The Protected Landscape Approach - Centre for Mediterranean ...

The Protected Landscape Approach: Linking Nature, Culture and Community
Given its impact on the increased awareness of national government to the needs of the site,
the In Danger inscription of the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras can be looked upon
as a positive action.
Batanes Protected Landscape and Seascape
The remote Batanes Archipelago, nominated for World Heritage inscription in 2004, is situated
off the northernmost tip of the Philippines, close to the southern tip of Taiwan. Distance and
unpredictable weather conditions isolate the islands most of the year. Therefore many of its
cultural traditions, landscape and vernacular architecture have remained intact, safeguarded
from erosion caused by outside influences. The nationally protected seascape and landscape of
intense beauty is well known in the Philippines.
The Batanes archipelago is designated by the National Integrated Protected Area System law
as one of 11 Protected Landscapes and Seascapes of the Philippines. It is therefore a Category V
protected area, protected by national legislation enforced by the Department of the
Environment and Natural Resources. Unlike the Rice Terraces, the protective legislation for
Batanes was already being implemented well before the time of World Heritage nomination.
The entire area within the boundaries stipulated by the NIPAS Act as a Category V Protected
Area (Batanes Protected Landscape and Seascape) was nominated as a World Heritage Cultural
Landscape. The site encompasses ten islands, the sea between them reaching to the marine
boundary of the archipelago. Within the boundary is a cultural landscape composed of a series
of 28 natural and cultural sites that combine to illustrate the unique story of the ten islands. It is
a serial nomination within the NIPAS-designated boundaries of Batanes that serves as its buffer
zone.
In contrast to the nomination process for the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, for
the Batanes Protected Landscape and Seascape the process was slow and deliberate. From the
start it was agreed that community participation was essential. All preparations were done over
an eight-year period, initiated by the provincial government with the complete cooperation of
the community. Batanes is a site that contains a series of outstanding natural properties that
have shaped the unique landscape of the archipelago. It also contains an equally outstanding
series of cultural properties that are milestones in the long evolutionary process of the unique
Ivatan culture in its continual process of responding to its severe natural environment. The
series of natural and cultural properties interrelate to form a system of unique natural and
cultural manifestations whose survival is crucial for the continuation of Batanes as a distinct
whole.
The individual properties that compose this system of natural and cultural properties each
represent one or more World Heritage criteria. When viewed in their entirety, the properties
within the proposed World Heritage Site exhibit almost all of the natural and cultural criteria
for universal value.
Due to its geographic location, waves of external influences, both natural and cultural, have
funnelled through the islands. Each influence has left an indelible imprint in the unique
landscape and culture of the Ivatan archipelago, which can be seen in the series of properties
being nomin ated. Each of the 26 properties in the series represents one significant chapter in the
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