Quantifying the role of traditional rice terraces in regulating water resources: implications for management and conservation efforts

Agricultural terraces are the most evident landscape imprints of traditional knowledge on soil conservation and water management globally. This article focuses on the Ifugao Rice Terraces (IRT) of the Philippines, a sustainable agroecosystem built on the harmonious relationship between indigenous pe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Agroecology and sustainable food systems 2018-09, Vol.42 (8), p.885-910
Main Authors: Soriano, Mario A., Herath, Srikantha
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abandonment
Agricultural ecosystems
Agricultural management
Catchment scale
ecosystem services
Groundwater
Groundwater recharge
hydrologic modeling
Hydrology
Ifugao rice terraces
Land cover
Land use
land-use change
Landscape
Mathematical models
Resource availability
Resource management
Rice
Soil conservation
Soil management
Soil water
Southeast Asia
sustainable agriculture
Terraces
Water conservation
Water management
Water resources
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Summary:Agricultural terraces are the most evident landscape imprints of traditional knowledge on soil conservation and water management globally. This article focuses on the Ifugao Rice Terraces (IRT) of the Philippines, a sustainable agroecosystem built on the harmonious relationship between indigenous people and their local environment. We elucidate how the rice terraces influence the hydrologic response at a small catchment scale through detailed field monitoring and physically based mathematical modeling. We also explore the consequences of socioeconomic pressures manifested through land-use change. Our results quantitatively reaffirm the effectiveness of well-maintained agricultural terraces in regulating water resources by enhancing groundwater recharge. Meanwhile land-cover change induced by terrace abandonment was shown to lead to an overall decrease in water resource availability.
ISSN:2168-3565
2168-3573
DOI:10.1080/21683565.2018.1437497