ASIAN RICE CULTURE AND ITS TERRACED LANDSCAPES
REPORT ON THE REGIONAL THEMATIC STUDY MEETING
Manila (Philippines) 28 March to 4 April 1995
1. Purpose of the meeting
Following a decision by the World Heritage Committee at its seventeenth
session in December 1993 to undertake regional thematic studies on cultural
landscapes, the Philippine National Commission for UNESCO, the Department
of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Tourism and the National Commission
for Culture and the Arts, hosted the expert meeting "Regional Thematic
Study Meeting on the Asian Rice Culture and its Terraced Landscapes".
The meeting was held in Manila and Banaue from 28 March to 4 April 1995. The
results of this meeting are here presented to the World Heritage Bureau for
consideration. The full report will be made available to the nineteenth
session of the World Heritage Committee.
2. Introduction
Throughout the Asia-Pacific region mountainous terrain has been, over the
centuries, shaped into landscapes of terraced pond fields for the
cultivation principally of rice, but also of taro and other crops. These
landscapes exist, both as archeological sites and as living landscapes
which continue to be used an maintained by the people who created them. It
is essential to conserve outstanding representative examples of these
landscape that are found in almost all Asian countries, both for their
intrinsic value and for what they can teach about enduring systems of
human-nature interaction. However, it is not only the physical structure
of the sites that must be conserved. It is necessary to analyze the
different factors that are integrated in these structures. Over the
centuries, traditional culture has developed a sophisticated support system
of cultural, socio-economic, ecological, agricultural, hydraulic and other
practices that continue to exist up to the present day in order to maintain
these sites. To preserve the life of these sites, including wild living
organisms (biodiversity) and their specific habitats, it is necessary to
continue the delicate interrelationship between the culture and its
traditional systems.
These are monuments to life itself. These landscapes celebrate the
traditional lifestyle of the Asian people. It is this particular regional
culture's special imprint on and relationship with nature manifested with
significant aesthetic and harmonic values. It is a landscape that is being
renewed daily and will continue its existence for as long as the unbroken
line of this lifestyle continues.
Asians celebrate rice as an important staple and as the basis for many of
their traditional practices, myths and beliefs.
It is appropriate that any cultural heritage conservation program be inter-
agency, multi-disciplinary, and inter-governmental in nature. This regional
meeting examines the special Asian relationship to rice as expressed in the
rice-growing landscapes found all over the region.
3. Case studies and regional comparative overview
19 delegates from Asia made presentations about rice culture in their
countries (China, Korea, India, Indonesia, Japan, Myanmar, Philippines and
Thailand). Cultural landscape studies from other parts of the world
(Australia, Europe, South America) provided an additional context for
discussions. In addition, a number of theoretical papers were presented, on
both cultural and natural aspects including the importance of community
involvement. Presentations by UNESCO, IUCN-CNPPA, and ICOMOS outlined the
Global Strategy within which the identification, evaluation and
conservation of specific regional landscape types are to be considered. A
summary of these presentations can be found in ANNEX III.
There was an in-depth examination of the Ifugao rice terraces of the
Philippine Cordillera, including a field visit to the terraces themselves,
which have been nominated by the Philippine Government for inclusion on the
World Heritage List as a continuing cultural landscape. The Ifugao
Terraces Commission established by Philippine President, Fidel Ramos, in
1994, presented its master plan for the conservation and development of the
site. During the course of the meeting, this case study of the Ifugao
terraces served as a "type-site" against which propositions of the experts
were tested and evaluated.
This wide-ranging background on both the ecology of rice landscapes and
diverse cultural manifestations of terraced pond-field agriculture
underscored for the experts the complexity of the relationship between
nature and human cultures which has shaped the distinctive terraced pond-
field agricultural landscapes of Asia and the Pacific. It was noted that,
in addition to the case-studies presented at the Manila meeting, terraced
pond fields are characteristic of the Himalayas, central and south China,
Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi, many of the high islands of Polynesia and
Melanesia, as well as many other areas of the Asia-Pacific region. A
substantial body of ethnographic, archaeological and ecological literature
is available on the various aspects of this landscape type, as a result of
decades of research by scholars. The experts felt that it would be
important for the Committee to consider the full body of this
interdisciplinary scholarly research in its evaluation of future
nominations of specific terraced pond-field agricultural landscapes.
