The project funded by Aics intends to promote awareness of the agricultural landscape system and traditional landscapes, through courses and research activities, especially in the Italian Cooperation priority countries.

The “Building Capacity: International Advanced Training Course on GIAHS (Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems) for assessment and resilience in three different socio-environmental and bio-cultural contexts: Africa, Asia and Latin America” ​​supports the FAO GIAHS program, aimed at promoting traditional agricultural systems, understood as intangible assets that combine the conservation of biodiversity, respect for traditional social structures, support for economic development focused on agricultural communities. Similarly to what UNESCO achieved in terms of cultural heritage, FAO GIAHS creates specific sites for conserving traditional agricultural systems (https://www.fao.org/giahs/en/).

As its executive body, the initiative has the Department of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Systems of the University of Florence. It has the main objective of spreading the defence of traditional agricultural systems, through the creation of an academic centre aimed at training managers of FAO GIAHS sites, and it also aimed at disseminating the issue globally. In this context, it is necessary to create professionals capable of identifying and managing GIHAS sites. These technicians should be able to preserve traditional agricultural knowledge, the values ​​of local cultures, biocultural diversity and landscape characteristics. For this reason, AICS promotes participation in the master’s course for students from countries where AICS is active through its projects, with 10 scholarships.

To apply, follow the link https://www.agriculturalheritage.com/it/scholarships/
Deadline October 16, 2022, the final ranking will be published by October 31, 2022.

The selected students will start attending the master’s course in February 2023.