From April 2024 to March 2025, UNACOM and the Ifugao State University (IFSU) collaborated for the conservation of the Ifugao Rice Terraces as a World Heritage site through the conduct of an education and information campaign; development of the Ifugao Heritage Code; and assessment of the Ifugao Rice Terraces Master Development Plan (2015-2024). This initiative was crucial because awareness of the World Heritage inscription among the communities themselves was low as a result of the top-down approach during the inscription process in the 1990s. These activities aimed to address the gaps in community support.
UNACOM and IFSU, conducted a series of community consultations, and World Heritage information and educational campaigns in the five clusters of the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras. Through this project, the collaboration was able to produce community-vetted knowledge products in the form of information and education materials with seven modules. Moreover, the Ifugao Heritage Code has been crafted for formal codification of the community through an endorsement of a Provincial Resolution. Additionally, the communities were consulted for recommended areas for the World Heritage site markers.
Through the passing of an ordinance, the Code is envisioned to govern how the Ifugao people would manage and protect their ancestral domains, cultural traditions, and ecological systems in ways that respect their inherent value and contribute to sustainable development