ARHI is a collaboration of individuals belonging to the indigenous groups and activists working for the cultural and educational rights of indigenous people in Northeast India. Folk Culture Research Centre or FCRC–a unit of ARHI—works with a mission to protect the cultural and educational rights of the indigenous people and to preserve and promote the rich cultural heritage of the different ethnicities of Northeast India. Their range of current and future work plan include preservation through visual media, audio, video, documentary film on distinct indigenous cultures, publications of indigenous folk culture, organizing workshops and fellowship programs. FCRC works for safeguarding language, oral traditions, textile and traditional knowledge in medicine through documentation and skill transmission.

This paper presents UNESCO’s approaches and activities under two functions: 1) the standard‐setting function, which is mostly carried out at headquarters level through intergovernmental committees and in close collaboration with Member States; and 2) the “laboratory of ideas” function, which is implemented at the national level by UNESCO field offices. Capacity building, at both the institutional and individual levels, is a major focus that is integrated throughout all our work.

India is the repository of an astounding wealth of intangible heritage with distinctive qualities of its own. The variety of geophysical features of India reflects its cultural diversity, from the Himalayan peaks to the sea coast, river-fed plains, marshlands, and deserts, all of which has helped shape its intangible culture in consonance with nature. India is a pluralistic society that combines different religions, faiths, racial communities, languages, and cultures. It has a wide range of artistic activities, traditional knowledge systems, folklore, performing arts and festivals, with about eight hundred dialects, and more than twenty officially recognized languages, several faiths, various styles of art, architecture, literature, music, dance, and lifestyle patterns from the urban and rural to the tribal.

Chinese martial arts present a unique combination of bare-handed and armed fighting with calisthenics, breathing exercises, meditation techniques, and elements of traditional Chinese medicine. It was in the late imperial period of Chinese history (the Ming and Qing dynasties, 1368–1912) that folk hand combat became a multifaceted system with features that go beyond the narrow framework of mere fighting. The surviving textual sources attest that during the Ming–Qing transition period, martial arts were perceived by many practitioners as a religious practice. Daoists and Buddhists alike often turned to hand- combat training in striving to achieve various religious goals, be it spiritual enlightenment or immortality. However, as recently discovered textual evidence suggests, it was Chinese local religion that disclosed the most intimate relations to martial arts practice.\nAn inseparable part of Chinese culture, the Chinese hand-combat tradition was (and still is) deeply rooted in rural life, and manifested itself in a particularly vivid way in the religious customs and ritualistic activities of the Chinese village. Chinese local religion, a highly intricate system in its own right, contains an evident martial element. For example, it is strongly believed that the employment of direct physical force against malevolent supernatural powers is not only possible but is sometimes as effective as any other ritual protective means, such as (spells) and (talismans). The folk belief that humans can best evil spirits with their bare hands is reflected in literary sources as early as the fourth

As of now, Bhutan is widely known in the world that stands out as a country in the world living traditions, rich traditions as well as daily unique practices by the people which evinces peculiarities of the Bhutanese culture. Thus, People of Bhutan not only take pride in its rich culture and traditional values which serves not only a national identity proving bondage within the people of the different communities in the country. Bhutanese culture gives identity that has protected and sustained independency between the two giant countries; Republic of China and India since time immemorial. Preservation of ICH has been one of the core objectives ever since the country had embraced the economic development plan in early 1960s.\n

Venerated from a time before antiquity as life-giver, water has been held in the highest esteem in all cultures and eras. Water-related mythologies show as much the divine character associated with it, as its qualities that lie beyond the material. In our time, the intangible cultural heritage (ICH) and traditional knowledge that surround water still give us an entryway to a fuller understanding of the great life-giver.

With the change of the times, forms of arts including dance also change and develop according to the conditions of each district. Usually these changes are influenced by political, economic, and social factors.

Bangladesh is rich in intangible cultural heritage in all the five domains outlined in the 2003 ICH Convention namely oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, and festive events, knowledge about nature and the universe and traditional craftmanship.Four elements are inscribed in the UNESCO representative list and two applications are submitted in 2019. The Ministry of Cultural Affairs has a list with literature of 54 elementsunder the 5 ICH domains, while researchers identified 123 elements. Comprehensive inventorying of living heritages is under process with the Government. Bangladesh, by ratifying 2003 Convention, assumes its obligation of safeguarding these elements of ICH. Among the elements, some are sustainable for the economic output of the objects associated with the elements. Others remain vulnerable for change in lifestyle, knowledge pattern, social and economic advancement, science and technology. Require safeguardfor sustainable development that includes transmission of the ICH elements for generations.

The Kazakh oral tradition is closely associated with the culture and lifestyle of nomadic civilisation. One of the main branches of the Great Silk Road is known to have led across Central Asia and Kazakhstan. The instrumental and oral traditions of numerous nomadic and settled nations were developing along the Great Silk Road in close interethnic contacts. In particular, many scientists and researchers note that different cultures and ethnic groups have common variations of tamboura-like instruments with silk strings and dulcimer-like instruments and traditional guttural singing.

Established in 2000, The Loden Foundation is a registered civil society organization in Bhutan with the objectives of promoting education, cultural preservation, and entrepreneurship among the Bhutanese children and young adults; promoting education and learning at the preschool, school, and post-school stages, and thereby fostering an enlightened and educated society in Bhutan; promoting awareness of the education and the needs of local communities in relation to entrepreneurship, health education, practical skills and crafts, and literacy among remote villages and communities within Bhutan; preserving and promoting the cultures and tradi- tions of Bhutan; and undertaking, if need be, other charitable work that contributes toward the welfare of the public.

Telugu language is the mother tongue for carriers and transmitters in safeguarding the Intangible Heritage of the Telugu people. We have come up with an interdisciplinary and innovative educational programming that safeguards our intangible heritage of over 53.6 million people in Andhra Pradesh (AP). Our higher educational programming cuts across the five domains delineated in the 2003 ICH Convention of UNESCO. It is an integral part of a systematic safeguarding plan that is unique. I will introduce the framework that enables us to bring together the teaching of intangible heritage in a linguistic environment through six tertiary educational institutions for the Telugu speaking people. I am responsible for the curricula, pedagogy, employment of carriers and transmitters as teachers and performance education in all the six colleges. \n\nWe also address the interface between intangible heritage and language through higher education. Moreover, I will also reflect on my own engagement as a carrier and transmitter of theatre traditions of the Telugu people. My conclusion would advocate that we need to think in new and innovative ways for safeguarding the rich diversity of the intangible heritage of humanity. Our innovative tertiary education programming provides a feasible role model.

Established in 2000, The Loden Foundation is a registered civil society organization in Bhutan with the objectives of promoting education, cultural preservation, and entrepreneurship among the Bhutanese children and young adults; promoting education and learning at the preschool, school, and post-school stages, and thereby fostering an enlightened and educated society in Bhutan; promoting awareness of the education and the needs of local communities in relation to entrepreneurship, health education, practical skills and crafts, and literacy among remote villages and communities within Bhutan; preserving and promoting the cultures and tradi-tions of Bhutan; and undertaking, if need be, other charitable work that contributes toward the welfare of the public. \n