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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has officially approved  “Shade-grown erva-mate: a traditional agroforestry system in the Araucaria Forest of Paraná, Brazil” as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) (). This project, coordinated by Dr. Eve Nimmo, Curator of the Bryan/Gruhn Archaeology and Ethnographic Collections in the Department of Anthropology, is a historic milestone for family farming, agroecology and the valorization of traditional knowledge in southern Brazil. The GIAHS recognition is awarded to unique agricultural systems that combine sustainable practices, biodiversity conservation, food security and cultural heritage and identity - all of which are present in the ways of life associated with the cultivation of native erva-mate in the Araucaria Forest.

A collective effort

The journey began in March 2020, with the mobilization of traditional and agroecological farmers from Paraná, Indigenous and Faxinal communities, researchers, family farming unions, universities, municipal governments, and civil society organizations. The candidacy was built collaboratively through the Observatory of Traditional and Agroecological Erva-Mate Systems and coordinated by Dr. Nimmo and CEDErva, with the support of more than 30 institutions, particularly Embrapa Forestry, the Rural Development Institute of Paraná - IAPAR-EMATER, Ecoaraucária, FETRAF-PR, ICMBio, Yerba Madre Brasil, and UEPG.

Even in the face of the pandemic, the group developed the proposal through virtual meetings and face-to-face meetings when possible. In the process, several participatory workshops were held with farmers, community leaders, and institutional partners. These meetings were key to collectively building the Technical Dossier and Dynamic Conservation Action Plan - documents that outline the guidelines for the coming years to strengthen and preserve the system.

Between 2021 to 2024, various events, workshops, and dialogues were held on behalf of the candidacy throughout the 11 partner municipalities of the GIAHS. The proposal went through different stages of evaluation, from the submission of the application documents to the FAO representative in Brazil in December 2021, to the official visit of the GIAHS scientific representative in March 2025, which marked the final stage of evaluation of the proposal.

In 2025, in the context of the FAO's 80th anniversary celebrations and preparations for COP30 in Belém, Pará, shade-grown erva-mate is being officially recognized as a worldwide example of an agricultural system that combines production and environmental conservation, based on respect for traditional knowledge, culture, the forest and people.

What does it mean to be a GIAHS?

Being recognized as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) by the FAO is more than a label: it is the recognition of a way of life that respects the forest, values ancestral knowledge and promotes sustainable coexistence with nature. This title brings global visibility, technical and political support, and boosts public policies that strengthen family farming, agroecology, and the preservation of socio-biodiversity.

For producers, it means strengthening sustainable production chains, increasing the added value of erva-mate and protecting traditional ways of life, which have endured for centuries in collaboration with the forest. It is also an opportunity to strengthen the cultural identity and food security of local communities.

This recognition reaffirms the collective commitment to a model of rural development that respects the cycles of the forest, local and traditional knowledge, and the right of future generations to live in sustainable and culturally rich territories.

The project team would like to thank all the partners and collaborators in this process, including the municipalities of Pinhão, Rio Azul, Rebouças, Inácio Martins, Bituruna, Cruz Machado, Irati, São Mateus do Sul, São João do Triunfo, Guarapuava and Turvo, the Indigenous communities of Rio d'Areia and Marrecas, the Paraná Public Ministry of Labor, the Family Farming Unions of the Center-South and Southeast regions of Paraná, the Paraná Association of Victims Exposed to Asbestos and Agrotoxics (APREAA), IFPR-Campus Irati, the Association of Ecological Farmers' Groups São Francisco de Assis (ASSIS Association) and Ervateira Kosloski e Silva.