ICH is an integral part of the indigenous population of Fiji known as the iTaukei. Borne of a rich oral tradition that spanned migration from Southeast Asia into the Pacific from 3,500 B.C., the iTaukei people of Fiji share many similarities with their island neighbors of Melanesia and Polynesia. ICH has manifested itself in many elements—from oral traditions, social practices, knowledge of nature, traditional craftsmanship, and performing arts. These elements exist in a rich interplay of reciprocal social systems in which the pinnacle is the chief, the physical embodiment of the ancestral spirits. Practice of the various elements legitimizes and enforces the status quo in traditional iTaukei life.

The Philippines, in the tropical waters of the South China Sea at the western edge of the Pacific Ocean, is dry from January to May and rain-swept for the rest of the year, especially during the monsoon months of June to September. The archipelagic country is vulnerable to climatic changes. The balmy ocean air becomes searing heat of 40 degrees Celsius in summer, and the monsoon rains extend in duration with increased volume.

The Samoan government’s efforts to revitalize fine mat weaving (‘ie sae) and the making of siapo or tapa, a bark cloth art, now includes a series of short films describing the processes. The film series was commissioned by the Ministry of Women, Community, and Social Development and produced by Galumalemana Steven Percival, a local filmmaker and ICHCAP correspondent. The documentary films in the Samoan language provide viewers with a glimpse into how these cultural products continue to be used in Samoan society. These traditional crafts are full of esoteric knowledge and lie at the bedrock of Samoa’s rich intangible cultural heritage.\n\nHere is a short video from the series.\n\nYoutube: https://youtu.be/Ccuf67O3Gos \n\nPhoto : Makers of Samoan siapo or tapa use traditional knowledge for dyes and fixatives ©Galumalemana Steven Percival

Listed on the UNESCO Register of Good Safeguarding Practices, the Oselvar boat was resurrected from near-extinction when the Os Båtbyggjarlag Boat-Builders Guild, Os municipality, and Hordaland County founded the non-profit boatyard and workshop foundation Oselvarverkstaden in 1997 with the support of the Arts Council Norway. The Oselvar boat used to be western Norway’s main mode of transportation and, as predominantly known, it is a Norwegian cultural icon that symbolizes the kingdom’s leisure craft. On the other hand, Costa Rica’s carreta or traditional oxcart is the Central American country’s most famous craft. Inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008 (though originally proclaimed in 2005), the traditional oxcart used to transport coffee beans in a ten-to-fifteen-day journey, from Costa Rica’s central valley over the mountains to Puntaneras on the Pacific coast. As a mode of transport, it lingers on a mobility that is built around agriculture, transcending a cultural aesthetics informed by rural imaginary. The presence alone of carreta is an explicit call to end deforestation and be much more mindful about climate change. The Oselvar boat of Norway and Costa Rica’s traditional oxcart are two living examples of the creative union between transportation and craft so that we may see public transportation as a cultural understanding of intangible heritage.\n\nThe South Asian nation of Pakistan, with its twenty-six national highways and three strategic highways, does not shy away from parading the abundance and importance of ICH in public roads. Pakistan’s truck art, the largest art industry in the country, is a living construction of identity by making visible a host of cultural signifiers, from religious piety to popular imagination. Albeit there is no economic benefit from decorating a truck, and even though such undertaking costs at least a whooping USD 2000 back in 2011, it has been the norm, according to Jamal J. Elias, for fleet owners to have their trucks decorated. Since 96% of the freight in Pakistan is carried by trucks, one can easily imagine the widespread presence of truck art. Focusing on the art in the craft of vehicular decoration, as well as on pleasure, protection, and suffering experienced by truck drivers, Anna Schmid contends that truck art is a form of popular culture in which central societal assumptions and values are contested in that truck art, by the very process of putting it in the public sphere, puts social mobility in a terrain bounded by semiotics or the study of signs and how these signs meaningfully interact with each other in religious, political, and cultural terms. Schmid draws truck construction by highlighting the specialized craftsmen principally responsible for it: blacksmiths (who attach a steel skeleton to the chassis to hold the body and the driver’s cabin), the body makers (who create the body composed of wooden pine slats held together by metal and wooden cross-pieces), lacquerers (who spray paint the body), upholsterers (who install the seat of the cabin), and the painters (who apply motifs and other necessary decorations).\n\nUnsuspecting the ethnic diversity of Pakistani society, on the basis of categorical decorative motifs such as explicit religious symbols and images, talismanic and fetish objects, talismanically or religiously loaded symbols, idealized elements of life, elements from modern life, the non-religious calligraphic program of the truck, Jamal J. Elias, a scholar who thoroughly examined the typologies and evolution of truck art and proposed five regional styles of truck art: Punjabi, Swati, Peshawar, Baluchi, and Karachi styles.\n\nTruck art is an exemplary case to theorize that the process of understanding ICH is a public work, a work that compels mediation and collective valuation. Something that transforms personal sentiments into public feelings. And what’s more interesting about the truck art of Pakistan, other than it being an industry of its own, is its direct connection to transportation—that a vessel practically meant to transport a commodity from one place to another actually carries something more than what it does, and it does beyond time and place, connecting cities and regions that ultimately become unknowable large-scale social processes. Indeed, when a symbol travels, its meaning exponentially multiplies.\n\nPhoto : Truck art ⓒ B.B.P. Hosmillo