4. Issues considered by the experts
4.1 Asian Terraced Landscapes
4.1.1 Definition
The Asian rice culture and its terraced landscape should be seen as a
component in a wider series of those landforms transformed by human action
through agricultural practices. The entire Asia-Pacific region is
characterized by the technique of pond-field agriculture, which modifies and
shapes the landscape. The application of the technique to mountainous terrain
has created a cultural landscape of terraces. These terraces provide habitats
modified by humankind. Archaeological evidence indicates that the earliest
terraces may have been used for the cultivation of root crops (e.g. taro),
which continue to be important staples for some of the region. The
development of this technique has been widely applied to the cultures of the
region for the production of rice. These relationships are explained in the
following diagram:
AGRICULTURE
-----------
Asia/Pacific
pond-fields (hydrology)
slope (terrace)
rice
There are two broad categories of Asian rice-production landscapes: wet and
dry rice cultivation. Irrigation and water management is a key issue in
both types of cultivation. The typical, lowland rice paddied landscape is
commercially viable, producing most of the Asian requirement for rice.
The most spectacular terraces are found in the mountainous areas of the
region, where the difficult terrain demands a very laborious method of
terrace construction. In response to the harsh environmental conditions for
rice growing and maintaining a lifestyle in the mountains, strong cultural
traditions have evolved, governing all aspects of daily life and agriculture.
These factors are essential in maintaining the terraces and the lifestyle of
its inhabitants and ensure an enduring relationship with nature itself.
The meeting therefore focused on high-altitude, pond field cultivation rather
than the lowland rice agriculture landscape.
Four types of terrace wall construction are to be found in the Asian rice
landscapes. In the gently sloping topography of the lowlands, the paddy
walls are constructed of packed earth to an average height of approximately
0.50 meters. When the slopes are steeper, the lower part of the paddy wall
is constructed of stone and topped with a low packed earth wall. Both wall
types are also found in terraces on the gentler slopes of the highlands. The
terracing on steeper slopes is more visually spectacular and more difficult
to construct. The steep terrain no longer allows the use of packed earth
walls and so two types of stone construction are employed. The first is a
vertical wall constructed of stone; the second is a canted wall for steeper
slopes. Since the ponds are constantly flooded, the lips of walls are
constructed to contain the water, considerably higher than the water level or
concave to prevent water spillage.
4.1.2 Evaluation of terraced landscapes
4.1.2.1 Specific attributes of terraced pond-field agriculture
Some kinds of modification and transformation of the natural surroundings
that are significant for evaluating pond-field terraced agricultural
landscapes in the Asia-Pacific region, with emphasis on their cultural and
ecological integration in relation to continuing evolving local systems of
knowledge and technology include:
Climatically-related (water)
* watershed management (in particular forest protection and
rehabilitation);
* irrigation works (weirs, dams, sluices, canals, tunnels,
reservoirs);
* heavy engineering works especially for drainage (self- standing
stone walls, deep channels);
* hydraulic controls of internal as well as external water flow;
* hydraulicking (movement by water) of rock, soil, earth and organic
material from higher sources.
Edaphically-related (soil)
* major earthworks in mountainous terrain (excavation, leveling,
filling, dyking of terraces);
* embankment walling and buttressing with boulders, stone;
* devices used for repairing damaged terraces (due to avalanches,
earthworm-induced seepage, earthquakes, cloudbursts, river
flooding);
* recycling of soil nutrients by field-to-field transport.
