Journal of Resources and Ecology ›› 2021, Vol. 12 ›› Issue (4): 453-461.DOI: 10.5814/j.issn.1674-764x.2021.04.003

• Resource and Ecology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The Significance of Traditional Culture for Agricultural Biodiversity—Experiences from GIAHS

MA Nan1,2(), YANG Lun1, MIN Qingwen1,2, BAI Keyu3,4, LI Wenhua1,2,*()   

  1. 1. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
    2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    3. Bioversity International, East Asia Office, Beijing 100086, China
    4. Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100086, China
  • Received:2021-01-18 Accepted:2021-05-06 Online:2021-07-30 Published:2021-09-30
  • Contact: LI Wenhua
  • About author:MA Nan, E-mail: man.15b@igsnrr.ac.cn
  • Supported by:
    Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(XDA23100203)

Abstract:

Agricultural biodiversity has a high importance in social-cultural, economic, and environmental aspects, and can help in adapting to and withstanding climate change. Conserving the GIAHS sites and the important components within them can help conserve the agricultural biodiversity and traditional agricultural culture of the whole country. This study considered Ifugao Rice Terraces, Dong’s Rice-Fish-Duck System, and Hani Rice Terraces System as three examples which show that traditional culture can be used to protect agricultural biodiversity, while as a carrier of traditional culture, agricultural biodiversity also conveys and protects the traditional culture of the nation. According to the analyses, through several years of efforts, the status of agricultural biodiversity and traditional culture in them has improved. Then, to further promote agricultural biodiversity conservation and traditional culture protection, several suggestions are made, such as establishing community seed banks; documenting and preserving traditional farming methods, techniques, and tools and developing participatory activities which encourage more farmers to participate in the protection work.

Key words: agricultural biodiversity, traditional culture, Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS), rice terraces, traditional variety