Recently, in early September, Hurricane Ida struck the Caribbean, and the Southern and Northeastern states of the U.S. caused catastrophic flooding, even the death of the people. Even Australian Bushfires, Cyclone Amphan hit Bangladesh and India, Volcano eruption in the Philippines in 2020 scratched the people all over the world. Mother nature makes human beings humble; however, we get the power from nature to overcome hardships at the same time. This volume mainly introduces traditional knowledge and oral traditions by focusing on who, what, and how with the Pacific Islands, Japan, India, and Thailand cases.

This book is a collection of the eight selected NGOs’ ICH safeguarding activities in accordance with achieving Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal 4: Quality Education. With the inclusion of NGOs from Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, and the Philippines, this book provides an opportunity to look into the current ICH safeguarding status and environment of the seven countries and to seek measures to overcome the many different challenges involved with ICH safeguarding.

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. These reports were compiled into a bound publication and is now made available as an online download.

ICH Courier is the quarterly magazine on ICH in the Asia-Pacific region issued by ICHCAP since 2009. Every issue has its own theme under the title of the Windows to ICH, and the theme of the Vol 40 is 'Rites of Passage, a Journey to Adulthood.'

As part of the Cultural Partnership Initiative of 2017, ICHCAP invited ICH professionals from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, and Nepal. This publication is a collection of the research reports of 2017 CPI participants. The participants selected their own topic and conducted researches based on their various activities during their five-month stay in Korea.\n\n

Based on the ICHCAP Field Survey on Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Efforts in some Pacific countries (2009-2013), this summary provides a brief overview on the ICH situation in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Cook Islands, the Marshall Islands, Tonga, Palau, Vanuatu and Federated States of Micronesia. The summary focuses mainly on ICH safeguarding systems, safeguarding policies, and ICH inventories as well as on pending issues and the urgent safeguarding needs of these countries. Moreover, information on the main entities in charge of ICH safeguarding and opinions of each country on the issue of community involvement are provided. To give a quick overview these countries’ participation in ICH safeguarding at the international level, some additional information related to UNESCO is specified as well. Apart from the main topic, information on the situation of intellectual property related to ICH safeguarding in each country is included. This survey report offers a large sample of the diverse ICH situations in Pacific countries. Each country has a different background on the issue of intangible heritage. Although all countries participating in the survey are concerned with the threats facing their ICH, most of them haven’t defined ICH and haven’t established inventory national ICH list or inventory. However, each country expresses a high degree of motivation and encouragement for safeguarding ICH, sharing experiences, and participating in international cooperation efforts. Compared to some Asian countries, Pacific countries seem to be well aware of the emerging intellectual property issues related to ICH. This might be related to the internationally publicized infringement and violation of intellectual property rights by outsiders on the Pacific’s traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, and genetic resources . Moreover, these countries appear to collaborate closely with the World Intellectual Property Organization on various awareness-raising and capacity-building activities on protecting traditional culture in a broad sense. To date, out of the eight Pacific countries participating in the survey, five countries (Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Palau, and Vanuatu) are drafting laws on the protection of traditional knowledge and expressions of culture. Furthermore, in terms of technical terminology, the Pacific countries tend to use “traditional knowledge” and “expressions of culture” as equivalent terms to “intangible cultural heritage”. Pacific countries are also conducting cultural mapping projects, which is another common point that they share. Finally, the Pacific region has the highest rate of indigenous populations of any other region of the world and the highest rate of customary or traditional land ownership.\n\n- Has not ratified the ICH Convention yet; conducted survey in 2011\n- As of May 2013, has no elements on the ICH Lists of UNESCO and no accredited NGOs

This Promotional book is a result of researches done by researchers of the Research Institute of Culture and Information and it was published by finance assistance of the International Information and Networking Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under auspices of UNESCO (ICHCAP). The Promotional book contains of elements of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Tajiks described in seven chapters with fresh and colorful illustrations.

