The culture of the Central Asian steppes expresses itself vividly in the lifestyle of traditional nomadic practices. Mongolian culture has been in practice in the nomadic life and the traditions surrounding the nomad’s home (ger). And it is present in religious celebrations, national festivals, art and crafts, music and dance, language and literature, which form the backbone of Mongolian intangible cultural heritage of Mongolia. Mongolia is filled with valuable cultural properties and intangible cultural heritage of humanity that have been kept or practiced for thousands of years.\n\nGer, Mongolian Traditional Dwelling\nThe traditional architecture of the Mongols differed strongly from that of the settled peoples of Asia and other continents. Centuries ago, there the ger, also known as a yurt, appeared. It still offers shelter to nomads in particular places in Central Asia. Its development and fundamental principles are determined by the specific features of the way of life of Mongol tribes, which made it necessary to evolve a light and collapsible structure to be used as a dwelling or for public functions.\n\nMongolian Language and Literature\nMongolian is the language of most of the Mongolian population and inner Mongolia. By origin, Mongolian is one of the Altaic family of languages, and the history of the Mongolian language is long and complicated. Significant literary work of early Mongolia includes The Secret History of the Mongols, which was published in 1228).\n\nMongolian Religion and Beliefs\nThe Mongols have practiced several religions, of which Shamanism and Buddhism were the most common. The faith in Mongolia is Buddhism, though the state and religion were separated during the socialist period, but with the transition to the parliamentary republic in the 1990s, there has been a general revival of faiths across the country\n\nMongolian Art and Crafts\nMongolian arts and crafts have been passed down across generations from the Paleolithic times to today, leaving behind deep impressions on all facets of life and conscious, aesthetic, and philosophical thinking. Highly developed Mongolian arts and crafts come from the second millennium BCE. The works included sculptured heads of wild animals with exaggerated features. Other items include knives, daggers, and other items of practical and religious use.\n\nMongolian Music and Dance\nMusic is an integral part of Mongolian culture. Among Mongolia’s unique contributions to the world’s musical culture are the long songs, overtone singing, and morin khuur (the horse-headed fiddle). The music of Mongolia is also rich with varieties related to the various ethnic groups of the country. Among the most popular forms of modern music in Mongolia are Western pop and rock genres and the mass songs written by contemporary authors in the form of folk songs.\n\nHorse Culture of Mongolia\nIt is famously known that horses play a large role in the Mongols’ daily and national lives. Common sayings are, “A Mongol without a horse is like a bird without wings,” and “Mongols are born on horseback” these are arguably true words. Even today, horse-based culture is still practiced by nomadic Mongolians.\n\nVisit https://www.toursmongolia.com/tours for additional information about Mongolian culture.\n\nPhoto 1 : Prairie meadow grass inner Mongolia traditional clothing © Batzaya Choijiljav\nPhoto 2~7 : © Batzaya Choijiljav

"This presentation paints a broad portrait of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) in Canada. In the first section, I examine the political and legal situations of a country that has not signed the 2003 UNESCO Convention. My focus rests more specifically on the recent legislative recognition of ICH in the Canadian province of Quebec, which adopted the Cultural Heritage Act on 19 October 2011. I explain the safeguarding mechanisms prescribed in this act and describe how the legislation will be put into practice. In the second section, I examine safeguarding initiatives that support ICH directly and indirectly at the federal and provincial levels. The presentation analyses more specifically the inventories undertaken in Quebec since 2003 and 2004, revealing their benefits and drawbacks. I conclude by demonstrating how international cooperation has strengthened efforts to develop ICH in Canada and abroad. Important aspects of these efforts include the exchange of expertise, political legitimacy conferred by external recognition, and professional networking."

