The Protected Landscape Approach - Centre for Mediterranean ...

7. WH inscription and challenges to the survival of community life in Philippine cultural landscapes
site. Until this day, rituals invoke spirits to commemorate individual or communal celebrations,
to seek assistance for physical afflictions, to settle disputes among villagers, and to mark
planting and harvesting during the yearly agricultural cycle. The spirit world of the tribal
mountain culture is deeply rooted in the highland lifestyle and environment, expressed in a
wealth of artistic output and in the traditional environmental management system that remains
in place today. The history of the terraces, therefore, is intertwined with that of its people, their
culture and beliefs, and in their traditional environmental management and agricultural
practices.
The site is one of the few living cultural landscapes that continue to exist in the con -
temporary world. Its UNESCO inscription has given international recognition to the site. On
the national level, maintaining the traditional values, whether spiritual or physical, is under
severe threat due to the pressing demands of modernization, the urgent socio-economic needs
of the community, and the lack of support from national authorities who are not aware that
preservation of the physical and cultural aspects of the site must go hand in hand. Most national
authorities believe that it is enough to grant assistance for the physical restoration of the
terraces and disregard the preservation of the cultural values that reinforce the continuation of
the traditional agricultural system. Airports, highways, and tourism infrastructure are also
national development priorities that will threaten the endangered site and its community even
more.
The balance between tradition and progress is the key issue that the Rice Terraces of the
Philippine Cordilleras must answer in order to determine the path that it must take for the
future. The difficult issue is to manage the forward movement of the residents into the 21 st
century while finding a means of maintaining their culture, traditional knowledge and their
landscape in a sustainable manner. How can the local culture move towards the future without
being mummified into the past
Change is difficult to manage in the Philippine Cordilleras. The terraces follow the contours
of the highest peaks of the mountain range. The narrow rice fields are built in clusters from
stone and mud. Privately owned forests that play an important part in maintaining the water
cycle encircle terrace clusters. A traditionally designed hydraulic system with sluices and
canals democratically delivers an unobstructed water supply starting from the highest terrace
descending to the lowest. Change threatens the future of the terraces. Progress questions the
sustainability of traditional agricultural practices; modern influences not only question the
validity of traditional cultural practices but endanger the visual characteristics of the landscape.
The management history of the site has been closely linked with its World Heritage status. In
preparation for site nomination, a joint effort by the UNESCO National Commission of the
Philippines, the ICOMOS Philippine Committee and local citizens resulted in the or ganization
of the Ifugao Terraces Commission. Its first task was to prepare a Master Plan for the terrace
clusters proposed for World Heritage inscription (located in the municipalities of Kiangan,
Banaue, Hungduan and Mayoyao) that incorporated all development and man agement re -
quirements to satisfy World Heritage requirements. As soon as nomination re quirements were
in place, the dossier was prepared and submitted, and inscription happened in the following
year. In hindsight, the process happened too quickly.
The Master Plan recognised the need to continue the existing culture-based traditional
practices to assure the maintenance of the site, focusing on cultural revival as the raison d’être
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