Cordillera rice terraces back in UNESCO heritage list

Published June 26, 2012 5:38pm

The rice terraces in the Cordillera region are no longer in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) List of World Heritage Sites in Danger, a decade after the famous tourist attraction was included in the list as a result of deterioration. During the 36^th session of the World Heritage Committee on Tuesday in St. Petersburg, Russia, the rice terraces were reinstated in the UNESCO World Heritage List by a committee composed of 21 state parties to the World Heritage Convention, according to a statement from the UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines. “It is indeed a great honor for our country to have the international community recognize our efforts in ensuring the conservation of the rice terraces,” said Virginia A. Miralao, Secretary-General of the UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines. The international committee arrived at the decision after the successful site restoration and conservation, as well as planning and proper management, of the rice terraces. According to UNESCO, the Philippines reached the minimum restoration percentage of 50 percent of collapsed terraces, rehabilitated major irrigation systems, finished the required documentation, and developed community-based land and zoning plans. Located in the Cordillera mountain range in North Central Luzon, the rice terraces were inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1995 as an “extraordinary example of an evolved, living cultural landscape.” The Igorot people carved the terraces along steep mountainsides over hundreds of years, and the tradition has been retained until now.

A file photo shows the Batad Rice Terraces right after a typhoon.Photography with a Difference

Lapses and threats In 2001, the rice terraces were placed in the List of World Heritage in Danger because of the site’s deterioration over the years. Among the factors cited by UNESCO were neglected irrigation, weak management systems, migration, lack of focus on tourism, and unregulated developments in the site.

The International Committee on Monument and Sites (ICOMOS) noted: “A worrying percentage of [the] rice terraces had deteriorated; springs had dried up and deforestation within the watershed had occurred. “Subsistence farming and limited alternative economic opportunities had forced many Ifugaos to seek work elsewhere and traditions and rituals associated with the cultivation of the rice had been disappearing,” according to the committee. Restoration process

The rice terraces consist of five clusters -- Nagacadan, Hungduan, Mayoyao, Bangaan, and Batad terraces -- located in four municipalities.

The Philippines created the Ifugao Cultural Heritage Office to manage the site. Various government groups—such as the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources—also worked with UNESCO to conserve the rice terraces and promote the site’s history, culture, and traditions.

UNESCO described the rice terraces as “the fruit of knowledge handed down from one generation to the next, and the expression of sacred traditions and a delicate social balance.” - Gian C. Geronimo/YA, GMA News

Tags: cordillera, riceterraces