In the context of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, a wide field of NGOs is active in between governments and communities to translate concepts, facilitate and support safeguarding programs, advocate bearers’ perspectives and interests, etc. In doing so, they often turn out to be key actors for successful heritage processes engaging communities.

When it comes to the preservation of intangible cultural heritage (ICH), threats that lead to the loss of the viability of one or another element of ICH are latently implied. From a social anthropological point of view, this is a question of the interaction between tradition and innovation: do new technologies always negatively affect traditional art? How does modern everyday life affect the sustainability of a traditional view of the world that underlies the identity of each element of ICH?\n

Efforts for the sustainable development of human cultures, which is defined by UNESCO as its most important goal, have already affected our lives in many ways. Among others, the inheritance and development of ICH are considered unique to humanity and the quintessence of human life. Education plays a vital role in the process of cultural inheritance and development. In particular, the experiences and education we receive during elementary school as young members of a future generation have a critical and meaningful influence on our lives. The significance of ICH education for the sustainable development of humanity is evidently underlined in UNESCO’s 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and its Operational Directives.

The Masion des Cultures du Monde (World Cultures Institute) The Maison des Cultures du Monde (“World Cultures Institute”), has been founded in 1982 in Paris by Chérif Khaznadar and Françoise Gründ with the support of the French ministry of Culture. Its goals, the promotion and the enhancement of world performing arts - as witnesses of human inventiveness, \n\n- as landmarks of a historical continuity - as factors of cultural diversity \n- as sources of inspiration and creative renewal. Its method: the on-stage presentation of musical, dramatic, choreographic and ritual expressions from all over the world and mostly unknown to the French public. Since the creation of the United Nations, a new vision emerged that international solidarity should be based on the knowledge of other cultures and on a “dialogue of cultures”. In France several initiatives were conducted such as : - the Theatre of Nations with the support of UNESCO\n- foreign cultural seasons such as the Year of India, the Year of China, the Year of Korea, the Year of Vietnam etc. \n- a Traditional Arts Festival which promoted world traditional arts in a spirit of open-mindedness, awareness raising, aesthetic pleasure and cultural enrichment.

The Mongols have traditionally shown great respect for the horse, honoring it in their national values and symbols (flags and emblems) as well as in folk songs. The morin khuur, so named for the ornamental horse-head carving at the top of its neck, is a unique two-stringed musical instrument developed by nomadic Mongols. The strings of both the bow and fiddle are made from the hair of a horse’s tail.

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.

Samarkand, a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the oldest urban centers, has long storied relationship with music. Archaeological findings, such as the 3,000-year-old flute discovered around the old city, tell us that music culture has ancient roots in Central Asia. Additional studies provide evidence that the ud, a medieval variant of a lute, was spread throughout the orient much earlier than it was in Europe. One of the biggest influences on the music culture of Samarkand was its unique position as a crossroad of the Great Silk Road, a situation that allowed the melding of musical traditions from throughout Asia. In support and recognition of its ancient traditions in music and its position as a crossroad, President Islam Karimov of the Republic of Uzbekistan initiated an international music festival called Sharq Taronalari (Melodies of the Orient).

The Republic of Fiji is home to a multitude of cultures and traditions. In 2013, Fiji’s new Constitution was promulgated designating that all ethnicities that make Fiji their home be called “Fijians”. This includes the following:\n\n ‘iTaukei’ or indigenous Fijians;\n Rotuman people (a minority indigenous group);\n Indians who were mostly descendants of indentured laborers in Fiji;\n Pacific Islanders who were descendant of labourers in Fiji such as Ni-Vanuatu and Solomon Islanders;\n Descendants of early migrants to Fiji (Chinese, Indians, European/Australian/American &s Traders, Sailors and Beachcombers)\n Descendants of Banabans (Ocean Islanders) now known as Rabi Islanders.\n Descendants of Tuvaluans (Vaitupu Islanders) now known as Kioa Islanders.\n\nFiji therefore has a unique array of intangible cultural heritage (ICH), and if one was to ask what would be a representative ICH of all Fijians, there is none as each ethnic group is distinctively diverse and each practice their own form of ICH which are far most different from another.

School should be a happy place where students are willing to engage in activities, learn, share, and develop into citizens who make a useful contribution to society. Most people spend a significant proportion of their youth, and sometimes some of their adult years, in the education system. It is, therefore, not a surprise that quality education is one of the goals identified as part of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Interestingly, this objective—Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4)—focuses not only on quantitative indicators (e.g., ensuring that all girls and boys complete free, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education) but also on qualitative aspects of education. It is essential to give a central place to strengthening education’s contribution to the fulfillment of human rights, peace, and responsible citizenship; this can be achieved through, among other aspects, the acceptance and appreciation of the cultural diversity of the world.

Best practices (BP) and guidelines represent a fundamental topic, especially when a given technology matures enough that many users, not totally familiar with it, decide to approach that technology to make it mainstream. This is, for example, the case with 3D modelling methodologies; many users, also non-experts, have tried to approach them, especially after the emergence and diffusion on the market of high quality, non-metric, and relatively cheap digital cameras, together with many software solutions for 3D image-based modelling. If several technical standards have already been adopted for the traditional surveying and dimensional contact metrology fields, it is only in the last few years that BP-related projects and information have appeared in the field of 3D Cultural Heritage (CH). A best practice is a process or method that, when executed effectively, leads to enhanced project performance (Cheok et al., 2008) and ensures, or at least increases, the chance of performing quality data acquisition and subsequent use in a given field (Beraldin et al., 2011). Since documenting is part of a measurement process, the basic principles and practical issues that affect the making of measurements should be considered when dealing with CH documentation. A Good Practice Guide was created by Goldsmith (2010), where six guiding principles to perform good measurements are stated, i.e.:

If development is an aspiration, then culture is the historical sediment underlying this aspiration. Culture conveys humanity’s intersecting bonds and the kinds of rituals, practices, and representations that make up its ways of life. Development—conceived narrowly as income growth or broadly as ways in which people participate to achieve well-being—is heavily influenced by this sense of bonding and group-ness. Culture is literally the way humanity recognizes itself and reveals its aspirations.

The main contents of this publication are reports from thirty-two nations collected by ICHCAP from 2009 to 2015 as part of its annual projects to collect information on intangible cultural heritage safeguarding in the Asia-Pacific region. We have also compiled information from other reports and conference materials collected by ICHCAP to present key data, such as national inventories and information on related organizations, in an easily accessible format.