The devastating 9.1-magnitude earthquake that occurred December 26, 2004 in the Indian Ocean triggered a tsunami that rose up to 30 meters, devastating many areas in Asia and Africa (www.bmkg.go.id). It was the third-biggest earthquake ever registered on a seismograph and at eight-to-ten minutes had the longest duration in history. More than 280,000 people died in 14 different countries.\n\nAceh Province in Indonesia, where the epicenter was located, was worst affected by this disaster. There was no early warning system and the disaster risk management was poor. People in Aceh Province had no adequate knowledge of tsunamis until then. Thousands of buildings in Aceh were demolished and more than 170,000 people were affected, while the actual epicenter location, Simeuleu Island, had only 7 victims out of a total of 78,000 people (www.bmkg.go.id).\n\nIt is said that Smong (meaning chaos during natural disaster in the Devayan language), communicated through poem and song, protected the people of Simeulue Island. Smong is an early warning system, featuring disaster mitigation ideas that were generally told as a lullaby for children and sung at wedding parties (10.1016/j.proenv.2014.03.070). It consists of five verses, as follows:\n\nEnggelan mon sao curito (Please listen to this story)\nInang maso semonan (One day in the past)\nManoknop sao fano (A village was sinking)\nUwi lah da sesewan (That’s what has been told)\n\nUnen ne alek linon (Starting with earthquakes)\nFesang bakat ne mali (Followed by a giant wave)\nManoknop sao hampong (The whole country was sinking)\nTibo-tibo maawi (Immediately)\n\nAnga linon ne mali (If the strong earthquake)\nUwek suruik sahuli (Followed by the lowering of seawater)\nMaheya mihawali (Please find in a hurry)\nFano me senga tenggi (A higher place)\n\nEde Smong kahanne (This is called Smong)\nTuriang da nenekta (A story of our ancestors)\nMiredem teher ere (Please always remember)\nPesan navi-navi da (The message and instruction)\n\nSmong dumek-dumekmo (Smong is your bath)\nLinon uwak-uwakmo (Earthquake is your swing bed)\nElaik keudang-kedangmo (Thunderstorm is your music)\nKilek suluih-suluihmo (Thunderlight is your lamp)\n\nThe lyrics have two meanings — denotation and connotation. The first to fourth stanzas are denotation while the rest is connotation. This story was reiterated in each generation as it held a significant meaning to share the knowledge to all Simeulueans in order to protect themselves from the tsunami. The second stanza explains the natural signs and earthquake before the village disappears. It suggests people find higher ground to protect themselves from the disaster that would drown the land. The third stanza explains that it was called Smong and that the story should be evoked and passed on to the succeeding generations.\n\nThe last stanza describes the Smong as a natural entity that should be taken in a positive way. It suggests accepting it and keeping yourselves safe with it. The response towards it must be taken prudently.\n\nIn this way, the Simeuluean people communicated about natural disasters through folklore before the terminology of the tsunami was discovered. It not only saved the lives of many people but also helped people to take decisions rationally during times of disaster. \n\nPhoto : The devastating 9.1-magnitude earthquake that occurred December 26, 2004 in the Indian Ocean ⓒ shutterstock

History of Sawahlunto Mining Town\nBased on the Van Lien report released in 1917, in the interior of West Sumatra along the Ombilin River at Sawahlunto, the Sijantang and Pamuatan people had collected coal that appeared on the surface on the river banks to use for cooking and had even sold the mineral to coastal areas along the course of the river, long before the Dutch came and conducted research on energy sources for the industrial revolution.\n\nThis activity of the people surely became a reference and the first information for the Dutch geologists to come and conduct research on the coal reserves of Ranah Minang (West Sumatra). C. De Groot Van Embden conducted preliminary research beginning in 1858 and continuing for nine years, carried on by the geologist W.H. De Greve, who finally discovered coal in the Ombilling basin in 1868 and reported the results of his research to the Dutch Government in 1870. Subsequent research by R.D.M. Verbeek succeeded in detailing the results of the discovery by revealing the quality of the coal, which was as high as 7,000 calories with an estimated reserve of 200 million tons, distributed around the areas of Parambahan, Sigalut, Lurah Gadang, Sungai Durian, and Lembah Segar.\n\nDevelopment of an Integrated Megaproject\nThe potency of energy sources for the industrial revolution found in Sawahlunto were hotly discussed in the Dutch parliament. The officials thought hard how the black coal reserves could be extracted and used for expansion of the area controlled by the Dutch colonialists in Southeast Asia. After debate and more research over the next twenty years, the Dutch government finally designed an integrated project called “Three in One”. The project focused on (1) developing mining infrastructure and then of a mining town at Sawahlunto; (2) developing a rail network, beginning from Pulau Aer Station in Padang, and then in stages up to Sawahlunto; (3) developing Emmahaven Port, which included coal bunker facilities, from where the coal would be shipped to Europe.\n\nWe can still see this “Three in One” project, first in the form of the coal mining site and the mining town of Sawahlunto, including the open mining area and the deep mining network and facilities for processing the coal, with supporting facilities of the town built at Sawahlunto. Second, the railway infrastructure and technical facilities including a rack and pinion railway system in the highlands with bridges and tunnels connecting the mining area with the port over 155 kilometers through the mountains. Third, the coal bunker facilities at Emmahaven Port located on the western coast of Sumatra. This was for storing the coal before it was shipped out by sea.\n\nSawahlunto Mining Town at This Moment\nFor over a century, the product of mining in Sawahlunto contributed to moving the wheels of development of infrastructure in various areas of Indonesia, especially in West Sumatra. Besides this, the technical achievement in deep mining and integrated infrastructure development provided a model for development of mining activities in various regions of the world. Although the mining activities no longer go on, yet the results of the development that took place in the form of heritage buildings and experience (in the form of cultural traditions) gained can still be felt by the people even now. Sawahlunto is proof of the effect of the industrial revolution that had taken place. The mining has ceased. Yet the footprints of the mining town are safeguarded as an attraction of West Sumatra.\n\nPhoto 1 : Office of the old coal mine at Sawahlunto, now part of the World Heritage Site © Deri Asta\nPhoto 2 : Coal processing facilities from the old mine at Sawalunto, now an industrial cultural heritage site © Deri Asta\nPhoto 3 : Old Photo of Batang Ombilin Ranuh River at Sawahlunto © Deri Asta

