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In the Montane areas of Cordillera, the Philippines, the IP (indigenous people) have cultivated native rice for generations on their rice terraces, which were designated a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Cultural Heritage site in 1995 and a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) World Agricultural Heritage site, Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) in 2011. This heirloom rice was registered as a collective trademark in 2018 and will be registered as a sui generis geographical indication (GI) in the coming years. Based on the author’s interviews with the stakeholders in heirloom rice production conducted in the Philippines in 2019, this article aims to analyze whether GI and patrimonization contribute to the sustainability of the IP communities in Cordillera. This paper demonstrates that GI and patrimonization exhibit both potential and contradictions in ecological, socio-cultural, and economic dimensions of sustainability in the communities, and the compatibility of these dimensions is challenged. The paper concludes that public policies need to pay particular attention to accompanying IP communities when GI and patrimonization are designed to protect them from over-development of the designated area and over-commodification of their certified agri-food products.

Traditional rural landscapes emerged from the long term interaction of the natural and anthropogenic environment. These landscapes are now threatened by drastic social-ecological changes. Recent international trends on sustaining cultural landscapes place great emphasis on understanding of multiple values, presented in the landscape, by considering various stakeholder perspectives. It is now recognized that strong community engagement with the landscape should be translated into conservation and management practices. This paper aims to examine the recent conservation activities around endangered traditional rural landscapes in Korea through a case study of Gacheon village. In this village, since 2000, a series of central administrative measures have been implemented to revive the local community, and to conserve its distinctive landscape. By analyzing challenges to the site, by discussing conservation experience and lessons, and by recommending future strategies for sustaining its cultural landscapes, this paper is expected to provide a basis for future policy-making for safeguarding traditional rural landscapes.