Photos

rice terraces are a common scene in asia but nowhere are they more spectacular as in the mountains of northern luzon. the cordillera mountains are 250 km north of manila, not so far from the modern world. yet the ifugaos, the local tribesmen, seems to have locked the mountains and the terraces away from time. they have carved a livelihood out of bare rock and solid mountains. Over the centuries, generations of Ifugao have laid stone after stone constructing dikes to hold back what little soil washed off the mountainsides creating vertical gardens that rise as "stairways to the heavens." considered by the filipinos as the 8th wonder of the world. believed to have been built around 2000 years ago by the different mountain tribes. the terraces approximately covers 10,500 square kilometers of land on about 1500 m above sea level.

the UNESCO declared the The Rice Terraces of the Cordillera Region as world heritage site in 1995. this ancient man-made structures believed to have been built around 2000- 6000 years ago. they are found in the provinces of Apayao, Benguet, Mountain Province and Ifugao.

this shot is taken at batad, a village in banawe, where time seems to have stood still. this is famous amphitheater terraces, one of the most well preserved and beautiful terraces. its harsh and unfriendly terrain may have preserved its state. because getting there requires a 3 our hike from the junction and an hour of bumpy and dusty ride from banawe.

in 2001 the rice terraces in the cordilleras was declared by the UNESCO as a world heritage site in danger.

From the UNESCO site: Statement of Significance

The Ifugao Rice Terraces epitomize the absolute blending of the physical, socio-cultural, economic, religious, and political environment. Indeed, it is a living cultural landscape of unparalleled beauty.

The Ifugao Rice Terraces are the priceless contribution of Philippine ancestors to humanity. Built 2000 years ago and passed on from generation to generation, the Ifugao Rice Terraces represent an enduring illustration of an ancient civilization that surpassed various challenges and setbacks posed by modernization.

Reaching a higher altitude and being built on steeper slopes than many other terraces, the Ifugao complex of stone or mud walls and the careful carving of the natural contours of hills and mountains to make terraced pond fields, coupled with the development of intricate irrigation systems, harvesting water from the forests of the mountain tops, and an elaborate farming system, reflect a mastery of engineering that is appreciated to the present.

The terraces illustrate a persistence of cultural traditions and remarkable continuity and endurance, since archaeological evidence reveals that this technique has been in use in the region for 2000 years virtually unchanged. They offer many lessons for application in similar environments elsewhere.

Maintenance of the living rice terraces reflects a primarily cooperative approach of the whole community which is based on detailed knowledge of the rich diversity of biological resources existing in the Ifugao agro-ecosystem, a finely tuned annual system respecting lunar cycles, zoning and planning, extensive soil conservation, mastery of a most complex pest control regime based on the processing of a variety of herbs, accompanied by religious rituals.

Criterion (iii): The rice terraces are a dramatic testimony to a community’s sustainable and primarily communal system of rice production, based on harvesting water from the forest clad mountain tops and creating stone terraces and ponds, a system that has survived for two millennia.

Criterion (iv): The rice terraces are a memorial to the history and labour of more than a thousand generations of small-scale farmers who, working together as a community, have created a landscape based on a delicate and sustainable use of natural resources.

Criterion (v): The rice terraces are an outstanding example of land-use resulting from a harmonious interaction between people and their environment which has produced a steep terraced landscape of great aesthetic beauty, now vulnerable to social and economic changes.
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(re-posted- added a border to emphasize image )