Honghe Hani Rice Terraces

On the south banks of the Honghe River in the mountainous terrain of south Yunnan, the Honghe Hani Rice Terraces cascade down the towering slopes of the Ailao Mountain. Carved out of dense forest over the past 1,300 years by Hani people since they settled here, the irrigated terraces support paddy fields surveying narrow valleys. In some places, there are as many as 3,000 terraces between thelower edges of the forest and the valley floor.

Values and Conservation of Honghe Hani Rice Terraces System as a GIAHS Site

Agri-cultural Heritage Systems（AHS） have not only various values but also important enlightening roles for modern agriculture.With agro-scientific and technological progress,the traditional agriculture that has lasted for thousands of years is declining gradually,thus is attached the importance of exploring and protecting our AHS.As a traditional agricultural system for 1300 years,the Honghe Hani Rice Terraces System（HHRTS） has many significant characteristics such as beautiful landscapes,distinctive rice varieties,ecologically clean agricultural production systems,systematic methods of managing water and soil and special ethnic culture.It was designated successively as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System（GIAHS） in 2010 and as a World Heritage（WH） in 2013.In this paper,taking HHRTS as an example,we analyzed the economic,ecological,aesthetic,cultural,and social values,as well as the research values,of the GIAHS.We conclude that the restrictions on increasing peasant earnings and improving their living standards are difficult with the low efficiency of traditional planting patterns and the single-industry structure of farming in rugged terrain.However,these restrictive factors are beneficial for developing some industries like green agriculture,organic agriculture or ecological food production because of the clean farmland environment.In the end,we propose the basic approaches to protect the Hani terraces agriculture system should include the local governments to encourage the development of ecotourism,organic agriculture and featuring agriculture by multi-mode economic compensation.It is very important for protecting terraces to coordinate benefits among corporations,governments and villagers by making reasonable policies of compensation.

Conceptual Framework for Key Element Identification in Important Agricultural Heritage Systems(IAHS):Case of Honghe Hani Rice Terraces System in China

With the continuous emergence of global development problems,the dynamic conservation and sustainable development of Important Agricultural Heritage Systems(IAHS)have been assigned greater importance.However,due to the complex structure,multi-component,dynamic,and open characteristics of IAHS,there are neglected problems which need to be solved in conservation practice,such as component element ambiguity,obscurity of the conservation redline,etc.This study defined the concept of key elements(KE)of IAHS,put forward a conceptual framework of KE identification,conducted empirical research by taking Honghe County of Honghe Hani Rice Terraces System(HHRTS)as an example and analyzed the level of recognition motivations for different stakeholder groups.The following conclusions were drawn:1)The KE of HHRTS are grain crops,rice species biodiversity,terrace construction and maintenance technique,Hani traditional festivals,Hani traditional foods,and virgin forest;2)The reasons behind the KE priorities of farmers,businessmen and tourists were at the micro level,the reasons of officers were at the middle level and the reasons of researchers were at the macro level.The empirical study conducted in HHRTS showed that the proposed conceptual framework could identify KE of IAHS effectively,and provided a theoretical perspective for the structuring of and essential need for IAHS research.Moreover,the KE recognition levels of different stakeholder groups reflected their potential action strategies.We should focus on the coherence of policies and measures in both the microscale and macroscale to balance the diversified demands of stakeholders,and to stimulate their enthusiasm for participation in the conservation in order to improve the management level of IAHS sites.