In 2015, the UNESCO Bangkok Office published Learning with Intangible Heritage for a Sustainable Future: Guidelines for Educators in the Asia-Pacific Region, which included the results of a pilot projects conducted in four countries—Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and Palau—with the aim of integrating intangible cultural heritage and education for sustainable development. The introduction of this handbook begins with the quote from Nelson Mandela, “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.”

Board games are an indispensable feature of get-togethers with family and friends. They are not only a fun way of spending quality time together, but are also scientifically proven to improve skills in all kinds of things from financial planning to empathy. Use of traditional board games can contribute to achieving the educational goals of cultural heritage. There are various educational games that are imbued with cultural meaning and promote problem-solving skills across different cultures. On top of helping to develop the player’s mental, emotional, moral, and can contribute to enhancing knowledge about other cultures. Therefore, board games can be used as cost-effective instructional materials with the power to facilitate fun and rapid learning. Although some traditional board games have already been integrated into game-based learning strategies, their practice and transmission are still at risk as a result of urbanization and the effects of digitalization.

With the growing expansion of digital ecosystems around the world, an information-sharing platform has emerged as one of the key elements for the success in the fourth industrial revolution. This shows the recent transition into a new paradigm the focus of which is mainly brought to the openness and sharing1. These changes have made their ways not only into the economy but also into art and culture. Discussions have also been made, even in the field of ICH, about the importance of co-governance and management for efficient ICH safeguarding and their use. This can be also construed from Cheng Yang’s article, indicating that “the open and cooperative governance is the key to effective ICH safeguarding in the big data era.”2 Today, many ICH elements are at severe risk due to political, social and environmental changes such as globalization, industrialization, urbanization, and climate changes. A lot of analogue ICH-related records have faced a serious risk of damage and deterioration while failing to adapt to the digital environment. This is why we need a digital mechanism for ICH safeguarding.

This Book is the outcomes of the 2021 Expert Meeting for Building Network on Maritime ICH, which is held on 29 October 2021. The expert meeting was co-organized by ICHCAP and SPC under the theme of Maritime Living Heritage: Coastal Communities in the Asia-Pacific Region and Their Traditional Food System. This meeting consisted of two sessions with the different approaches to the costal communities and their traditional food system; ecocultural approach and socio-cultural approach. This book contains nine case studies of experts and scholars.