"Regional Leaders requested for action. \n(a) Six countries selected to start work and the Cook Islands was one of the six; \n(b) Policies were developed with the help of WIPO. \nCurrent status \nThe Cook Islands’ draft bill is being refined for enactment, and it is projected to be passed in Parliament this year. \nWhat is Traditional Knowledge? \nKnowledge of our ancestor’s practices passed on through generations as a resource for best practice and survival. (To show the world our identity, and to stake our claim using set ways of doing these cultural traditions); \nThe Ministry of Culture was created in 1990 with its principle function and objective being to preserve, perpetuate, and enhance the Cook Islands’ cultural heritage to uphold tradition and develop an appreciation for this important national resource. Added to that is the key element of being able to maintain the unique cultural national identity of the people of the Cook Islands.\nHow do we protect TK in the Cook Islands? \nBy meeting with individuals and communities to record and create a data file on cultural knowledge and practices allowed drafting a format of TK policies to safeguard this knowledge. It is noted also that the local communities led the development of these policies relevant to their traditional knowledge. \nThe response from the individuals and communities was one of enthusiasm, and they were very receptive to the idea of recording data on their knowledge. The consultation was open, and it was carried out over several sessions, giving the community a strong sense of responsibility to the information being imparted. "

"Fiji perceives the 2003 Convention as an important tool to enhance the national pursuit to protect, promote, and revitalise traditional knowledge systems and intangible cultural heritage (ICH) of not only the indigenous iTaukei but also the many other ethnic groups that have made Fiji their home. It is these migratory ethnic cultures that are creating a challenge to the survival the indigenous culture, but at the same time, they are also a blessing in disguise because the influx of different cultures creates a multi-ethnic cultural society, one that is open to dialogue, national identity, and greater understanding, which then promotes pluralism in creativity and innovation. \nHowever, one of the most promising features of migratory cultures is that their dancers, spoken language, and forms of worship have to some extent become accustomed to the new environment that has engulfed their new social structure. And this is the most fascinating thing about ICH—it is evolving, so it is a form of living heritage. The migratory groups whilst practicing their heritage have also adopted elements of the local culture. The same also applies to the indigenous culture, which has adopted aspects of the migratory culture over time. For example, garlanding (veivakasalusalutaki) during traditional welcoming ceremonies and other events was not originally a part of iTaukei ICH, but through time, it has been adopted from other Pacific Island cultures, such as the Rotuman, Indo-Fijian, and Chinese cultures. So we are continually faced with questions and challenges as to that which the community perceives as their true ICH and that which is borrowed, and in respect of those that are a blend of both, where do they fit? Or to whom does it belong? What if the community collectively feels that it is not their own, what do we do? Do we still enter this into our national inventories? The contemporary ICH (art)—how are we to embrace it? These are issues we hope to explore further in the "

