1st Ifugao Rice Terraces Assessment International Summit

IFSU holds 1st International Summit on Rice Terraces Assessment

(List of Participants https://tinyurl.com/3vhkxvjs

(Read https://www.facebook.com/ifugaostateuniversity/posts/1931767990342521 

For the first time in its 101-year history, the Ifugao State University (IFSU) held a 4-day program featuring local and international researchers, policymakers, and knowledge holders from the communities to discuss the current state of the Ifugao Rice Terraces (IRT) via Zoom video conference and Facebook Livestream on (watch it here):
March 18, 2022: https://fb.watch/c6q9rMxTl8/

March 22, 2022: https://fb.watch/c6p_wVIZBy/ 

March 25, 2022: https://fb.watch/c6qAtmL3Pe/

March 29, 2022: https://fb.watch/c6qFIChvsK/

The indigenous peoples of Ifugao rely on the IRT for food and income. It is also a part of its rich cultural heritage. However, the IRT is being threatened with loss of indigenous flora and fauna, watershed destruction, unregulated land-use conversion, reduced farm labor due to massive outmigration, abandonment and shift of economic activities, unchecked tourism activities, and the loss of interest in culture and rice terracing by the younger generation. These crises placed the IRT on the World’s Heritage Endangered List in 2001.

Apart from the need to protect these to sustain the lives of the Ifugaos, the IRT, as a designated United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Cultural Heritage and Food and Agriculture Organization-Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (FAO-GIAHS) site needs to be conserved given its relevance to the world’s biodiversity and food security.

With the theme, "Understanding and Envisioning the State of the Ifugao Rice Terraces (IRT)," the summit aims to hatch out agreeable and scientific information as the basis for political/legislative and societal measures for the conservation of the IRT. To achieve this, the summit will gather analyses of the current trends and conditions of biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human well-being from 50+ years back while proposing interventions.

University President Dr. Eva Marie Codamon-Dugyon said that the summit is one of the tangible proofs of how committed the University is to leading conservation measures as enshrined in its vision which is to pursue excellence amidst rich cultural heritage.

Four (4) thematic sessions are designated in different schedules during the summit discussing the following key Features of the IRT:

Session 1. Current Conditions & Trends of the Ifugao Rice Terraces (IRT)

(Read https://www.facebook.com/ifugaostateuniversity/posts/1934025696783417 )

Session 2. Drivers of Change in the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services of the IRT Landscape

(Read https://www.facebook.com/ifugaostateuniversity/posts/1934857590033561)

Session 3. Responses to the Changes of the IRT Landscape

(Read https://www.facebook.com/ifugaostateuniversity/posts/1937025263150127

Session 4. Future of the Ifugao Rice Terraces under Plausible Scenarios

(Read https://www.facebook.com/ifugaostateuniversity/posts/1940683322784321

The summit is spearheaded by the IFSU Research and Development Center for GIAHS with support from the Secretariat of the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative.

Paper presenters and speakers are from the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Kanazawa University, United Nations FAO – GIAHS, University of California Los Angeles – Department of Southeast Asian Studies, World Agricultural Heritage Foundation, Ifugao Satoyama Meister Training Program, University of the Philippines Open University, University of the Philippines Los Baňos, Provincial Government of Ifugao, Local Government Units (LGUs) of Banaue, Hungduan, Kiangan, and Mayoyao.

 

More News and Publication