DFA welcomes removal of rice terraces from danger list

Photo courtesy of DFA

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Foreign Affairs has welcomed the removal of the rice terraces from the List of the World Heritage in Danger.

“This decision is a historic moment for the Philippines,” said Ambassador Cristina Ortega, Philippine Permanent Delegate to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) in a statement released by the DFA Thursday.
She said the country’s achievement reinforces the site’s grandeur and relevance as a globally important and cultural landscape.

The statement noted that the World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 of the State Parties to the World Heritage Convention, decided that the Philippines met the “desired state of conservation.”

Photo courtesy of DFA

It said the country was able to restore at least 50 percent of the collapsed terraces and that it accomplished the required documentation and rehabilitation of major irrigation systems in the site.

It said the body also noted that community-based land use and zoning plans, as well as measures ensuring the site’s proper management and its protection from natural disasters, had been implemented in the area.

The rice terraces in Cordillera became the first-ever property to be inscribed in the cultural landscape category of the World Heritage List in 1991. In 2001, however, the World Heritage Committee announced that it was facing serious risks.

The Philippines gained success in its efforts to protect the rice terraces, as the 36th Session of the World Heritage Committee removed the site from the List of the World Heritage in Danger.