Abstract

There has been an increasing concern over the threats posed by climate change to the conservation of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS). However, the Ifugao Rice Terraces (IRT) have received limited attention with respect to climate change, considering it is one of the provinces in the Philippines highly at risk to temperature change, projected rainfall change, and combined climate and weather-related risks. It is therefore necessary to assess how the community perceives climate change and how they can cope up with these impacts. This study aimed to explore farmers’ perceptions, adaptation strategies, and barriers to climate change in the community of Batad Rice Terraces. A total of 114 out of 197 households, three focused group discussions, and five interviews with key stakeholders, including government officials and community leaders, were conducted in 2017 and 2018. The result showed that farmers have already observed the negative impacts of changing weather patterns, particularly in their agricultural production. The most common impacts observed were low rice yield, drought, and drying of rice plants due to unpredictable rainfall patterns and temperature increase. The top three most important adaptation strategies in the face of climate variability are all water-related. This shows that strong local government support is recommended to repair and maintain irrigation canals within the terraces. The salient climate change barriers identified by the farmers were access to climate information, inadequate farm labor, and lack of access to agricultural extension.