The Protected Landscape Approach - Centre for Mediterranean ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

7. WH inscription and challenges to the survival of community life in Philippine cultural landscapes The Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras was inscribed on the World Heritage list in 1995 as “an outstanding example of living cultural landscapes”. Augusto Villalón Augusto Villalón Among the Asian paddy landscapes, one stands out: the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras. High in the remote areas of the Philippine Cordillera mountain range, mountain slopes are terraced and planted with rice. The majestic landscape shows the great length to which the Filipino, or the Asian for that matter, will go to plant rice. Terraced areas in widely varying states of conservation are spread over most of the 20,000km 2 land area (7% of the total land mass of the Philippines) principally centred in the provinces of Kalinga-Apayao, Abra, Benguet, and Ifugao. The improbable site is found at altitudes varying from 700–1,500m above sea level where terraces are sliced into mountainside contours that rise to a slope reaching a maximum of 70% (compared to the more gentle slopes of 40% in Bali). In contrast to the growing conditions common to Asian lowland rice agriculture, the rice terraces of the Cordilleras grow a special high-altitude strain of rice under extremely de - manding climatic and agricultural constraints, which is found only in the rice terraces area. This particular strain germinates under freezing conditions, and grows chest-high stalks of nonshattering panicles, unlike lowland rice that grows to knee height with easily shattering panicles. Traditionally, the rice is harvested by women while they are chanting the hud-hud, a chant that was proclaimed by UNESCO as one of the world’s 19 masterpeices of the Oral Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2001. An example of the culture-nature connection is that the harvesters’ ability to stand erect while harvesting and simultaneously chanting the hud-hud would not have been possible without the waist-high highland variation in the rice strain, which is different from the lowland rice variety that requires bending to harvest the stalks. A second example of the connection is that of the non-shattering panicles, which makes it possible to 95
The Protected Landscape Approach: Linking Nature, Culture and Community bundle the rice and transport the bundles manually on shoulder poles or on tops of heads for storage in granaries. More culture-nature connections are evident. Terraces are commonly built in three ways. Walls are constructed completely of stone. The second method is by building walls of packed mud. The third variation mixes a foundation course of stone and packed mud wall above. Terraces rise in groups from valleys, climbing up the slopes stopping just below peaks continually covered with mist. Terraces normally face east, to assure a maximum of sunlight. A ring of private forests (muyong) caps each terrace group. The management of the muyong are closely regimented through traditional tribal practices. The owners of the forest parcels are fully conscious that they are participating in a collective effort. Their forests are essential in maintaining ecological balance and each owner knows that any negative intervention brings disadvantage not only to him, but also to the other terrace owners. Water, the lifeline of the terraces, is equitably shared. No single terrace is allowed to obstruct the flow of water from his downhill neighbour. A complex system of dams, sluices, canals and bamboo pipes transfers the water from the highest terrace to the lowest, draining into a stream or river at the foot of the valley. Hydraulics has been traditionally used for construction. Temporary dams constructed around rocks are flooded to allow large rocks to be manually pushed or “floated” to their desired location. Terraces are filled with earth through hydraulics. After the walls are built, the enclosed area is flooded with mud that then becomes the subsoil for the paddy. The terraced landscape illustrates the complexity of architecture in rice. It establishes architecture as one of the many elements in the totality of agricultural, engineering, environ - mental and cultural traditions that come together in the growing of rice. It sets architecture in the context of a cultural and environmental system. Of all Philippine monuments, the rice terraces are the best