The United Nations Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organization recognized the terraced fields in the Philippine Cordilleras as a World Cultural Heritage in 1995.

The rice terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras are an ancient man-made structure with a history of 2000 to 6000 years found in the mountains of Ifugao province. These terraced fields were created by the ancestors of the indigenous people living here.

Researchers believe that these terraces were built mainly by hand in a time when there were few supporting tools. These terraced fields are 1,500 meters above sea level and have an area of 10,360 square kilometers. These terraced fields are nourished and irrigated by a natural irrigation system of rainwater flowing down from the top of the mountain.

Terraced field farming is a unique type of farming in Southeast Asia. Terraced fields are a type of wet rice cultivation on mountainous terrain with a quite sophisticated irrigation system to provide water for the growth of rice. rice. It can be said that this type of terraced field farming exists uniquely in Southeast Asian countries including China, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

In the Philippines, in some localities such as Luzon, Man Da Nao, Pan Na Wan… there is the Ifugao ethnic group, these are the creators of this type of farming that is one of the most unique in the world in terms of agricultural activities. traditional industry.

For more than 2,000 years, high-altitude rice fields were slowly built by the Ifugao people along the contours running around the mountains and replicated in a large area. The knowledge about farming is passed down from generation to generation as a sacred tradition of the nation.

Until the early years of the twentieth century, the Iflugao people in the Philippines were still an ethnic group of great interest to scientists and ethnologists around the world. Scientists pay special attention to this ethnic group because of the unique characteristics of their residential customs as well as their economic production activities, religious rituals and terraced field construction.

The Philippine government has made many efforts to assimilate and eliminate the gap between the Iflugao ethnic people and ordinary people in the Philippines, but nothing seems to be able to shake this ethnic group. With a population of approximately 120,000 people living scattered in a large area of up to 1,120 km2, where the terrain is rugged, rocky and has many storms. Iflugao ethnic people still live and cultivate terraced fields of which they are the creators and owners. In their traditional agricultural activities, the Iflugao people have a very close connection with rice as well as magical rituals and worship surrounding rice.

The terraced fields in the Philippine Cordilleras in Luzon are an image, a concrete example of the farming practices of ethnic Filipinos.

Besides, the terraced fields in the Philippine Cordilleras are the only monuments in the Philippines that have not been influenced by colonial cultures. At the same time, this system of terraced fields is also an important testament in determining the outstanding scientific knowledge of the ancients in applying production.

Up to now, if coming to the Philippines, international tourists often choose to visit this cultural heritage because this place not only has a lot of cultural and historical significance but is also a place with very beautiful landscapes and a beautiful environment. wonderful fresh nature.