The Tao Foundation for Culture and Arts is a Philippine non-profit, non-governmental orga-nization based in Quezon City, National Capital Region, Luzon and in Agusan del Sur, Caraga Region, Northeastern Mindanao. Established in 1994, the Tao Foundation is led by an all-fe-male Board composed of Filipino scholars, artists, and Indigenous community leaders engaged in cultural regeneration initiatives in response to the five centuries of colonial and neocolonial histories and the need to help build strong cultural communities. The Tao Foundation’s mission is to (1) facilitate the exchange, transmission, and development of Philippine ICH/TCH; and to (2) contribute to the empowerment of culture bearers or those who possess ancestral practical and theoretical knowledges that have endured and transformed to remain relevant through colonial and neocolonial histories as a result of day-to-day and more large-scale acts of resistance.

According to the International Organization for Migration, although the percentage of international migrants in relation to the total world population is relatively low, that is 3.3percent in 2015, and has grown only 1 percent since the 1970s—in absolute numbers, it has almost tripled, from 84,460,125 to 243,700,236 in that same period.

This paper begins with a brief introduction to the history of the Pacific region and its cultural cooperation centering on past and on-going projects, such as the Festival of Pacific Arts (FOPA), community-based Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), and Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS). The introduction is followed by a progress report on intangible cultural heritage (ICH) safeguarding and the promotion and implementation of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Pacific. Activities both at country and regional levels as well as those carried out in partnership with other organizations are highlighted in the progress report. The paper then presents three areas for the future tasks for ICH safeguarding in the Pacific:\n\ni) ICH and community resilience,\nii) ICH and community well-being, and\niii) ICH policy and strategy\n\nIn doing do, the paper uses the information and data obtained through the field projects and observations on the ground. The paper concludes by presenting a way forward and showing major cultural events as opportunities for further promoting ICH safeguarding and the ICH Convention in the Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

The Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which was adopted at the General Conference of UNESCO in 2003, is now, after ten years, considered a great success, bringing many positive results to so many countries. This Convention achieved entry into force only three years later in 2006 when Romania became the thirtieth country to ratify this important instrument. The initial years, until 2008, were a period of preparation and organization to implement the Convention. The Intergovernmental Committee was organized, and the Operational Directives were formulated.

The Heritage-sensitive Intellectual Property and Market Strategies (HIPAMS India) aims to investigate how developing ‘heritage-sensitive’ intellectual property protection strategies can give communities greater control over the commercialization of their heritage while contributing to its safeguarding and on-going viability.\n\nIntangible cultural heritage (ICH) practices, such as craft, dance, musical performance, storytelling, and painting, give communities a sense of identity and belonging. The sale of products created by ICH practices can also create jobs and income. However, many communities in developing countries like India experience significant difficulty preventing the appropriation of their heritage by others, for example through mechanization of production methods. Conventional intellectual property (IP) rights, such as copyright, patents, and design protection, offer limited protection to the authors of original creations or new inventions that cannot easily be used to protect cultural expressions whose authors are unknown, and that have been passed down through the generations, changing and adapting to new contexts. HIPAMS India engages with three Indian ICH practices—Baul and Fakiri music, Chau dance, and Patachitra tradition to investigate how developing ‘heritage-sensitive’ IP protection strategies can give communities greater control over the commercialization of their heritage while contributing to its safeguarding and on-going viability.\n\nHIPAMS India Operates under the Following Objectives\nAssess the impact of Contact Base’s AFL strategies on socio-economic development and ICH safeguarding in the identified communities and on market outreach.\nCo-create effective, replicable and scalable HIPAMS for use by these communities, based on this review process and research on similar case studies in other contexts.\nConsider the impact of implementing these HIPAMS on socio-economic development and ICH safeguarding and market penetration.\nDisseminate the findings in co-authored academic publications incorporating case studies from the project.\nTranslate research findings into policy briefs and workshop tools.\nThe project aims thereby to contribute to the sustainable development goals of Agenda 2030 by helping to build sustainable communities, protect and safeguard cultural heritage, enhance wellbeing, address income inequalities, promote economic empowerment (of women), and reduce poverty.\n\nVisit the HIPAMS India’s website to learn about its activities and download their marketing strategies toolkit.\n\nPhoto : Purulia mask © HIPAMS