The novel coronavirus fears have affected various sectors of the economy, politics, society, and culture. Notably, the cultural sector has been directly and substantially affected by the coronavirus crisis. Most of the public cultural facilities, including museums and art galleries, were temporarily shut down, and many cultural events and performances have been canceled or postponed due to the outbreak. The crisis has wreaked havoc on the performing arts industry. With measures taken to curb the spread of the coronavirus by preventing mass gatherings, concert halls, and theaters have been closed to help people avoid close contact with others.\n\nThe pandemic is also tough on traditional performing arts. It should be noted, however, how the performing arts community is trying to overcome this difficult time and use the crisis as an opportunity. They are looking for various ways to get through the health crisis. The National Gugak Center (https://www.youtube.com/user/gugak1951) and the Seoul Donhwamun Traditional Theater (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr2aWbG8Hz-EAl7cznvGO5Q), for example, are streaming live performances without audiences via Naver TV and YouTube. And several classical music companies around the world, including the Paris National Opera and the Bolshoi Ballet, are trying to bond with fans, using advanced technologies, by, for example, sharing videos of dancers practicing within the confines of a studio.\n\nLivestream performances provide audiences with virtual content they can partake in from home. Artists can have a live chat with viewers and be inspired to perform free improvisations, making audiences feel as if they were sitting in the front row. By using video technologies, online concerts offer audiences various views, unlike in-person theaters, where spectators can watch the stage from specific angles and distances. Livestream performances also enhance audience convenience. Viewers can enjoy great art while enjoying snacks and drinks from the comfort of their own homes. They can also talk to the people beside them and share their feelings with other audiences in real time while watching shows.\n\nHowever, there are some downsides. Audiences might find it difficult to concentrate on a performance when they experience it via screens and speakers. And although the latest technologies are used to deliver high-quality images and sounds, there are still limitations in bringing the full force of actual performances. This situation raises doubts about whether live streams can appeal to audiences with the same intensity that they might have in physical theaters.\n\nThe coronavirus pandemic has changed many aspects of life. It has also led to noticeable changes in the performing arts. Although there are still varying opinions about the audience’s absence, which is one of the most fundamental elements of performances, the recent proliferation of live streams can be considered a significant leap forward and have shown the possibility of further development.\n\nLivestreaming of traditional performances via online platforms is expected to play a significant role in lowering physical and emotional barriers and increasing accessibility to traditional culture, especially among young people who are more exposed to pop culture. Traditional performing arts will hopefully survive this crisis and come out of it stronger.\n\nPhoto : ‘Ogomu’ Traditional Performing Arts of Korea ⓒ Shutterstock/Jack Q.

Moderator to Participants: If you will allow me, because of a shortage of time, one question can be applied to everybody. Mr. Park this question is related to the one I asked you. The issue is related to challenges and is related to artificial intelligence. Because as Mr. Kwon Huh mentioned earlier in his presentation that we have to continue networking both online and offline. And if we are talking about online networking, I think one of the possible challenges in front of us is artificial intelligence, which is coming to every site and from your point of view, what is the extent of artificial intelligence could be an essential tool for promoting this ICH Silk Roads network? To what extent do we have to consider? I know that Krista Pikkat was looking after a communications center, so she knows very well about artificial Intelligence, and she has many ideas on artificial intelligence. It is coming; it is coming everywhere already. So, my question to you, from your point of view, artificial intelligence and the Silk Roads network. What can be the challenges here and what would be your proposal?

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.

The use of plant remedies in the treatment of ailments and diseases has been practiced by indigenous peoples for generations. In Timor-Leste, there are many plants commonly used as folk medicine such as papaya (known as ai-dila in the local language. It is a small, bushy tree with a hollow trunk, large palmate leaves, and oblong smooth-skinned fruits). In traditional practice, the most popular among Timorese communities is papaya as medicine to prevent various types of diseases. Medical papaya plants are potentially valuable medicine concerns on health reasons for both indigenous and modern communities in Timor-Leste. Therefore, it is crucial to protect its natural habitat. Realizing the importance of medical plant conservation has been ongoing for ages by the indigenous communities as intangible cultural heritage. This article focuses on the importance of conserving local practices (knowledge) about the role of papaya leaves as local medicine to prevent various types of illnesses.

This publication contains papers from the 2021 World Intangible Cultural Heritage Forum held online for three days, from September 29 to October 1, 2021. The event was hosted by the National Intangible Heritage Center and organized by ICHCAP.\n\nThe forum was held under the theme of “Rediscovering Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Era of Convergence and Creativity” to re-examine the creative value of intangible cultural heritage and present the possibilities by examining examples of innovation and value creation through intangible cultural heritage.

