Abstract: As one kind of land use practice, traditional agroforestry systems already have a long history of hundreds of years in practice and still play a significant role in the world today, especially in tropical and subtropical areas. In this era of globalization and food in security, more and more governments and non-governmental organizations are paying attention to traditional agroforestry systems because of their economic, ecological and socio-culture benefits. These benefits are also in accord with the characteristics of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS). So far, four typical traditional agroforestry systems from five countries have been designated as GIAHS. These traditional agroforestry systems have rich agricultural and associated biodiversity, multiple ecosystem services and precious socio-culture values at a regional and global level. Although traditional agroforestry systems are confronted with many threats and challenges, such as population growth, migration, market impact, climate change and so on, as long as governments and non-governmental organizations, local communities and smallholders can cooperate with each other, traditional agroforestry systems will be effectively protected and will remain in the future a sustainable global land use practice.

Key words: traditional agroforestry systems, GIAHS, agro-biological diversity, ecosystem services, socio-culture