According to newa, a Buddhist belief system, death is one of the ten major events in one’s lifetime. While death is the end of a life, it is also taken as a beginning of another life, a cycle that continues until the state of Nirvana is achieved. Hence, death rituals, apart from funerals and lamentations, include rituals carried out to prepare the deceased for the journey after death.

Central Asia stands at the crossroads of ancient civilisations. Its territory, crossed by the northern part of the great Silk Road, constitutes an ensemble of cultural heritage sites and monuments that express common historical experiences as well as reflect an extraordinary cultural diversity dating from prehistoric times to the Islamic period and beyond. For centuries, the phenomenon of intangible cultural heritage was a key factor for the transmission of indigenous cultural traditions for future generations as well as a matching point for intercultural dialogue in Central Asia—a region with unique oral and music traditions.

Intangible cultural heritage presents an important form of living cultural heritage. It covers fundamental, yet extremely vulnerable aspects of living culture and tradition embodied in the spiritual life, traditional knowledge, skills, and practices of communities. It presents one of the most vivid and colourful forms in which the world’s cultural diversity is expressed and preserved.

Seong-Yong Park talks about the importance of ICH for the sake of sustainable development along with the characteristics of Silk Roads region. He also discusses the various Information and networking programs ICHCAP has implemented in collaboration with Central Asian nations, especially nations along the Silk Roads, showing ICHCAP’s interest in developing projects along the Silk Roads. At the same time, He proposes to develop a broader network targeting the Silk Roads region with upgraded functions of sharing information and building networks. In addition, he argues that for better opportunities for future collaborations, establishing a Silk Roads ICH Network would be a meaningful journey through cooperative and multilateral partnerships among the stakeholders to recreate the glory of the Silk Roads through ICH.

This paper accompanies a shorter presentation to the ICHCAP Forum ‘Unlocking the Potential of Tertiary Education for ICH Safeguarding’, held in Seoul, Republic of Korea in July 2018. \n\nAlong with other speakers from the Asia-Pacific Region, I have been asked to outline and explain the educational approach to intangible cultural heritage safeguarding in the post-graduate teaching courses in the Cultural Heritage & Museum Studies program at Deakin University, located in the Australian State of Victoria. Deakin is a relatively young university within Australia, established in 1974, and named after Alfred Deakin, leader of the Australian federation movement and Australia’s second Prime Minister. \n\nDeakin University is located in the Australian State of Victoria and has four physical campuses as well as its ‘Cloud campus’ (for on-line delivery). The Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies program is located at the Melbourne campus, on the Country (Traditional Lands) of the Wurundjeri people, and provides both on-campus and Cloud (online) delivery of its courses. Deakin has a long-standing commitment to flexible and on-line learning. Deakin’s LIVE the Future Agenda 2020 has as its first Strategy for its ‘Learning’ objective: ‘Provide premium cloud and located learning’. The Cloud campus is the fastest growing of its campuses, with more than 13,000 students now studying predominantly on-line (Deakin University 2017: p. 5). All Deakin’s programs aim to allow students to take courses wherever they are, and to study ‘anytime’. In practice, this has allowed Deakin to be an inclusive tertiary education provider, supporting people to be able to undertake their studies, alongside work/caring responsibilities, or located in rural and regional locations (or even outside Australia).

The Ramayana is one of the two greatest Hindu epics of South Asia, the other being the Mahabharata. The Ramayana, authored by Sage Valmiki, tells the story of Lord Rama (the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu, ‘The Preserver’). Rama is referred to as Maryada Purushottam (the most superior man who embodies both divinity and humanity). The central message of the Ramayana is to demonstrate to worldly individuals how to lead a virtuous life that does not violate any laws of nature.

Throughout their history, the Kyrgyz people have lived nomadically, which then determined the direction of their cultural and spiritual life. This idea comes to life quite easily when examining the intricacies of Kyrgyz folk art and epic poetry, in particular. The main core of Kyrgyz epic poetry is Manas.

As one of the most complete surviving historic city centers with a multicultural living heritage on the Straits of Malacca, George Town was inscribed as a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in 2008, together with Melaka. To manage, monitor, and promote the George Town World Heritage Site, George Town World Heritage Incorporated (gtwhi.com.my) was established in 2010 by the state government of Penang.

Shamanism is a phenomenon found in most parts of the world. The essence of shamanism is people's nature to overcome their limited abilities by creating and leaning upon supernatural being. This is a trait not only found in Shamanism but also in most religions as well. However, Shamanism is usually considered as a mere folk belief rather than a nationally recognized religion. \n

Nepal is a diverse country with 103 ethnic communities and 93 spoken languages and dialects. Besides the lan\u0002guages, each ethnic community has their own lifestyle, food habits, traditions, rituals, and festivals. The country, which covers roughly 147,000 square kilometers, has varied climate, terrain, and biodiversity. These factors also contribute to the diversity of food, culture, and lifestyle. New Year is one example of a festival for which each community has their own celebration. This is despite Nepal as a nation following the historical Bikram Sambat calendar, which currently is in the year 2077 and celebrates its New Year around the month of April. All the formal events of the country and offices follow Bikram Sambat.

"As we all know, the importance of intangible cultural heritage has been greatly enhanced since the 2003 Convention though the forms we are talking about are old if not ancient in many cases, and the individuals who have worked in the arts with what was called ‘expressions of folklore’ were involved in efforts to preserve and transmit these traditions. However, the 2003 Convention, which has at its centre the aim of safeguarding, has helped bring these issues to the centre, resulting in debate and the need to define the ‘intangible’.\nI am discussing these issues not only as one who works in this area but as one providing perspective from India, from the standpoint of an archivist who is involved in the documentation, preservation, and dissemination of forms of intangible cultural heritage, including music, oral traditions, rituals, and other forms of performance.1 Though this is an attempt at providing an overview of the status of the Convention, my aim will be to deal with the spirit rather than the Though my experience is limited to India, this paper is based on input from Moe Chiba of the UNESCO New Delhi office for an overview of issues from Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, which fall under their aegis."

The Foundation for the Protection of Natural and Cultural Heritage is a UNESCO-accredited NGO located in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. It was established in 2000 with the objectives of protecting and safeguarding various natural and cultural heritage elements, including intangible heritage values, and carrying out various activities for researching, studying, and promoting natural and cultural heritage properties and ICH values.