Namibia is taking part in a three-day regional workshop in Johannesburg focused on protecting Africa’s agricultural heritage and helping countries develop stronger proposals and conservation plans.

Representatives from Namibia and 15 other African countries are attending the Regional Capacity-Building Workshop on Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS), which runs from 28 to 30 September 2026.

The workshop is organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) through its GIAHS Secretariat, with support from the FAO–China South-South and Triangular Cooperation Programme.

Participants include government officials, technical experts, community representatives, researchers, civil society organisations and FAO personnel.

< p>The focus is on helping participating countries identify agricultural systems that could qualify for GIAHS recognition, prepare nomination proposals and develop five-year Dynamic Conservation Action Plans. The plans are intended to support the long-term protection and development of these systems through partnerships and financing.

Protecting agricultural heritage

The workshop comes as African countries look at ways to preserve agricultural systems shaped over generations by farmers, pastoralists, Indigenous Peoples, fisherfolk and other rural communities.

These systems combine food production with traditional knowledge, agricultural biodiversity, cultural identity and the management of natural resources. They continue to contribute to livelihoods, food security and climate resilience.

The FAO says Africa has extensive agricultural heritage across pastoral, agroforestry, crop, livestock, fishery and watershed systems. However, only four African sites have so far been formally designated under the GIAHS programme.

According to the organisation, the low number of recognised sites points to a need for greater awareness, stronger institutional coordination, technical capacity and investment to help countries identify potential sites and prepare nominations.

For Namibia, participation in the workshop provides an opportunity to engage with approaches being used across the continent to identify and conserve agricultural systems while strengthening the role of the communities that maintain them.

Communities at the centre

A key focus of the workshop is the role of communities in protecting agricultural heritage.

The FAO says communities have maintained, adapted and passed these systems from one generation to the next, making their knowledge, priorities, participation and consent central to the development of GIAHS proposals and conservation plans.

The workshop also encourages cooperation between institutions working in agriculture, the environment, forestry, livestock, fisheries, climate, tourism, culture, local government and rural development.

Research institutions, civil society organisations, development partners and the private sector can also contribute technical expertise, evidence, services and resources.

From recognition to action

Participants are examining the GIAHS designation process and the five criteria used to assess agricultural heritage systems. Working groups are covering areas including livestock and pastoralism, agriculture and agroforestry, and fisheries and watersheds.

The programme also includes discussions on possible financing through the Green Climate Fund, FAO’s Technical Cooperation Programme and the Global Environment Facility.

FAO Subregional Coordinator for Southern Africa Patrice Talla said international recognition should be viewed as the beginning of the process rather than its conclusion. “Designation is important, but designation alone does not provide the resources required to safeguard a living agricultural system,” he said.

By the end of the workshop, participating countries are expected to have a better understanding of their agricultural heritage potential, the GIAHS designation process, nomination proposals, conservation action plans and possible partnerships and financing.

For Namibia, the discussions place the country within a wider African effort to ensure that agricultural knowledge and systems built over generations are not only recognised, but supported as living parts of rural communities and food systems. – Distributed by APO on behalf of the FAO.