Living amongst the highest mountains in the Philippines, and calling themselves ‘sky-people,’ the lfugao are masters of terracing. Developed over two thousand years ago, in the land-locked Cordillera Mountain Range on the island of Luzon in the Philippines, the lfugao’s terraces on the steep slopes are considered to be the Eighth Wonder of the World. The terraces, known in Filipino as palayan, filter and purify rainwater from tropical pine forests at the top of the mountains, for both the small villages in the Cordilleras and for the major cities downstream, eventually dispersing it through grasslands towards the ocean. The forests capping each terrace cluster are known as muyong and contain over two hundred and fifty indigenous plant species. The lfugao’s palayan serve as an innovative model of terraformiog that irrigates, purifies, and provides a platform for community-driven ecological rice farming.
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DOWNTOWNNYC THE REFORMERS 2020