known throughout the country. In fact, most Filipinos regard the terraces as their greatest national symbol, an appropriate symbol because the site is not a single monument but a vast, living site that combines both the natural and cultural. It is also a significant monument because it was built voluntarily without any forced labour. What makes the symbol even more appropriate is that the rice terraces combine architecture, engineering, and environmental management in a system that is still sustainable to this day, a fitting tribute to the traditional thinkers who set the management system centuries ago. The system has been orally handed down to allow their people to continue living on the site and for them to continue to grow rice. The cultural landscape of rice is a phenomenon that combines both natural and cultural concerns. It brings out that fact that the landscape of rice cannot be understood if its parts are studied individually. The architecture of rice, therefore, should be viewed in the context of the cultural landscape in which it exists. Although traditional knowledge orally handed down from generation to generation has guided the maintenance of the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, its contemporary maintenance history has always been tied into its status as a World Heritage site. The fragile site owes its preservation to the strong spiritual values of the Ifugao culture that has been guiding all aspects of daily life for over a thousand years, as some scholars maintain. Tradition has always been the source that determined all cultural and physical actions in the 96
Page 1 and 2:
IUCN World Commission on Protected
Page 3 and 4:
The Protected Landscape Approach Li
Page 5 and 6:
Dedication This publication is dedi
Page 7 and 8:
The Protected Landscape Approach: L
Page 9 and 10:
Page 11 and 12:
Page 13 and 14:
Page 15 and 16:
Part I Introduction and global over
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
Page 35 and 36:
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Page 45 and 46:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 49 and 50:
3. World Heritage Cultural Landscap
Page 51 and 52:
Page 53 and 54:
Page 55 and 56: 3. World Heritage Cultural Landscap
Page 57 and 58: 3. World Heritage Cultural Landscap
Page 59 and 60: 4. From pre-assumptions to a ‘jus
Page 77 and 78: 5. Conserving “unprotected” pro
Page 93 and 94: Part II Case studies from around th
Page 95 and 96: The Protected Landscape Approach: L
Page 105: The Protected Landscape Approach: L
Page 117 and 118: 8. Pastoralists, conservation and l
Page 129 and 130: 9. Protected landscapes in the Unit
Page 141 and 142: 10. Sustaining rural landscapes and
Page 157 and 158:
11. Cultural landscapes of the Ande
Page 159 and 160:
Page 161 and 162:
Page 163 and 164:
Page 165 and 166:
Page 167 and 168:
Page 169 and 170:
Page 171 and 172:
Page 173 and 174:
12. Protecting landscapes and seasc
Page 175 and 176:
Page 177 and 178:
Page 179 and 180:
Page 181 and 182:
Page 183 and 184:
Page 185 and 186:
Page 187 and 188:
Colour plates The terraced landscap
Page 189 and 190:
Colour plates Sagarmatha National P
Page 191 and 192:
Colour plates Ebey’s Landing Nati
Page 193 and 194:
Colour plates Artisan, Mata Atlanti
Page 195 and 196:
Colour plates Forest of Bowland Are
Page 197 and 198:
Colour plates Fruit orchards are a
Page 199 and 200:
13. Protected landscapes and seasca
Page 201 and 202:
Page 203 and 204:
Page 205 and 206:
Page 207 and 208:
Page 209 and 210:
Page 211 and 212:
Page 213 and 214:
Page 215 and 216:
Page 217 and 218:
Page 219 and 220:
Page 221 and 222:
Page 223 and 224:
Page 225 and 226:
Page 227 and 228:
Page 229 and 230:
Page 231 and 232:
Page 233 and 234:
Page 235 and 236:
Page 237 and 238:
Part III The way forward
Page 239 and 240:
Page 241 and 242:
Page 243 and 244:
Page 245 and 246:
Page 247 and 248:
Page 249 and 250:
Page 251 and 252:
Page 253 and 254:
Page 255 and 256:
Page 257 and 258:
Page 259 and 260:
Page 261 and 262:
Page 263 and 264:
Page 265 and 266:
Page 267 and 268:
Page 269 and 270:
Page 271 and 272:
Page 273 and 274:
Page 275 and 276:
Page 277 and 278:
Page 279 and 280:
Appendix 1 IUCN Protected Area Mana
Page 281 and 282:
Appendix 3 Guidelines for Category
Page 283 and 284:
Appendix 5 Evaluation of Cultural L
Page 285 and 286:
Appendices Country Title of World H
Page 287:
IUCN - The World Conservation Union
show all

The Protected Landscape Approach - Centre for Mediterranean ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?