Southeast Asia (SEA) is highly vulnerable to climate change, including rising temperatures, precipitation variations, and increased heatwaves, which threaten agricultural production and farmers’ livelihoods. The SEA highlands are home to diverse cultures and traditions of indigenous communities who practice traditional farming and maintain ancestral agroecological systems. Agricultural Heritage Systems (AHS) have proven to be resilient socio-ecological systems, supporting agro-biodiversity, local knowledge and culture and farmers’ livelihood. The FAO initiated the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) program to combat challenges such as climate change and to preserve socio-cultural heritage. However, understanding the socioeconomic conditions of AHS in the SEA highlands, how climate change impacts AHS, and the resilient practices they employ is still lacking.

This project will identify different types of AHS that represent both tangible and intangible agro-ecological values, in line with FAO’s GIAHS criteria. It will assess the AHS social-ecological changes and farmers’ livelihood resilience to climate change. Case studies will create a community-driven knowledge base by integrating indigenous knowledge and establishing a regional network of AHS resilience studies in the SEA highlands. The project will adopt a transdisciplinary approach, linking science and policy through collaboration with research institutions, civil society, and the private sector.