Лусонның ежелгі террасалары: ЮНЕСКО мұрасы және ежелгі технологиялар

World Heritage Site in Luzon, the Philippines

The Ifugao Rice Terraces illustrate the remarkable ability of human culture to adapt to new social and climate pressures as well as to implement and develop new ideas and technologies. Although listed by the UNESCO as a World Heritage site believed to be older than 2,000 years, recent studies from the Ifugao Archaeological Project report that they were actually constructed upon Spanish contact about 400 years ago. 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, and mastery of a complex pest control regime based on the processing of a variety of herbs, accompanied by religious rituals.

The rice terraces of the Cordilleras are one of the few monuments in the Philippines that show no evidence of having been influenced by colonial cultures. Owing to the difficult terrain, the Cordillera tribes are among the few peoples of the Philippines who have successfully resisted any foreign domination and have preserved their authentic tribal culture. The history of the terraces is intertwined with that of its people, their culture, and their traditional practices. Apart from the idjang stone fortresses of the Ivatan of the Batanes, the terraces, which spread over five present day provinces, are the only other form of surviving stone construction from the pre colonial period. The Philippines alone among south east Asian cultures is a largely wood based one: unlike Cambodia, Indonesia, or Thailand, for example, in the Philippines, both domestic buildings and ritual structures such as temples and shrines were all built in wood, a tradition that has survived in the terrace hamlets. It is believed that terracing began in the Cordilleras less than one thousand years ago as taro cultivation. It is evidence of a high level of knowledge of structural and hydraulic engineering on the part of the Ifugao builders. The knowledge and practices, supported by rituals, involved in maintaining the terraces are transferred orally from generation to generation, without written records. Taro was later replaced by rice around 1600 A. D. which is the predominant crop today.

In order to understand Philippine prehistory and Southeast Asian patterns, it is critical for anthropologists and Southeast Asian scholars to date terraces. It is notoriously difficult to date field terraces. One important method is the use of the Bayesian model, which applies radiocarbon dating to tiered rice fields in the Northern Philippines. Archaeologists predict that these terraces were built during the 16th century by individuals who were migrating inland and upland from the Spanish. Relative dating techniques have been newly developed to be radiometric dating methods, Batad and Bangaan are under the jurisdiction of the Municipality of Banaue but are not referred to as the Banaue Rice Terraces. The Banaue Rice Terraces refer to the cluster close to the Banaue poblacion as seen from the viewpoint. Contrary to popular belief, these terraces are not part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. They were not included in the UNESCO inscription due to the presence of numerous modern structures, making it score low in the integrity criterion of UNESCO. The Banaue Rice Terraces are however a National Cultural Treasure under Ifugao Rice Terraces, together with the other rice terraces clusters.

All located in the Ifugao region, the Rice Terraces also feature as one of the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Sites or GIAHS. They are supported by indigenous knowledge management of muyong, a private forest that caps each terrace cluster. The muyong is managed through a collective effort and under traditional tribal practices. The communally managed forestry area on top of the terraces contains about 264 indigenous plant species, mostly endemic to the region. The terraces form unique clusters of microwatersheds and are part of the whole mountain ecology. They serve as a rainwater filtration system and are saturated with irrigation water all year round. A biorhythm technology, in which cultural activities are harmonized with the rhythm of climate and hydrology management, has enabled farmers to grow rice at over 1,000 meters.

Aside from the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, UNESCO inscribed the Hudhud Chants of the Ifugao, another National Cultural Treasure, on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008 (originally proclaimed in 2001). The Hudhud consists of narrative chants performed mainly by elder Ifugao women usually during the rice sowing season, at harvest time and at funeral wakes and rituals.

The influences of Christianity and education are weaning the younger Ifugaos away from their customs and their land. They had diminishing interest in their culture and in maintaining their unique legacy. When they are exposed to other cultures and places, they assimilate them and move to areas offering economic opportunities. Even with the introduction of mechanical equipment like cultivators and threshers, many young Ifugaos still shun farming, perceiving it as an occupation for the uneducated.

Many young people have abandoned farming and moved to the cities to work, leaving just children and the elderly in the villages. Outmigration leads to the shortage of labour to work the land and keep the paddies in good condition. They burrow and create spaces through which water can flow between paddies. But too many earthworms make the water drain fast and the paddies dry up. Once dry, the soil becomes like clay and it cracks easily. So when water is poured into a paddy that has dried up, it often collapses, taking with it the stone wall that borders the paddy. Other pests that threats the foundation of the paddy fields include snails and mole crickets.

Heavy rains triggered by typhoons have damaged many rice paddies. This leads to more abandoned terraces and the conversion of even more of the remaining rice terraces into vegetable fields. Moreovver, it can push farmers to clear out forested watershed areas in search of new land. by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre in 1995. It has passed by UNESCO's standards have also been inscribed in the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2001 as the dangers of deforestation and climate change threatens to destroy the terraces. Another contributing factor is globalization where the younger generations of the Ifugaos have recently had the opportunity to gain access to media and education, most of the younger Ifugaos have opted to come to the capital for work instead of the traditional farming tradition. The Philippines sought danger listing as a way to raise national and international support and cooperation in the preservation of the heritage site. Critic W. S. Logan described the flight of locals from the land as an example of heritage designations created by bureaucrats and policy makers rather than local communities. The rice terraces were listed as one of the most endangered monuments in the world by World Monuments Fund in the 2010 World Monuments Watch, along with the Santa Maria Church and San Sebastian Church. All of the sites were taken off the list in 2011 after the passage of the National Cultural Heritage Act. In 2012, UNESCO has removed the Rice Terraces from the list of sites in danger in recognition of the success of the Philippines in improving its conservation.

The Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras element currently listed in the UNESCO World Heritage List possesses only five properties, all of which are in Ifugao province. There are also significant rice terraces in other provinces in the Cordilleras, notably those in Benguet province, Mountain Province, Kalinga province, Abra province, Apayao province, and Nueva Vizcaya province. The provincial governments of each province may cooperate with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, National Museum of the Philippines, or the UNESCO Commission of the Philippines for the inclusion of their respective rice terraces in the UNESCO List as extension of the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras.