural products, green food, organic food, etc.)	Product name, manufacturer, brand type, certification body, effective time, identified area, identified output, etc.
		Tourism reception capacity	Development of tourism in GIAHS site	The number of tourists, the annual income of tourism, the number of farmers providing heritage tourism services, the number of farmhouse entertainment, etc.
		Economic income	Income from GIAHS management and its proportion	The total income of rural economy, the income of GIAHS practitioners, the per capita net income of farmers, the per capita income of GIAHS management, etc.
	Social maintenance	Population statistics	Population and employment	Registered resident, permanent resident, migrant worker, GIAHS practitioner, etc.
		Agricultural business types	Agricultural business types in the production, sales and processing of important agri-products (such as professional large households, family farms, farmer cooperatives, leading enterprises of agricultural industrialization, etc.)	The name of agricultural business types, establishment time, location, business content, business area, number of participating farmers, etc.
		Social organization	Self-help organizations of community residents participating in the conservation and management of GIAHS	Name, time of establishment, location, main functions, etc.
	Cultural inheritance	Development of cultural products	Commodities and activities developed for the purpose of protecting and inheriting traditional culture	Product name, developer, suitable season, product features, object-oriented, etc.
		Utilization of cultural facilities	Utilization of public facilities (such as museums, exhibition halls, study halls, etc.) for carrying out traditional cultural inheritance activities, art activities, educational practice activities, etc.	Facility name, establishment time, location, management unit, main purpose, etc.
		Inheritance of traditional knowledge and technologies	Application of technology, skills and other folk skills closely related to traditional agricultural production	Including technology name, technology description, application scope and number of farmers
		Spontaneous publicity	(farmers, new agricultural operators, community organizations, villagers' committees, etc.) spontaneous publicity activities	Including time, place, main content, organization unit, scale and effect, etc.
Conservation and development measures	Institutional construction	Institutional construction	Construction of GIAHS management institutions and other institutions	Organization name, establishment time, location, main functions, personnel and gender structure, time investment, fund investment, etc.
		Normative documents	Formulation of normative documents (systems, policies, plans, standards, etc.) for GIAHS management	Issuing time, issuing organization, document name, main content, etc.
		Subsidies for important agri-product production	Subsidies for traditional agricultural production	Subsidy content, subsidy object, subsidy scope, subsidy standard, subsidy total amount, funding source, etc.
		Conservation and development projects	Construction of engineering facilities and service facilities for the conservation and development of GIAHS (such as repair of production facilities, repair and expansion of production base, establishment of heritage signs, construction of cultural facilities, repair of traditional villages, etc.)	Project name, starting and ending time, project location, main contents, total investment, current year investment, capital source, etc.
		Other related projects	Development of other conservation and development projects	Project name, starting and ending time, project location, main contents, etc.

Monitoring scope	Monitoring content		Description	Monitoring indicator
Conservation and development measures	Publicity, demonstration and promotion	Cultural activities	The development of traditional cultural inheritance activities (such as festivals, folk customs), art activities (such as performances, photography exhibitions, painting and calligraphy exhibitions), and educational practice activities	Time, place, name, content, organizational unit, total number of participants, composition and gender structure of the heritage site, etc.
		Publicity	Publicity of various media (such as newspapers, television and radio) in the GIAHS site	Media level, media type, media name, time, title, main content, etc.
		Publicity	Publicity work carried out by the administrative agencies of GIAHS and other agencies	Time, place, main content, organization unit, scale and effect, etc.
		Training	Training and exchange activities to promote the conservation of GIAHS	Time, place, name, content, organizational unit, total number of participants, composition and gender structure of the heritage site, etc.
		Visiting	Visitation and inspection activities organized to promote the conservation of GIAHS	Time, site, name, number, content and organization of the delegation
		Research and demonstration	Operation of research and demonstration bases (enterprises, workstations, etc.)	Time, place, name, area, main participants, research and demonstration content, effect, etc.
			Survey of the research team	Research time, place, team name, number of people, research content, reception unit, etc.
			Scientific and technological achievements and awards	Results name, main completion unit (or individual), award name, award level, award time, content description, etc.

Monitoring scope	Monitoring content		Description	Monitoring indicator
Conservation and development measures	Publicity, demonstration and promotion	Cultural activities	The development of traditional cultural inheritance activities (such as festivals, folk customs), art activities (such as performances, photography exhibitions, painting and calligraphy exhibitions), and educational practice activities	Time, place, name, content, organizational unit, total number of participants, composition and gender structure of the heritage site, etc.
		Publicity	Publicity of various media (such as newspapers, television and radio) in the GIAHS site	Media level, media type, media name, time, title, main content, etc.
		Publicity	Publicity work carried out by the administrative agencies of GIAHS and other agencies	Time, place, main content, organization unit, scale and effect, etc.
		Training	Training and exchange activities to promote the conservation of GIAHS	Time, place, name, content, organizational unit, total number of participants, composition and gender structure of the heritage site, etc.
		Visiting	Visitation and inspection activities organized to promote the conservation of GIAHS	Time, site, name, number, content and organization of the delegation
		Research and demonstration	Operation of research and demonstration bases (enterprises, workstations, etc.)	Time, place, name, area, main participants, research and demonstration content, effect, etc.
			Survey of the research team	Research time, place, team name, number of people, research content, reception unit, etc.
			Scientific and technological achievements and awards	Results name, main completion unit (or individual), award name, award level, award time, content description, etc.