Legal Protection On Agricultural Heritage System

Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System(GIAHS) is initiated by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), UNESCO and other several institutions, in order to protect the unique agricultural system and landscape in various parts of the world with a variety of resource, and the productive practice basing on local conditions. GIAHS is conceptually equivalent to the concept of World Heritage. It is a dynamic, sustainable and balanceable socio-ecological system.Currently the law which supports the protection of GIAHS is sporadic. From the perspective of international law, they mainly contain Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), UN Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC),and International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGR),Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries ( ILO No. 169 ), Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention), World Heritage Convention (WHC) and The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The international declarations and resolutions which protect GIAHS include Agenda 21, The Forest Principles, Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development, The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, United Nations Millennium Declaration, and so on. The protection of GIAHS in domestic law is mainly manifested, taking the example of Philippines, in the areas of autonomy of indigenous communities, as well as forests and clean air protection.In China, the protection of GIAHS in addition to compliance with the above international conventions, mainly involves a legal framework which comprise the law on local community through recognition of self-government power, on the protection of environmental resources and intangible cultural heritage which is carried out by the local legislation such as the protection of qanat by Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. However, there are some problems in current legal mechanisms to protect GIAHS. Firstly, there is lack of consideration of national interests, especially the interest of traditional communities while implementing the International Convention. Secondly, there is no specific law on the maintenance, protection and utilization of the agricultural heritage. Thirdly, the law of protection of agricultural culture is absent. Finally, it is desiderated that helps the documentation of GIAHS. In short, the law of protection of GIAHS should be the unified and comprehensive legal system, and it needs to be strengthened among the laws in China.