The concept of sustainable development is at the heart of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which recognizes in its preamble the importance of the intangible cultural heritage as a mainspring of cultural diversity and a guarantee of sustainable development. Furthermore, Article 2.1 of the Convention, dedicated to the definition of intangible cultural heritage, stipulates that consideration will be given solely to such intangible cultural heritage as is compatible with existing international human rights instruments as well as with the requirements of mutual respect among communities, groups, and individuals, and of sustainable development.

The legacy of Clifford Geertz’s symbolic anthropology has had a tremendous influence in critical heritage studies, particularly if we begin to think of “community” as the representation of the sociological and psychological thickness of time and people, a world in itself, or what he definitively penned in his germinal work The Interpretation of Cultures, “the strati!ed hierarchy of meaningful structures” (1973: 7). It is an imperative to honor the meaning of community in heritage work, both in its study and official protection, for without groups of people who live to de!ne and embrace and re-invent and share their cultural practices we will not be able to trace our linkages, belongingness, and identity. Traditional Food: Sharing Experiences from the Field is an evidence of the power of communities to transmit culture not merely inwardly, but also to other people across borders. This book underscores the anthropological value of unity, the appreciation of togetherness from Korea to Italy to Syria to Colombia to Mexico and the rest of the world through food.

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.

Kutch is a frontier district in the state of Gujarat in western India, situated on the border of India and Pakistan. Covering an area of 45,674 km², it is the largest district of India. It is surrounded by the Great and Little Rann of Kutch on the North, South, East, and the Arabian Sea on the West. In the beginning of the twelfth century, Kutch was ruled by Chavda, Sama, Sanghar, Kathi, and Solanki dynasties. From 1147 AD to 1947 AD, Kutch was ruled by the Jadejas, whose ancestors migrated to Kutch from Sindh (now in Pakistan). Sindh is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeast of the country, it is the third largest province of Pakistan. Sindh is bordered by Balochistan province to the west and Punjab province to the north. Sindh also borders the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan to the east and Arabian Sea to the south. The influence of Sindhi culture is very prominent in Kutch due to the history of migration of pastoralists as well as artisanal communities. The current paper aims to explore the cross border cultural relationships between local communities of Kutch, India and Sindh, Pakistan by critically examining their shared oral tradition of Gujharat and a significant traditional textile craft practice called Ajrakh.

The South-Western Alps, across Italy and France are an area of long-lasting and significantly dense presence of diverse intangible cultural heritage expressions, resulting from the peculiar forms of relation and adaptation between the communities and the mountain ecosystems. But now, this area faced a number of challenges, Alessio Re & Giulia Avanza introduced the projects for building up resilience on the South-Western Alps territory.

Culture is chiefly perceived as a driving force for sustainable development in the UN’s action plan for people, planet, and prosperity entitled “Transforming Our World: 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’. In this context, there is a foreseeable strength in ICH to generate means for sustainable development. The following issues are considered as starting points of discussion: (1) the methods of aligning commercial activities with ICH safeguarding activities, (2) the possible risks to ICH viability and the ways in which they can be mitigated, and (3) the prospect of moving toward and maintaining a mutual relationship between ICH Safeguarding and development policies.\nKeeping the grassroots level highly pertinent in Session 3, we intend to put various NGOs activities at the center of the discussion, particularly in light of our pursuit to assess their presence in sustainable tourism development and eco‐tourism, looking into the possibility of expanding the role of NGOs in areas such as cultural mapping and gender equality. To end, a plenary discussion will be held. The outcome document will be circulated to share the discussion points of and lessons learned from the meeting.

AJIYER Fair Trade Ltd. began working as a social business enterprise for the betterment of Bangladesh communities in 2002. It aims to strengthen the livelihood of rural agricultural practitioners, craftsmen, and artisans; empower women and children; revive cultural heritage; and ensure food and nutritional security.

Dongjo Yoo, a renowned installation artist, focuses primarily on environmental projects, specifically projects related to water. His most notable work is the Water Performance Installation Project, an eleven-year project starting from 2014, involving eleven lakes and rivers in ten countries. Under the motto of “there is no ‘water’ in the presence of water, and there is ‘water’ in the absence of water,” the project has been a large success. To highlight the importance of the environment, Mr. Yoo is looking forward to expanding his project to areas along the Silk Roads where water is a scarce and valuable resource.

Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, composed of thousands of small volcanic islands and atolls in the western Pacific Ocean. Moreover, four main archipelagos – the Caroline Islands, the Gilbert Islands, the Maria Islands, and the Marshall Islands – along with numerous small islands. As these islands are located in the Oceanian realm, the region has a tropical marine climate.

The Masion des Cultures du Monde (World Cultures Institute) The Maison des Cultures du Monde (“World Cultures Institute”), has been founded in 1982 in Paris by Chérif Khaznadar and Françoise Gründ with the support of the French ministry of Culture. Its goals, the promotion and the enhancement of world performing arts - as witnesses of human inventiveness, \n\n- as landmarks of a historical continuity - as factors of cultural diversity \n- as sources of inspiration and creative renewal. Its method: the on-stage presentation of musical, dramatic, choreographic and ritual expressions from all over the world and mostly unknown to the French public. Since the creation of the United Nations, a new vision emerged that international solidarity should be based on the knowledge of other cultures and on a “dialogue of cultures”. In France several initiatives were conducted such as : - the Theatre of Nations with the support of UNESCO\n- foreign cultural seasons such as the Year of India, the Year of China, the Year of Korea, the Year of Vietnam etc. \n- a Traditional Arts Festival which promoted world traditional arts in a spirit of open-mindedness, awareness raising, aesthetic pleasure and cultural enrichment.

Prabartana is a social enterprise working in diverse sections for revival which includes: arts, crafts, food security, and community-led responsible tourism. The organization provides training to weavers and has contributed to technical enhancement through documentation of patterns in computers instead of the manual style of Jacquard pattern design. As safeguarding action, they involve artisans in exhibitions and workshops for cultural exchange, audio-visual documentation and publication of books, social media-based promotions and audience development through the Web, newspaper articles and festival-relevant brochures. The organization also promotes community-led responsible tourism through AJIYER, where the community has the rights and knowledge to operate tours and promote and conserve cultural heritage, apart from safeguarding their environment.

As part of the Cultural Partnership Initiative of 2016, ICHCAP invited ICH professionals from Malaysia, Mongolia, Sri Lanka and Tonga. Each participant researched ICH topics of interest that relate to comparative studies, sustainable development, traditional medicine, and safeguarding organizations.