Biotically-related (biomass, biodiversity)
* organic residue management of weeds including water ferns,
aquaculture of fish and other edible fauna (snails, shell-fish,
mole crickets, etc), blue-green algae, and varied forms of edible
flora other than the principal cultivars (rice and taro);
* transport and distribution of organic fertilizers of domestic and
wild origin (including green manure);
* intercropping of legumes and other vegetables, root crops, spices,
and lesser known plants of food and medicinal value;
* development and maintenance of adjacent woodlots;
* routinely selected and appropriately placed varieties of major
cultivars (rice, etc).
Ethnoecologically-related (in general)
* fine-tuning, synchrony, and interlocking of cropping cycles and
resource flows with the organization of labour;
* linkages and integration of religious and social traditions and
adaptations with the modifications and transformations of the
landscape noted above.
4.1.2.2 General evaluation indicators
In addition, the following broad indicators were defined, on the basis of the
study of terraced landscapes, as being among those that should be taken into
consideration in the evaluation of specific examples of continuing cultural
landscapes in general:
* Traditional knowledge and technology and cultural-ecological
integration.
* Involvement of local people in active maintenance and modification
of the landscape.
* Degree of transformation of the natural landscape.
* Evolution and survival over time.
* Completeness of physical unit.
* Cultural tradition/identity.
* Comparative value within region.
* Significance in cultural, economic, social, and/or religious
development of region.
* Representative nature of landscape type.
* Degree of enhancement of biodiversity (fauna, flora, domesticated
livestock, and cultivated crops).
* Authenticity/integrity.
* Necessary management and support conditions in place.
4.1.3 Management and Conservation
1. Objectives of conservation policies for Asian Rice Terrace Landscapes
An overriding principle of conservation is the sustainability and continuity
of the balanced cultural and ecological integration between humanity and
nature which gives rise to the landscape. In particular the following
objectives should be pursued:
* environmental sustainability (in space and time), i.e. the
protection of natural processes and cycles and the ecological system
in place (including the protection of soils, water and biodiversity
in fauna, flora and domesticated crops);
* protection of characteristic landscape features including
technological aspects such as water channels, irrigation and
terracing;
* maintenance and strengthening of living cultural traditions,
including increased awareness of the value of these traditions;
* maintenance of the economic viability of farming and traditional
landuse systems using traditional knowledge-based technology;
* strengthening the capacity of the local community to cope with
external pressures and forces.
2. Means and mechanisms for conservation planning for Asian Rice Terrace
Landscapes
It is particularly important to develop policies in the following key issues:
* Greater community empowerment, so that local and indigenous
communities, especially those people directly involved in the
evolution and maintenance of the shaped landscape, are able to
determine to the maximum extent possible the content of the
conservation plan and to participate in its implementation;
* Awareness building of the potential impacts of tourism on the local
community, the landscape and the environment; community
determination of the form of tourism which takes place;
redistribution of tourism revenues so that the local community
benefits; and information to, and education of visitors of the
significance of the culture and the landscape of rice terraces;
* Determination of appropriate zones (including buffer zones) and
their boundaries which identify the outstanding features themselves,
ensure the protection of the ecosystem upon which the landuse system
depends and which recognize also the interactions between cultural,
social and administrative factors.
In addition, the following organizational principles should be followed as
far as possible:
* The presence of a strong body, representative of and responsive to
the local community, responsible for overseeing the conservation of
the area;
* This body should ensure a partnership and dialogue between all
interests involved, including arrangements for participation by the
private sector, NGOs and international organizations;
* The body should be responsible for developing programmes of
financial and other support for the conservation of the landscape,
policies for the control and regulations of incompatible activities,
and arrangements for monitoring, feedback and review of the
effectiveness of the conservation plan.
* All sectors of public policy need to be integrated and coordinated
to achieve the objectives of the conservation of the cultural
landscape.