This publication of the guide book on intangible cultural heritage of the Philippines is the precious result of the enthusiastic efforts made by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) to reconfirm and restore the national treasure of the long protected traditional culture, which have been alienated and marginalized during the colonial period of many centuries. This guide book has been edited to understand holistically the entire aspects of living heritage, the five domains defined by the Convention, and emphasize the importance of the communities practicing and transmitting them.

ICH Courier is the quarterly magazine on ICH in the Asia-Pacific region issued by ICHCAP since 2009. Every issue has its own theme under the title of the Windows to ICH, and the theme of the Vol 29 is 'Traditional Shipbuilding Techniques.'

Based on the ICHCAP Field Survey on Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Efforts in some South-East Asian countries (2009-2012), this summary provides a brief overview on the ICH situation in Cambodia, Thailand, Viet Nam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos, and Myanmar . The summary focuses mainly on ICH safeguarding systems, safeguarding policies, and ICH inventories as well as on pending issues and the urgent safeguarding needs of these countries. Moreover, information on the main entities in charge of ICH safeguarding and opinions of each country on the issue of community involvement are provided. To give a quick overview these countries’ participation in ICH safeguarding at the international level, some additional information related to UNESCO is specified as well. Apart from the main topic, information on the situation of intellectual property related to ICH safeguarding in each country is included. This survey report offers a large sample of the diverse ICH situations in South-East Asian countries. Each country has a different background on the issue of intangible heritage. For instance, Indonesia is the only country participating in the field survey that has a programme in the Register of Best Practices. Viet Nam developed ICH-related definitions in its Law on Cultural Heritage; whereas the Philippines has a strong legislative background and solid network of public structures protecting cultural heritage. Cambodia recognises the link between cultural heritage and development of national economy and runs relevant activities on promoting traditional culture while maximizing its economic benefits to the country. For Laos, training local artists rather than researchers in ICH safeguarding, including IPR, is deemed to be essential, as the artists are the important resources that master their arts. Among the South-East Asian participants, Thailand and Myanmar are the newest to approach ICH safeguarding. Although all countries are concerned about the threats ICH faces, most countries participating in the survey haven’t defined ICH and haven’t established national ICH lists. Meanwhile, drawing up an inventory of traditional cultural expressions in different forms—register, cultural map, or database—is a common activity in these countries. Moreover, each country expresses a high degree of motivation and encouragement for safeguarding ICH, sharing experiences, and promoting international cooperation.\n\n- Ratified the ICH Convention in 2013; conducted survey in 2016.\n- As of March 2018, has 1 ICH element on the RL and no accredited NGOs.

On 13 September 2018, experts of the Asia-Pacific region gathered to discuss maritime topics. Organized and hosted by ICHCAP and the National Research Institute of Maritime Cultural Heritage, the symposium, in two sessions, allowed an opportunity to discuss issues related to traditional shipbuilding and navigation skills as well as traditional maritime knowledge in contemporary life.\n\nThis report is composed of seven presentation papers from seven countries, namely China, ROK, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, PNG, and Madagascar, regarding on transmission of traditional ship making and navigation skills.\n

This book is the outcomes of the 2020 Expert Meeting for Building Network on Maritime ICH, or ICH Webinar Series on Maritime ICH, which held on October 29-30, 2020. It was hosted by ICHCAP in collaboration with UNESCO Apia Office and sponsored by the Cultural Heritage Administration of the Republic of Korea. The theme of the webinar series is “Maritime Living Heritage – Building Sustainable Livelihoods and Ecosystems in the Asia-Pacific Region.”\n\nThe webinar is divided into two sessions, in which scholars, relevant NGOs, and practitioners of maritime ICH were invited to present cases and studies on the state of maritime ICH in the region, as well as relevant safeguarding activities. On the first day of the webinar, it focuses on traditional maritime skills and knowledge for inclusive social and economic development. On the second day, it examines how living heritage is used to enhance environmental sustainability and to achieve resilience.