Ifugao Rice Terrace Assessment (IRTA)

Overview

The Ifugao Rice Terraces (IRT) are designated as a World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO (1995) and a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) by FAO (2005). However, the area of deserted arable land is increasing as young people abandon their farm land and migrate to urban areas. This, coupled with unchecked tourism development, has led to a deterioration of the rice terrace landscape and biodiversity loss, affecting ecosystem services and indigenous knowledge.
The Ifugao Rice Terrace Assessment (IRTA) is a research project that examines the current trends and conditions of biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being in the Ifugao satoyama over the past 50+ years, aiming to project plausible scenario responses. This will provide the stakeholders including policymakers in and out of Ifugao with scientific and policy-oriented information.
Activities include establishing organisations made up of community members (including farmers, women and youth) working with the conservation of the IRT. Field and research work, and writeshops will be done primarily to collate all available information from literature, research, and government statistical data among others. Validation through presentation of findings to indigenous knowledge holders, academia, as well as local and related government agencies will be done before publication and circulation. The major publication output will be a manifesto for conservation planning of the IRT and the Ifugao satoyama as a whole.