Manila A 2,000 year-old Philippine treasure – the rice terraces that look like wild sculpted green ribbons on 10,360 square kilometer of mountains that straddle five towns on northern Luzon’s Cordillera, were rehabilitated after 10 years and were taken off the list of World Heritage’s endangered sites.
The magnificent rice terraces that rise up to 1,500 metres above sea level will reign again as one of the world’s seven wonders. “Local government units and non-government groups will continue taking care of our beloved rice terraces,” said Congressman Teddy Baguilat Jr, one of the hard-working movers behind the revival of the cultural and tourist destinations that were alternately scarred and ravaged by drought in 2010, typhoons in 2011, and also eternal neglect and anomie.
“The decision of the World Heritage Committee was a historic moment for the Philippines,” Ambassador Cristina Ortega, a permanent delegate to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) said in a TV interview.
“To have the international community recognise our commitment and effort was a great honour for us,” Ortega added.
Explaining the accomplishments to rehabilitate the rice terraces, the World Heritage Committee said on its 36th session that government and non-government organisations have already restored at least 50 per cent of the collapsed areas of the rice terraces.
The rehabilitation of ancient irrigation systems from the rainforests above the rice terraces have been properly documented; policies and laws meant to preserve the rice terraces were in place; community-based land use and zoning plans were crafted to restore and revive the rice terraces; the site’s management and protection from disasters have been implemented, said the World Heritage Committee.
Also praised were the Ifugao Cultural Heritage Office (ICHO) which worked with local government units and the non-government Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement which spearheaded the restoration of the rice terraces, their watersheds, and the revival of ancestral traditions that were once part of ancient rice cultivation in northern Luzon.
The UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines (UNACOM) worked with national government agencies to help local government units implement programmes to target the protection of the rice terraces that are located widely on five towns.
The rice terraces were included in the coveted World Heritage List in 1995. Then it plunged into the list of endangered cultural sites during the World Heritage Committee’s meeting in Helsinki in 2001.
At the time, the committee cited migration of old residents, unregulated development, lack of focus on tourism requirements, and weak management system as culprits that brought the rice terraces down.
The International Committee on Monument and Sites (ICOMOS) also blamed deforestation, illegal logging, and lack of effort to restore traditional rituals that surround rice cultivation in the north, for the near death of the rice terraces.
UNESCO had initially extended $153,200 funding to the restoration project.
Government and residents are still extending assistance to complete the rebuilding of other collapsed terraces, and for other infrastructure such as roads to make the site more accessible to tourists.
The hand-sculpted rice terraces which began 2,000 years ago was a “fruit of knowledge handed down from one generation to the next, and the expression of sacred traditions and a delicate social balance… (resulting in a) landscape of great beauty that expresses the harmony between humankind and the environment,” said UNESCO.
