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WonderFood and landscape fact

The Ifugao Rice Terraces are mountain fields in the Philippines, carved into steep slopes to grow rice with shared water systems.

UNESCO World Heritage Centre

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The story behind the card

UNESCO inscribed the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras on the World Heritage List in 1995, the first site ever listed as a 'cultural landscape', meaning the fields and the farming culture that keeps them working are protected together. The listing covers five terrace clusters, including Batad and Bangaan in Banaue. Each cluster is topped by a muyong, a privately owned but communally managed forest that holds rainwater and feeds the irrigation channels below. Guidebooks often say the terraces are 2,000 years old, but radiocarbon dating by the Ifugao Archaeological Project suggests most were built about 400 years ago, around the time of Spanish contact. Their age is still debated.

Türkçe oku
Ifugao Pirinç Terasları, Filipinler'de dik dağ yamaçlarına basamak basamak açılmış, ortak su kanallarıyla sulanan pirinç tarlalarıdır.

UNESCO, Filipin Kordilyeraları'ndaki pirinç teraslarını 1995'te Dünya Mirası Listesi'ne aldı. Bu, “kültürel peyzaj” olarak listeye giren ilk alandı; yani korunan yalnızca tarlalar değil, onları yaşatan tarım kültürüydü. Liste, Banaue'deki Batad ve Bangaan da dâhil beş teras kümesini kapsar. Her kümenin tepesinde muyong denen, sahibi belli ama toplulukça bakılan bir orman bulunur; bu orman yağmur suyunu tutar ve aşağıdaki sulama kanallarını besler. Rehberlerde terasların 2.000 yıllık olduğu sıkça yazılır. Ancak Ifugao Arkeoloji Projesi'nin radyokarbon tarihlemeleri, çoğunun yaklaşık 400 yıl önce, İspanyolların bölgeye geldiği dönemde yapıldığını gösteriyor. Terasların yaşı hâlâ tartışılıyor.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras
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