Bali — the island that told UNESCO to stay away from its temples

For over a thousand years, Balinese farmers have shared water through subak, a cooperative irrigation system built on the Hindu philosophy of Tri Hita Karana — harmony between people, nature and the divine. Water flows from volcanic crater lakes through tunnels and weirs to terraced rice paddies, its distribution governed not by engineers but by farmer cooperatives working alongside water-temple priests. In 2012, UNESCO recognised five components of this living system, including the Jatiluwih terraces, as a single World Heritage cultural landscape.

What happened next is the more surprising part of the story. Bali's own local councils pushed the provincial government to withdraw its remaining UNESCO applications that same year — including for major temples like Tanah Lot, Uluwatu and Besakih, all of which met the criteria for listing. The concern was overtourism: heritage status elsewhere had reliably added over 100,000 annual visitors to a site, and Balinese communities worried that turning their working temples into international landmarks would strain both the sacred spaces and the villages built around them. Subak remains, deliberately, Bali's only UNESCO site.

What the three cameras show

Bali beyond the webcams

Jatiluwih Rice Terraces: the UNESCO-listed heart of the subak system, spread across hills between 700 and 1,200 metres elevation.

Uluwatu Temple: a clifftop temple perched 70 metres above the Indian Ocean, one of Bali's six directional temples.

Mount Agung: the island's highest and most sacred volcano, considered the axis of the Balinese universe.

When to watch

Late afternoon: for the warmest tropical light over the island's rice terraces and coastline.

Getting there: Bali is served by Ngurah Rai International Airport near the capital Denpasar, in southern Bali, Indonesia.