"Culture and Development \nCulture is the source of our identity, continuity, and creativity. Therefore, culture is important in its own right. Besides this intrinsic value, culture has social and economic values. Recently, there has been growing attention to the economic contribution of culture to development mainly through cultural and creative industries, including cultural tourism. In October 2010, UN General Assembly adopted a resolution 65/166, which emphasises the important contribution of culture to sustainable development and the achievement of national development objectives and internationally agreed development goals, including Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).\nThis resolution invites all Member States, intergovernmental organisations, and UN agencies to ensure a more visible and effective integration and mainstreaming of culture in development policies and strategies. \nICH Convention and Information/Data \nThe UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH Convention) provides important principles and guidelines for cultural policy for ICH safeguarding. The most important goal of the ICH Convention is to ensure the safeguarding of ICH in need of urgent safeguarding. As the number of State Parties increases and the reach of the ICH Convention expands, the ICH Convention is expected to allow us to identify vulnerability and risks facing ICH elements in different parts of the world. It will then enable us to manage and mitigate risks of ICH elements being completely lost by drawing attention of national authorities and the international community base on knowledge base created by the ICH Convention. Different kinds of information and data will be generated by implementing the ICH Convention According to Article 12.1 of the ICH Convention, each State Party shall draw up, in a manner geared to its own situation, one or more inventories of ICH present in its territory and ensure that the inventory is updated. ICH inventories "

"1. Introduction: Safeguarding ICH through a Designation System\nSimilar to other countries, the intangible cultural heritage (ICH) of Korea, which embodies Korean cultural identity, is now facing the threat of transformation and disappearance as a result of rapid industrialisation and urbanisation over the last several decades. In light of this threat, Korea enacted institutional safeguarding measures for intangible cultural heritage beginning with the establishment of the Cultural Properties Protection Act in 1962. \nThe Cultural Properties Protection Act defines ICH as cultural manifestations of intangible nature with high historical and artistic significance, such as theatrical and musical performing arts as well as crafts and skills. The act, furthermore, distinguishes ICH into two different groups: Important Intangible Cultural Property, designated by the state, and Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage, designated by local or regional governments. The number of items listed as Important Intangible Cultural Properties was 7 in 1964, and by 2011, this amount expanded to 114, and the number of Provincial Intangible Cultural Properties is 446. \nThe overriding principle for all activities involved in protecting and managing cultural properties and reviving them as living culture is preserving these heritage elements in their original forms. \nHowever, in the case of ICH, due to their very nature of existing and being transmitted orally, they are especially vulnerable and endangered in today’s quickly evolving, industrialised and urbanised society. Ensuring their continuity over time is accordingly more challenging and requires active intervention. \nTherefore, state and local governments select and designate categories of ICH more severely threatened than others by the changing environment, and provide support for transmission activities by Holders and transmitters of skills and the arts to guarantee the continuity of traditions and the cultural identity of the nation. "

"In this region of many “lands” surrounded by water, knowledge of the land and its harvests is tied closely to identity and heritage. This section’s themes thus offer a closer look at how the knowledge of caring for the land and harvests is a way of feeling for the Pacific islanders. This ICH, in addition to coloring people’s interactions on the land and carrying expressions of respect, is a means of ensuring sustainability and prosperity.\nPacific islanders depend largely on the land and their harvests from it for their survival, but these also hold deeper meaning for life. To the people of Vanuatu, for instance, laplap soso'ur is more than an edible delicacy: it is a feature of their cultural identity and a means to bring people together across societal levels. Similarly, in Palau, the mesei taro fields are valuable property, but they are also much more in that these pieces of land are deeply connected to the identity of the people, particularly women, and figure prominently in the colorful oral histories of the Palauans. Both of these cases, along with the other themes in this section, reflect the profound value of ICH related to the Pacific islands and their harvests."

One of this school's teachers, Diana Herawati, teaches Indonesian students and sometimes students from other countries how to develop procedure text in English A procedure text describes how something is achieved through a sequence of actions. Indonesia is rich in local knowledge that can be analysed and described as a procedure text. According to Diana Herawati, her classes are successful because they are rooted in love and local traditional wisdom. While these activities aim primarily at expanding language skills, they also raise awareness about the importance of culture and the environment and or nurturing responsible citizens.

Every year, the President Sergio Osmeña Senior High School organizes the Music, Art, Physical Education and Health (MAPEH) Festival. For the festival, each class performs a dance based on one of the country’s traditional dances. One student takes the lead in choreographing the dance and teaching his or her classmates, which is very empowering. As students come from all over the country, the MAPEH Festival is an opportunity to discover dances and songs from different regions and ethnic groups. It encourages students to share their heritage with their friends, empowers them to teach and promotes

Waa’gey is a community-based organization that uses traditional skills to confront the social, economic, and environmental challenges faced by the people of Micronesia’s most remote outer islands in the Pacific. We pursue the preservation of native knowledge, technologies, and arts both to protect our distinctive outer islands’ identity and to solve specific problems relating to import dependency, urbanization, climate change, and unemployment.