This Book is the outcomes of the 2021 Expert Meeting for Building Network on Maritime ICH, which is held on 29 October 2021.\n\nThe expert meeting was co-organized by ICHCAP and SPC under the theme of Maritime Living Heritage: Coastal Communities in the Asia-Pacific Region and Their Traditional Food System.\nThis meeting consisted of two sessions with the different approaches to the costal communities and their traditional food system; ecocultural approach and socio-cultural approach. This book contains nine case studies of experts and scholars.

Many of the cultural organizations in the Pacific are challenged by the lack of human capacity and resources to support the aims and objectives of their cultural groups or organizations. I will illustrate through examples some of the work I have been involved in since I began in the sector in 2009 as a youth volunteer in the field of ICH. My presentation is mainly focused on my work in Fiji and Vanuatu as a youth\nvolunteer worker with the Pacific Islands Museums Association, who is registered in Vanuatu as a charitable trust, and Vanua Youth Development youth organization in Fiji. I will also highlight some of the issues and challenges faced when working as a volunteer in terms of sustainability and highlight the benefits of supporting institutional strengthening. Networking with organizations and with key personalities/champions in the region to make those linkages and strengthen the sector and promote the ICH practitioners.

Indigenous Fijians feel a close connection with the sea, land, and nature. In Fiji, jewelry making began way back in the time of the ancestors, dating back to the eighteenth century or even earlier. Traditional indigenous knowledge, beliefs, and practices were seen in the unique creation of hand-crafted jewelry and adornments. These pieces were mainly worn to display social status, functioning as symbols of rank and leadership, or as markers of clan membership.\nThere were distinctions in the types of jewels and adornments worn by a chief (turaga), a warrior (bati), the wedding attire of a bride (yalewa vou) and groom (tagane vou), and those used in ceremonies and celebrations where men, women, and youths adorned themselves with necklaces of shell (taube qanivivili), bead (taube), or clay (coko qwele). Chiefs and warriors mainly wore breastplates (civavonovono), whale ivory (tabua), sperm whale tooth necklaces (waseisei, also known as wasekaseka), boar tusk necklaces and hand bands (bati ni vuaka), while white cowry shells (buli vula) are mainly worn by brides and grooms, and also worn during a traditional dance/performance (meke).

Knowledge is the foundation of indigenous cultures. As an expression of a given culture, it establishes relationships among an indigenous community with respect to its ancestral territory. The concept of knowledge or traditional knowledge is closely related to intangible cultural heritage. Intangible cultural heritage shapes the spirit of a culture, and central to its promotion and protection, is the revitalization and safeguarding of knowledge and cultural systems.

The Fiji Museum establishment was initiated by the donation of Sir William Allardyce’s private collections to the Suva Town Board in 1904. The bulk of these priceless collections represent the cultural identity of the many people that have made Fiji their home. These national heirlooms (more than 10,000) are protected under two Fiji Museum legislations – the Fiji Museum Act (CAP 263) and POAPI1 Act (CAP 264). These Acts empower the Fiji Museum to protect, preserve and care for these objects consistent with international museum laws and standards.\n\nAs part of object collection, the Fiji Museum also over the years amassed analogue materials in the form of photographs, audio recordings, video recordings and microfilms capturing oral history, cultural activities and archaeological fieldwork. Most of these materials have been kept in the Museum archives since 1970s and most date back centuries ago. The role is specific to the COLLECTIONS DEPARTMENT of the Fiji Museum and is the focal point for this project. The Fiji Museum had had in the past undertook a lot of research projects with financial assistance for procurement of equipment however it has never undertook a digitization project before. This is being the first.

Natural calamities are a major threat to the sustainability of traditional knowledge systems, cultural practices, and well-being of many Pacific island communities and peoples. Fiji is no exception as was evident when Tropical Cyclone (TC) Winston, a category 5 cyclone, hit the country on 20 February 2016.

