Page 198 - UNESCO_Zatec_2021_A4

of Žatec and the surrounding landscape is therefore 1. CULTURAL LANDSCAPE OF HONGHE HANI RICE
completely exceptional in comparison with other areas. TERRACES (WHL)
The Cultural Landscape of the Honghe Hani Rice Terraces,
China is an extensive area in Southern Yunnan. It is
II. RICE TERRACES marked by spectacular terraces that cascade down the
Rice, like hops, is another representative of originally slopes of the towering Ailao Mountains to the banks of
wild plants that have been domesticated by man. It the Hong River. Over the last 1,300 years, the Hani people
is one of the world’s staple food crops, is Asia’s most have developed a complex system of channels to bring
important cereal, and accounts for up to 90 % of field crop water from the forested mountain tops to the terraces.
production in some areas. It is the main plant for grain They have also created an integrated farming system that
production, because in many areas two to three harvests involves buffaloes, cattle, ducks, fish and eel and supports
are obtained per year. Rice is closely linked to the history the production of red rice, the area’s primary crop. The
of tropical agriculture, since it was grown as early as inhabitants worship the sun, moon, mountains, rivers,
approx. 3,000 BCE. Today it is grown not only in Asia but forests and other natural phenomena including fire. They
live in villages situated between the mountain top forests
3. Justification for Inscription irrigation canals and dams are created. The building of an between people and their environment, both visually
also in Africa, America, Australia and even in Europe.
and the terraces. The resilient land management system
Flooded or irrigated rice is grown in fields where various
of the rice terraces demonstrates extraordinary harmony
and ecologically, based on exceptional and long-standing
entire irrigation system is laborious and expensive, which
is why rice is grown here as a monoculture. This means
social and religious structures.
many continuous years on the same plots, which places
The combined cultivation models for rice cultivation on
increased demands on maintaining soil fertility, and on
irrigated terraces in China are a very interesting landscape
eradicating diseases, pests and weeds.
type. The OUV of this World Heritage property appreciated
The constant cultivation of rice on a single plot of land
management system of the rice terraces demonstrates
without alternating with another culture is made possible
the extraordinary harmony between people and their
by careful agricultural techniques - it is cultivated in
an almost horticultural manner. The land is regularly the complex management with which the whole land
environment, both visually and ecologically, based
fertilized with organic fertilizers, weeds and diseased on exceptional and long-standing social and religious
198 plants are removed in a timely and regular manner. structures. The landscape is entirely different from a hop
landscape, having no urban component to contribute to
When growing rice in hilly terrain, rice fields are set up in the OUV. It is subject in a major way to the life of local
terraces one above another. communities, which have based their complex economy
on the rice terraces.
In the cultural heritage landscapes of the countries of
south-east Asia, rice is still harvested by hand, because 2. RICE TERRACES OF THE PHILIPPINE CORDILLERAS
in this process the plants are only minimally exposed to (WHL)
mechanical shocks and there is not a great risk of loss The Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras is an example
of grains. The cut or uprooted plants are immediately of an evolved, living cultural landscape that can be traced as
tied into smaller sheaves, which in some areas are left far back as two millennia ago in the pre-colonial Philippines.
in a flooded paddy field, at other times they are carried Out of the extensive historic terraces, the WHL inscribed
out on the dikes to dry sufficiently. The actual threshing property consists of five clusters of the most intact and
is done manually or on stationary threshers. Usually, impressive terraces. They are all the product of the Ifugao
manual threshing predominates, which causes only ethnic group, a minority community that has occupied these
minimum damage to the grain. After threshing, the grain mountains for thousands of years The network of canals
is dried to storage moisture. and ditches along the terraces allows water collected from
family-owned forests or woodlots at the top of the mountain
The use made of rice is much wider than that of hops, not to be distributed evenly to the terraces below. The terracing
only as a food, even if cooked rice is the most common technology that underpins an intricate agro-forestry system
and widespread food of all. In many countries in south- has been handed down from generation to generation
east Asia, alcoholic beverages are produced from rice. without direct interference from outside forces.
Rice gluten is used to make soup flavourings. High-
quality paper and other utility items are made from rice Rice fields are a visually distinctive part of the cultural
straw. The immature plants can also be harvested for the agricultural landscape, and like hops, in the areas where it
purpose of making ribbons and weaving into straw braids is grown, rice fields occupy differently sized areas. It is the
for the production of hats, rice is also ground to make agricultural landscapes with terraced rice fields, where rice
flour, oil is pressed from its sprouts, it is also used to is grown in flooded rice plains, that are represented by the
make mats, baskets and fine paper. Pasteboard is made two World Heritage sites described above, i.e. in China and
from rice husks. the Philippines.