Cultural Landscape of Bali Province: the <em>Subak</em> System as a Manifestation of the <em>Tri Hita Karana</em> Philosophy

The Cultural Landscape of Bali Province - the Subak System as a Manifestation of the Tri Hita Karana Philosophy is a multi-site cultural landscape in Bali that illustrates the traditional cooperative irrigation system known as the subak and the island’s social and spiritual relationship with water and agriculture. The property was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2012.

The inscribed areas include rice terraces, irrigation networks, canals and associated water temples where ritual and community decision-making coordinate water distribution. The landscape demonstrates how religious practice, community cooperation and agricultural technology combine to manage water across varied terrain.

Subak institutions organize planting and irrigation schedules and maintain temple-canal complexes; the cultural system supports intensive wet-rice cultivation in terraced and lowland fields. The property covers multiple zones across Bali Province that together illustrate the subak system and its association with the Tri Hita Karana philosophy linking human, natural and spiritual wellbeing.

Geographically the sites are distributed across central and parts of southern Bali, on volcanic slopes and lowland plains, where terraced rice cultivation and temple networks exploit natural water sources and gravity-fed irrigation.

• Subak irrigation system: The subak is an irrigation cooperative that links terraced rice fields with water temples; the system integrates practical water management with religious and social organization.