Banaue Rice Terraces (UNESCO World Heritage Site) The 2000-year old Banaue Rice Terraces (Hagdan-hagdang Palayan ng Banawe) are terraces that were carved into the mountains of Ifugao by ancestors of the indigenous people using primitive tools such as woods and stones without the aid of machinery. The Rice Terraces are one of the Eighth Wonders of the World and has been declared a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Site in 1995. It stands 1, 500 meters or about 5, 000 feet above sea level and covers 10, 630 square kilometers (about 4000 square miles) of mountainside. It is been said that if the rice terraces will be connected end to end, it measures 10 times longer than the Great Wall of China or half-way around the world. They are fed by an irrigation system from the rainforests above the terraces. They extend over five provinces, Apayao, Benguet, Kalinga, Ifugao and Mountain Province with borders Benguet to the west, Mountain Province to the north, Isabela to the east, and Nueva Vizcaya to the south. This serves until now as agricultural site for rice, vegetables and other root-crops.

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