Facing the rising sun, Va Temple in Van Gia Village, Trung Hung Ward, Hanoi, is also known as the East Palace, marking its importance as one of the four major veneration sites of the Tan Vien Mountain God, a key figure of Vietnamese spiritual tradition. According to legend the site’s tutelary divinity is the Ancestral Deity of the Southern Heavens and God of the Tan Vien Mountain, one the country’s most ancient deities and one of the principal mountain gods. As such, the Tan Vien Mountain God is venerated throughout the northern plain region of Vietnam by the Viet people and by some of the country’s ethnic minorities as well.

The widespread outbreak of novel coronavirus infections (COVID-19) has brought rapid changes on various systems and ways of life across the world, creating an entirely new global landscape. Korea’s activities to safeguard ICH were no exception. Amidst a situation that forced the cancelation of a wide range of ICH-related events and educational programs and considerations to find new safeguarding methods, the transition to non-face-to-face methods rather broadened the scope for safeguarding and promoting intangible heritage.

Water puppetry is identified widely as an artistic form that has sprung from the characteristics of particular landscapes and the lives and shared stories of their communities. In the Red River Delta (RRD) in Vietnam, it is documented as having developed in the rice-growing area in the tenth/eleventh century (Dunning, 1996 2021; Gaboriault, 2009), with the first physical evidence of performance held in the Th\nầy Temple, Hà Tây Province, during the Late Lê (Ly) Dynasty (1428–1778). The inscription on the Sùng Thiên Diên Linh stone stele (tablet) of 1121 at the Doi San ̣Pagoda, Duy Tien District (around 50 kilometers from Hanoi), provides evidence of water puppetry based on stories that reflect local lives and livelihoods and mythical creatures such as the golden tortoise, fairies, and flocks of birds and animals singing and dancing (Hai, 2006). Water puppet performance is a collaboration between puppeteers, musicians, the audience, and, \nimportantly, the character of the staging and spatial context of the performance within water landscapes. Today, performances generally consist of a series of short vignettes based on stories of traditional delta life and livelihoods, commonly interspersed with folk tales and mythological characters.

Tug-of-war is a universal cultural phenomenon all around the world. Especially in Asia, the tug-of-war is related to rice farming and is thus commonly found in the farming cultures of Northeast and Southeast Asia. As practiced in Asia, the tug-of-war is performed either as a prayer for rain, or for a good harvest, or to foretell whether the year’s harvest will be good or bad. Tug-of-war activities have similarities that include two teams pulling at the opposite ends of a rope. They also have distinctness, individuality, and creativity interactivity with the climate or environment, making tug-of-war events worth preserving as a common element of Asian intangible cultural heritage (ICH).\n\nRecognizing the universality and distinctness of tug-of-war traditions in Asia, Cambodia, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam prepared a multinational file to nominate “Tugging Rituals and Games” to the UNESCO Representative List of the ICH of Humanity through mutual communications and meetings. The Republic of Korea submitted the nomination file to the Convention Secretariat on behalf of the four countries on 31 March 2014. The nomination file was eventually recognized on 2 December 2015 during the tenth session of the Intergovernmental Committee held from 30 November to 4 December 2015 in Namibia.\n\nThe inscription of Tugging Rituals and Games to the UNESCO Representative List of the ICH of Humanity has brought about a sensation in each country. The news of the multinational inscription was covered in a slew of media outlets in each country, and in particular, Vietnam selected the multinational inscription as one of the top ten cultural news events of 2015. The Republic of Korea, which led the multinational inscription, conducted commemorative events, such as holding an exhibition and publishing books in Korean and English.

"The Cau Ngu Festival Ngu Loc is one of five coastal communes of Hau Loc District in Thanh Hoa Province, located in the Northern Central Coast region of Vietnam. This is the most densely populated place in Vietnam, with traditional fishing and seafood processing pro- viding work. Daily life is shaped by long-standing customs and traditions with coastal characteristics. This culminates in the unique cau ngu (cau means “worship” and ngu means “sacred whale”) festival, held annually from the twenty-first to the twenty-fourth day in the second month of the lunar calendar."

Lialiaci is a publication of the iTaukei Institute of Language and Culture, Ministry of iTaukei Affairs, Fiji. Lialiaci means to ponder or reflect upon deeply. That is the intent of these articles and perspectives on culture. This publication topics are as follows:\n\nThe Vanua Spirituality written by Mr. Anasa Tawake, \nFijian Bread written by Mr. Ulaiasi Taoi,\nThe five Cultural Protected Water Body Types in Fiji by Mr. Ron Vave.

This fabulous story provides humanity with a strong moral for harmonious and peaceful living, which offers real food for thought in this era of modernization and competition in the world. The story is one of many enchanting Jakarta tales of Lord Buddha; it is not only highly revered in Bhutan but also included in school curricula to teach deep human values to future generations. The story begins in a dense forest in the land of Kashi, where once lived a partridge, a rabbit, a monkey, and an elephant who became incredibly close friends despite their different sizes and species. The friendship was made possible the fact that they shared the same feeling of love and kindness for each other. Every day they helped each other find food and wholeheartedly shared everything they found.

Tug of war or tugging game is one of many folk games performed in festivals of someof 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam. In addition, tug of warserves to ensure abundant harvests andstrengthen communityunity and solidarity.

The punnuk is a tugging ritual of the village folk from three communities in Hungduan, Ifugao in Northern Luzon, Philippines. It is performed at the confluence of Hapao River and a tributary as the final ritual after the rice harvest. Its consummation brings to a close an agricultural cycle and signals the beginning of a new one. \n\nThe punnuk is a ritual of pomp and revelry. Garbed in their predominantly red-col-ored attire of the Tuwali ethno-linguistic subgroup, the participants negotiate the terraced fields in a single file amidst lush greens under the blue skies. The tempo builds up as the participants reach the riverbank, each group positioned opposite the other. The excitement is sustained through the final tugging match, and the sinewy brawn of the participants is highlighted by the river’s rushing water.

The title I was given in the first place was ‘Notion of Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding from the Perspective of Sustainable Development’. But later, I found that the original idea of today’s conference was not simply sustainable development; it was sustainable human development. Adding ‘human’ between sustainable and development means that we have to be triply critical or critical in at least three stages or dimensions when we think about development.

The chapter is part of a UNESCO book about intangi- ble cultural heritage (ICH) in relation to the Sustain- able Development Goal 2 (SDG2): Zero Hunger. This chapter starts with an introduction to the Centre for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD), a Vietnamese organization that ran a project related to ICH and SDG2. The chapter continues with an introduction to the geographical and social context of the project, as well as three case studies describing the effect of the project activities on farmers’ lives. The chapter ends with two essays contextualizing the project in the larger issue of community resilience for climate change, and agrobiodiversity for food security.

The role of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) as a guarantee for sustainable development has been recognized in the 2003 Convention for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage. The essence of ICH as a living heritage is anchored in the concept of sustainability wherein its practice, intergenerational transmission and re-creation influence its continuity among its bearers and practitioners. One of the safeguarding measures for ICH is through intergenerational transmission where one generation transmits their heritage to the coming generation as a mechanism to keep their heritage alive and thriving. Consequently, sustainability operates in a similar dynamic principle that assures for a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.