"Whether we call it clan, kin, family, tribe, or community, there are multiple ways of knowing and identifying ourselves in the Pacific. A few of these ways are captured here. This section explores how social relationships and their hierarchies within the Pacific islands are vital ways of understanding intangible cultural heritage. Social and spiritual rituals, religious ceremonies, and various other cultural practices reflect how Pacific islanders prioritize social cohesion as a pathway to sustainable prosperity, ensuring the transformation of skills, knowledge, and wisdom for survival. \nThe themes in this section are pivotal to ICH because relationships represent an important organizing principle of life among Pacific islanders and determine how intangible heritage can be safeguarded. Relationships are marked in ceremonial events and rituals such as the communal harvest of balolo in Fiji and other ceremonies such as the bel kol in PNG. Likewise, the omengat, the first-birth ceremony in Palau, brings unrelated clans and families together and is central to family ties and social cohesion. The essays on these and other topics collected in this section illustrate that Pacific islanders take care to mark and honor relationships important to them, as these relationships ensure family, clan, and tribal ties and help to achieve enhanced social cohesion and sustainability."

Museums are, without a doubt, important institutions in any society. They are repositories for knowledge and objects of value all over the world. Some view museums as a place to find solace, cultural reflection, and inspiration. Others compare them to schools and view them as educational institutions where they can learn about their past, culture, and tradition.\nMuseums are seen as keepers of the past, as they manage artifacts that were used by groups who have, in the main, passed on. Visitors believe that their elders have left behind a legacy for the new generation to carry on the culture and tradition of a people. Even though museums may be compared with other institutions, such as schools, it has been argued that they can provide services to the community that other institutions cannot.1 This article will highlight how museums in Oceania are adapting to the ongoing COVID-19 situation in order to be accessible to visitors.

There were once three traditional house- construction styles in Fiji. The first, rausina, was common in the hinterland tribes of mainland Vitilevu. Its prominent feature was its single-ridge pole that gave the roof a conical shape. The second, kubulolo, was common in the outer islands of the Lau group. Its prominent feature was its oval shape, which is a typical feature in Polynesian Tonga and Samoa, two islands renowned for their trade with the Lau islands. The third, which is the focus of this article, is called the vasemasema style, and it was known for its two main ridge posts and was commonly found around coast tribes and villages on the main islands of Vitilevu and Vanualevu.

Many of the practices of Fijian medicine arise from the traditional explanations of Fijian society. The main functioning unit of Fijian society is the mataqali or land-owning unit. In mythology, each mataqali is descended from an ancestral spirit or vu who continues to inhabit his portion of land and monitor the welfare of his descendants. The vu is one of a larger group of spirits or nitu, although it is the only one who is associated with land in this way. Humans may communicate with vu or nitu through dreams or visions. Ceremonies associated with yaqona are another way of obtaining this inspiration.

"In a region as geographically immense and culturally diverse as the Pacific, intangible cultural heritage must be seen in terms of diverse worldviews, each with its own knowledge system and philosophy of life that structures and informs. This section addresses how intangible cultural heritage is reflected through specific cultural worldviews. As specific and unique as they are, however, each Pacific worldview can be seen as having a commonality structured by three dimensions: the spiritual, the physical, and the afterlife or ancestral realm. \nDespite their commonalities, the themes in this section still represent Pacific elements of knowing, philosophy, governance, and wisdom that sculpt life from vastly unique perspectives. The Tongan concept of heliaki, for instance, is not just a knowledge of language and prose, but rather a construct through which the Tongans build views about themselves and their interactions as well as the hierarchy within their society. In a similar way, Palauan place names are much more than words to mark locations; they are capsules of knowledge, events, and history that help the Palauan people identify themselves and their connections to one another. In these and the other themes in this section, the included values incorporate how the Pacific peoples perceive reality and interconnectedness and how their knowledge has shaped their worlds."