The parent organization of CEE Himalaya is the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), which was established in August 1984. CEE is a national institution with its headquarters in Ahmedabad and has been given the responsibility by the central government of promoting environmental awareness nationwide. It undertakes demonstration projects in education, communication, and development that endorse attitudes, strategies, and technologies that are environmentally sustainable. Based in the city of Lucknow in the state of Uttar Pradesh, CEE Himalaya has been working in the states of the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) for over two decades. The mission of CEE Himalaya is to enhance understanding of sustainable development in formal, non-formal, and informal education through its work with schools, higher educational institutions, local and Indigenous communities, policy makers and administration, youth, and the general commu-nity. The primary objective of CEE Himalaya is to improve public awareness and understanding of environmental issues with a view to promote the conservation of nature and natural resources by integrating education with traditional streams of knowledge and cultural expressions. This approach demonstrates and grounds sustainable practices in rural and urban communities and facilitates the involvement of the business and public sectors to respond to the effects of climate change and variability.

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.

The parent organization of CEE Himalaya is the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), which was established in August 1984. CEE is a national institution with its headquarters in Ahmedabad and has been given the responsibility by the central government of promoting environmental awareness nationwide. It undertakes demonstration projects in education, communication, and development that endorse attitudes, strategies, and technologies that are environmentally sustainable.

The Phnom Penh Vientiane Workshop and Charter were driven by participants who represented museum and heritage leadership from linguistically and culturally diverse communities of South-East Asia and Timor-Leste. Its integrity, from preparation to follow-up, has been overseen by a leadership of entirely Asian linguistic and cultural backgrounds. It was the first of such major initiatives in Asia by the International Council of Museums (ICOM). It addressed the concern that models and methods from developed or rich countries, where heritage contexts are well resourced, may not necessarily work for cultural communities and groups in low economic indicator countries. This concern was prioritised with the significance given to stakeholder or carrier and transmitter communities in the UNESCO 2003 Convention.

The shamanism heritage is not a tangible cultural asset preserved in the halls of a museumor a recording that can be viewed repeatedly as a still or moving image. It is true that tangible assets as subjects of observation are also part of the shamanism heritage, the essence of shamanism is a complex and real cultural asset experienced through rituals performed in the real world occupied by people living in a specific time and space. In fact, the tangible and intangible is impossible to differentiate when in comes to cultural assets of shamanism. They are treated as separate entities for realistic, methodological or technological limitations, but in fact all traditional culture, not just shamanism, is a composite of tangible and intangible elements.

Sri Lanka has a diverse dancing culture where three main styles represent the classical dance tradition. These styles are known as Kandyan dances of the hill country (Uda Raṭa Nätum), the low country dances (Pahata Raṭa Nätum), and the mid-country (Sabaragamuva Näṭum). These three classical dancing styles are transmitted across generations with their ritualistic identities that are unique to movements, motions, costumes, and instruments. In the context of mask dancing, it is more relevant to the low country style, which is highly ceremonial and performed for ritualistic offerings to various devils. The dancers wear masks portraying many characters in different forms of spirits according to their characteristic features.

Starting my report, I would like to emphasize that ethnic identity has always been represented by a wide range of elements beginning from the basic such as the ethnic self-consciousness. I deliberately abstain from academic style of delivering and specific terms and definitions, under- standing that nowadays the audience is widely represented not only by the professional ethnologists and anthropologists, but by the representatives of culture sector and general public as well.

Traditional music: the soul of the universe! Traditional music: the unspoken language!\n\nAll around the world music plays an important role in communicating human expressions and emotions. Besides being an artistic and creative form of expression, music is associated with festivity—the celebrations of new beginnings, birth, initiation, courtship, marriage, and death. Music, with or without instruments, is an integral part of traditional occupations and daily chores, such as planting, harvesting, and processing food, herding, fishing, and craft making, such as carpentry, pottery, and basketry. \n\nMusic communicates meaning during rituals and rites and is often used as a tool for meditation. With or without song, the sounds of flutes, drum, trumpets, gongs, bagpipes, and others can evoke memories and transport people to places of happiness, peace, hope, nostalgia, and melancholy. As Plato, the philosopher said, “music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.” The ability to sing and create music is a gift bestowed on a person regardless of his or her social status. Regardless of its source, music can be embraced by people of all walks of life and is an intrinsic part of cultural heritage

Kyrgyzstan, officially called the Kyrgyz Republic, is a small mountainous country in Central Asia with a population of around six million people. The Kyrgyz Republic shares borders with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and China. The Kyrgyz Republic gained its independence in 1991 after the downfall of the Soviet Union. About 80 percent of the populations are ethnic Kyrgyz. The other 20 percent consists of ethnic Russians, Uzbeks, Ukrainians, Tatars, Tajiks, Kazakhs, Dungans, Koreans, and other groups. The Kyrgyz people overwhelmingly consider themselves Muslim. The Kyrgyz Republic ratified the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2006 and became one of the first Central Asian State Parties to the Convention. Also, the Kyrgyz Republic will continue to be a member of the Intergovernmental Committee until 2016.

The three presentations were great. Through them, I was able to learn new things about the shamanism in India, Bhutan, and Turkey. Because I don't’ know the shamanism in each of the three areas, I will ask basic questions which came up as I read the presentation script. These questions will make up my discussion about the presentation. My first question regards the cultural struggles of shaman healing in India. In the presentation, the presenter presumes that some shaman tradition are authentic and some are not. What is authentic shaman tradition, and how are authentic and false shaman tradition classified?

The major veins of definitions regarding shamanism in Japanese academic discourse can be summarized as follows. The shaman is an individual with the magico-religious professional capacity to directly engage with spiritual being while under an altered state of consciousness (trance) to fulfill various roles and functions such prophecy, oracle, divination, performance of rituals and healing. Shamanism is a magico-religious phenomenon constructed of a supernatural worldview, rites, clients and followers centered around the shaman. It is believed to have existed in continuity from the prehistoric era to the present day (Sato, 2010). Buddhist monks, Catholic priests and Protestant pastors belong to the priest category of religious actors who offer prayer and conduct rituals on behalf of individuals or the society directed at spiritual beings in a unidirectional relationship and under a normal state of consciousness. On the other hand, Shamans are religious actors who perform various roles in direct interaction with spiritual beings.

Jagran Jan Vikas Samiti works with communities to address varied aspirations of the people, ranging from managing local resources, promoting traditional knowledge to issues of their livelihood with conservation concerns for biological resources. JJVS aims to improve the socio-economic status of local communities by recognizing the potential of both individuals and communities and empowering them to determine development issues and solutions through the utilization of their available resources.