4.2 General considerations on Continuing Organically Evolved Landscapes
Asian rice terrace landscapes are representative of a living culture. If one
or more such areas are to be inscribed on the World Heritage List, this will
be under the category of "continuing, organically-evolved landscapes"
(Operational Guidelines, para. 39 (ii)). A number of more general questions
arise from the Asian case studies, which will be relevant to the assessment
of other continuing, organically-evolved landscapes.
This category of cultural landscapes presents particular challenges. Whereas
intentionally-designed landscapes, "relict" organically-evolved landscapes
and associative landscapes are, by their nature, more likely to be confined
to a relatively few areas of limited geographical extent, continuing
organically-evolved landscapes are very widespread : all agrarian landscapes
can be considered in that light, and some other landscapes which have been
fashioned by humanity (e.g. managed by fire regimes) can be similarly
regarded.
The first challenge, therefore, is to find an approach to the
classification or typology of such landscapes so that a basis for
selecting from such a potentially vast field can be made.
The second major challenge is to develop meaningful guidance for
comparative evaluation of the quality of such landscapes. Without such
guidance, which will need to be based on the agreed criteria in the
Operational Guidelines, it will not be easy to establish whether or not
a particular site has outstanding, universal values.
The third challenge is perhaps the most daunting of all. Because the
essence of this type of cultural landscape is its dependence on a
living culture, the management of such landscapes has to be through the
community, rather than of the landscape as such (see section 4.1.3).
Consideration on Typology
Rather than try to develop a world-wide categorization of cultural
landscapes, a more pragmatic approach is suggested. This would involve
recognition that relatively few organically evolved cultural landscapes are
likely to exhibit outstanding, universal qualities and that the World
Heritage community should concentrate its attention upon these. The
indicators which might be looked for in selecting priority types of landscape
include the following examples: the demonstration of outstanding techniques
for coping with extreme environmental conditions (e.g. steep slopes, low
rainfall), the excellent examples of the adaptation of cultural and land use
to the natural conditions, the sustainability of land use over a long period
of time, and the enhancing or sustaining biodiversity in fauna, flora and
cultivated crops and domesticated livestock.
Evaluation of Continuing, Organically-evolved landscapes
Within any one priority landscape, there will be certainly be a number of
potential sites worthy of nomination. The task of choosing which satisfy the
World Heritage criteria will require the development of a set of evaluation
indicators. It is desirable that these be standard (i.e. apply to all
nominated continuing organically evolved landscapes). Examples are given
under section 4.1.2.
5. Recommendations
5.1 In order to complement and further extend the valuable discussion and
results of the Expert Meeting in Manila it is recommended that an
interdisciplinary, technical paper be commissioned to provide as wide a
context as possible for the evaluation of future nominations of terraced pond
fields. This paper, which should consist of a search of the wide body of
already published literature on the subject, would extend the context to
include the entire Asia-Pacific region in which terraced pond fields are
widespread. Such a widening will serve both the Bureau and Committee in their
deliberations on the nominations of cultural landscapes.
5.2 It is recommended that as soon as possible a small interdisciplinary
and intercultural meeting be held under the auspices of UNESCO, and advised
by ICOMOS and IUCN, to address the typology and evaluation tasks, and more
specifically to develop a list of criteria for the selection of priority
landscape types of a continuing, organically-evolved nature, to draw up a
list of such priority landscape types for the attention of the Committee, and
to prepare indicators for assessing individual nominations under these
priority landscape types.
5.3 It is recommended that the World Heritage Committee invite ICOMOS and
IUCN to develop draft principles and guidelines on the management of
continuing, organically-evolved cultural landscapes based on the initial
ideas generated through the meeting on Asian rice terrace landscapes, but
these need to be elaborated further and made general to all continuing,
organically evolved cultural landscapes.
6. Acknowledgement
The experts commended the World Heritage Committee, the UNESCO National
Commission of the Philippines, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the
Department of Tourism, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and
the Ifugao Terraces Commission for their support.
7. Annexes:
I List of participants
II Programme of the meeting
III Summary of country studies