Moderator to Helena Norberg-Hodge: You have emphasized a new order and a way of life and the need to promote localization to escape from globalization and cultural uniformity. In my opinion, this localization can be carried out more easily in the post-CORONA era; what do you think? And this is the second question, in the post-CORONA era, is there a need to change the direction or strategy of the localization movement? If so, what would it be? People nowadays talk about new normal, so please also tell us about the post-CORONA era localization.

It had taken a few weeks for roads to be cleared of rockfalls and to be made safe enough for vehicles carrying essential goods and supplies in the wake of the June 2013 flash floods and landslides in the western Himalayan region, in particular the mountainous state of Uttarakhand. A small team from the specialist center that I was associated with, the Centre for Environment Education Himalaya, was traveling to a few of the villages that had been affected, which were also villages in which the center had been working for some years before the natural disaster. Those in the small group were anxious. There had been no way to contact people in the villages nor even local administrators in the sub-district offices. Phone lines had yet to be restored, and mobile phone towers were being slowly replaced. Had there been casualties amongst the groups the center had trained? Were homes and school buildings still standing? No-one would know until they reached.

This paper presents an overview of the current situation of intangible maritime cultural heritage among coastal residents and fishing cooperative association members who work and live in the Matsushima Bay region of Miyagi, Japan. \n\nThe Matsushima Bay has a rich history of peoples living around and accessing the sea’s resources since at least the Middle Jomon Period (4000 to 2500 BC). The Bay, named a quasi-national park and known as \none of the three most scenic places in Japan, was made famous by the poet Basho who visited the area in 1690.\n\nToday, however, the area suffers from high population density in the surrounding mainland, intense industry along the coast, demographic change in the coastal communities, and the impacts of the tsunami generated by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. \n\nWith these challenges, maritime ICH is at risk, and with it, communities and ways of life since, if ICH can help strengthen social cohesion and inclusion, the loss of ICH can weaken it. Social practices, rituals, and \nfestive events structure the lives of coastal communities, strengthening shared understandings of the local culture and environment. Two communities, maritime events, “Minato Matsuri” and “Hama O-bon”, \nwill be presented to highlight the importance of such activities.\n\nMaritime ICH also provides an opportunity for environmental sustainability and resilience. The paper thus also touches upon local concepts of “fisher-forests” and “sato-umi” and presents local examples of coastal community activities which, along with fishers’ local ecological knowledge, supports resilience and sustainability goals

Indigenous skills, and the stories connected to them, are learned at home and passed on down the generations. The eastern plains of Nepal, around the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, are home to more than two hundred Sardar families. Their income largely relies on the natural resources in the wildlife reserve. Not only are the Sardars protectors of the environment, but also of local crafts. They contribute to a strong relationship with the environment’s local resources through their weaving craftsmanship, skills they have been practicing for generations.

Traditional coastal communities possess marine knowledge that enable them to live with and live on resources in different eco-niches like intertidal strands, mangroves, mudflats, beach forest, and coral reefs. Chao Lay (which means Sea People in Thai language) or former sea nomads of Thailand are indigenous groups who used to make temporary settlement on islands and along the coastal areas. The sub-groups of Moken, Moklen and Urak Lawoi, total of 43 villages in southern Thailand, have intangible marine heritage that facilitate their wise uses of marine and forest areas for centuries. The Chao Lay are said to have the great ability in, “reading the water to remember the wind, and reading the sky to remember the star” (Kuain 2008). At present, marine knowledge and skills remain significant in some communities. The case in point is Rawai beach community in Phuket Province in southern Thailand, where two sub-groups of Chao Lay, the Urak Lawoi and the Moken have chosen this area as a settlement hundreds of years ago; not only because of the shallow water near the beach and the nearby coral reefs, but also because it is a bay that is sheltered from the winds from two directions. So the place is very suitable for both living and for foraging and fishing with abundant land and marine resources. The knowledge of settlement site selection is very crucial, and most of the Chao Lay villages on the islands and shore are located in the bay or beach protected from the wind and storm. Fresh water can be easily found nearby in the form of spring, stream, or pond.

Helena Norberg-Hodge speaks about the importance of local community networks and is sure to highlight the dangers of the influx of global finance, markets, etc. as they undermine the local communities that are exploited in the process, removing their heritage and security and giving it to a global market, which degrades the value of the communities. She is sure that the future for economic wellbeing of communities is to remain local with some trade between and among local communities, a small scale endeavor that doesn’t include multibillion overlords calling the shots to determine what is needed around the world rather than what is needed locally.

Excellencies, ladies, and gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to join you today on the occasion of the 2020 World Forum for Intangible Cultural Heritage.\n\nI will first like to congratulate the organizers for their tireless efforts to make this year’s forum a reality; the Korean National Cultural Heritage Administration, together with the International Information and Networking Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO (ICHCAP) has been an important partner to UNESCO over the years.