Oral tradition consists of diverse narratives. It is passed on by word of mouth as everyday wisdom and transmitted through the generations. After that, it becomes infused in a region’s history, philosophy, and way of life, thus forming the foundation for a community’s knowledge systems. This volume introduces traditional tales in Sri Lanka, Palau, Kyrgyzstan, and Vietnam.

When we were young, we were told a lot of stories. Everyone hated the big, vicious, evil, and cunning animals. However, seen through grown-up eyes, there are no bad animals in the world. Animals personified in stories convey a message to the human world-that of peace and harmony. At a time when a message of peace is desperately needed, let’s enjoy some stories featuring various animals, from tigers to birds, rabbits, monkeys, and more.

In November 2013, Jindo County hosted a symposium on shaman heritage and public events. Organized by ICHCAP and the World Ethnic Dance Institute with the support of the Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea, the participants from Northeast Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia explored measures through which shaman cultural heritage can be safeguarded with international cooperation. Diversity and Commonality of Shaman Heritage in Asia—Current Safeguarding Status and Challenges of Asian Shaman Heritage is a dual-language publication with the meeting’s discussion and presentation papers available in both English and Korean.

The 2016 South-Asia Sub-regional Meeting of NGOs on Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage for Sustainable Development was held between 25 and 27 August at the Sanskruti Bhawan, Panjim, Goa, India. The meeting was organized by Contact Base, a social enterprise working under the trading style of banglanatak dot com and specializing in culture and development in collaboration with ICHCAP, UNESCO Office in New Delhi and the Directorate of Art and Culture under the Government of Goa.\n\nThirty NGOs from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka participated in the meeting. This report provides a detailed documentation of the meeting and the related activities.

The 2019 Sub-Regional Meeting for Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding in South Asia: ICH in Education: Towards Joint Collaboration for Promoting ICH in Formal and Non-Formal Education jointly organized by ICHCAP and UNESCO Dhaka Office, was held from 24 to 26 June 2019 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.\n\nThis report is composed of nineteen presentation papers delivered at the meeting by national representatives, NGOs, and UNESCO Offices in Bangkok and Dhaka. In addition, the outcome document of the meeting is also affixed to put it on record the adopted recommendations of the participants in moving forward together.

Under UNESCO Living Human Treasures Program, the project ‘Introducing UNESCO Living Human Treasures System in Mongolia’ has been successfully implemented in order to realize efforts in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in Mongolia.\nThe main objective of this project aims to introduce and implement UNESCO Living Human Treasures System in Mongolia and so protect, maintain and encourage intangible cultural heritage and bearers in Mongolia within implementation efforts of the 2003 Convention.\n\nThe following activities have been defined and planned to implement within the project implementation work:\n\n1. Review and analyze previous research study materials, data information and field survey findings on intangible cultural heritage and its bearers in Mongolia, and make general overviews upon current situations of intangible cultural heritage\n2. Develop recommendations on designing a relevant legal framework for implementing UNESCO Living Human Treasures program in Mongolia and submit them to responsible governmental institutions for further approval and actions\n3. Organize exchange tours of expert teams implementing the project in South Korea and Mongolia and so share viewpoints and experiences in safeguarding and maintaining intangible cultural heritage in reality\n4. Appoint and send field research teams to some areas of Mongolia, namely some Western and Mongolian regional aimags in order to identify, survey, determine and document locations and distributions of certain bearers of intangible cultural heritage\n5. Develop draft proposals of ‘List of types and forms of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Mongolia’, ‘The List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding’, ‘The Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Mongolia’ and submit them to MECS\n6. Design an initial draft of reference manuals of intangible cultural heritage in Mongolia based on results and findings of all above reviews and research analysis. During the joint seminar meetings held on 12-13 December, 2008 the Mongolian and Korean expert teams withdrew general feedback upon ongoing implementation processes of the project and shared comments on achievements of project goals and objectives, in addition to defining some specific areas of further activities. It definitely contributed considerable inputs in efforts introducing ‘Living Human Treasures’ Program and thus safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in Mongolia

This seminar material contains presentation manuscripts that were announced at the 3rd APHEN-ICH International Seminar held on 18-19 Feburary 2021. ICHCAP hosted this event in cooperation with the UNESCO Bangkok Office and Korea National University of Cultural Heritage (KNUCH).\n\nThis seminar was held under the theme of Diversity and Distinctiveness: Looking into the Shared ICH in the Asia-Pacific, to re-assess that while fragile, intangible cultural heritage is an important factor in maintaining cultural diversity, connecting bounds, and enhancing international dialogue and peace.

Together with the UNESCO National Commissions in the Central Asia, the Seventh Central Asi Sub-regional Meeting on the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage was held between 16 and 18 May at Dushanbe, Tajikistan.\n\nThe report includes papers of the thematic symposium on Sacred Cultural Spaces, Safeguarding ICH and Enhancing Identity and country reports.

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.

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 1st Vol is 'GODDESSES FROM ASIA & THE PACIFIC'.

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 14 is 'ICH AND TRADITIONAL HERBAL MEDICINE'.

ICHCAP initiated the project Field Survey of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Efforts in the Asia-Pacific Region in 2009. The project aims to collect information on safeguarding systems and policies, ICH inventories, ICH related organizations, ICH lists, and pending issues regarding ICH safeguarding, and it aims to obtain a grasp on the current situation to discover appropriate measures to promote ICH safeguarding. This is the basic field survey report from the FSM.