BY LEANDER C. DOMINGO
THE Ifugao State University (IFSU) is holding an international summit featuring local and international researchers, policymakers and knowledge holders from different communities to discuss the current state of the Ifugao Rice Terraces (IRT).
Faith Napudo, IFSU information officer, said this will be the first international summit on rice terraces assessment in the 101 years history of the IRT.
With the theme “Understanding and Envisioning the State of the Ifugao Rice Terraces,” the summit will be conducted via Zoom videoconference and Facebook live stream on March 18, 22, 25 and 29.
Napudo said 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 since 50-plus years back while proposing interventions,” she added.
Napudo said the Indigenous Peoples of Ifugao rely on the IRT for food and income as it is also part of their rich cultural heritage.
However, she said the IRT is now being threatened and has been included in the World’s Heritage Endangered List in 2001.
“The IRT is now endangered due to many factors including 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,” Napudo said.
She also said the IRT is also being threatened by unchecked tourism activities and the loss of interest in culture and rice terracing by the younger generation.
“Apart from the need to protect it to sustain the lives of the Ifugaos, the IRT needs to be conserved given its relevance to the world’s biodiversity and food security,” Napudo said.
The IRT was designated a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Cultural Heritage and Food and Agriculture Organization Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (FAO-GIAHS) site.
During the summit, there will be four thematic sessions designated in different schedules to discuss key features of the IRT.
Napudo said the sessions include Current Conditions and Trends of the Ifugao Rice Terraces; Drivers of Change in the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services of the IRT Landscape; Responses to the Changes of the IRT Landscape; and Future of the Ifugao Rice Terraces under Plausible Scenarios.
The summit will be spearheaded by the IFSU Research and Development Center for GIAHS with support from the Secretariat of the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative.
Speakers and paper presenters will come from 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 (UP) Open University and UP Los Baños.
The provincial government of Ifugao, local government units of Banaue, Hungduan, Kiangan and Mayoyao will also join the summit.
IFSU president Dr. Eva Marie Codamon-Dugyon said the summit is one of the tangible proofs of how serious the university is leading in conservation measures as enshrined in its vision, which is to pursue excellence amid rich cultural heritage. TMT