The forty-first session of the General Conference of UNESCO adopted the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on 24 November 2021. The Recommendation defines AI as information-processing technologies that integrate algorithms that produce a capacity to perform cognitive tasks such as prediction and decision-making in material and virtual environments. The Recommendation suggests policy actions that UNESCO Member States are encouraged to implement in accordance with their national law. In this vein, the Recommendation encourages Member States to incorporate AI, where appropriate, in the safeguarding and promotion of ICH, for example by introducing educational programs and by ensuring a participatory approach.

Fifteen years ago, nobody used the term ‘intangible cultural heritage’ (ICH) in Vietnam. It was only used in the official context of the 2001 Law on Cultural Heritage. The Cultural Heritage Law of Vietnam is conforming with other international documents regarding wording for safeguarding ICH and inventories. Although inventory-making is one of the important measures used in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, the term ‘ICH inventory making’ was not included in the law. At that time, inventory making meant surveying and collecting. In 2003, as an international legal tool, the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage helped enlighten the understanding of ICH inventory making in Vietnam. Six years later, this term, as well as other contents compatible with the Convention were included in the 2009 amended Law on Cultural Heritage. This illustrates the fact that, despite starting late, understanding and awareness of ICH inventory-making in Vietnam has developed rapidly and thoroughly.

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 Cambodian teanh prot (“pulling the rope”), which is generally rendered in English as “tug-of-war,” is one of the most important ritual games played nationwide during certain times of year, especially around the three-day New Year holiday in mid-April. Although the game can be played at any time for entertainment, it is ritually played in the afternoon on the last day of the New Year and/or in the afternoon of chlong chet, a rice-associated ceremony observed shortly after the New Year. The event takes place in an open space of the village or Buddhist monastery.

The concept of sustainable development is at the heart of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which recognizes in its preamble the importance of the intangible cultural heritage as a mainspring of cultural diversity and a guarantee of sustainable development. Furthermore, Article 2.1 of the Convention, dedicated to the definition of intangible cultural heritage, stipulates that consideration will be given solely to such intangible cultural heritage as is compatible with existing international human rights instruments as well as with the requirements of mutual respect among communities, groups, and individuals, and of sustainable development.

Nepal, like most nations, has its own distinct cultural, ethnic, and bio-diverse makeup. The richness of Nepal’s centuries old art, crafts, and culture abounds the alleys and courtyards of Kathmandu. Arts and crafts have long been a part of Nepalese livelihoods and lifestyles. Today these arts and crafts have become precious commodities—souvenirs and antiquities for collectors. Still hundreds of thousands of people create masterpieces as part of their livelihood. Acknowledging the importance of arts and crafts in Nepal, many Fair Trade Organizations (FTOs) have been working to preserve and promote art, crafts, and culture as a means of sustainable livelihood for people practicing fair trade (FT).

Homegardens are traditional systems that combine agriculture, forestry, and livestock and provide economic, environmental, and social benefits for the householders. These agroforestry systems are often cited as the epitome of sustainability, yet the scientific community has long ignored them. Today, however, these age-old systems are receiving increasing attention owing to their potential to mitigate environmental problems such as reduced biodiversity and rising levels of carbon dioxide while providing economic gains and nutritional security to their owners.

The food we eat is an important part of culture. It is also an expression of community identity. As American folklorist Millie Rahn writes, The kitchen, historically, is the place where families gather and where the everyday and the ceremonial meet and overlap. Here families interact and share private traditions, expressing identity through their food to each other and to the world. Creativity is alive in this space, from daily mealtimes to more elaborate feasts that mark rites of passage, religious and secular holidays, and other special events. This is where knowledge is passed on, from traditional ways of preparing and using various ingredients, implements, tools, and techniques to legends, stories, anecdotes, and cultural exchanges that have become part of familial and regional folklife. We all eat, and associate different layers of cultural meaning to the food we consume. Explorations of food, then, can be an easy conduit into the complex world of intangible cultural heritage. This article gives several examples from the safeguarding initiatives of the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador that have used foodways as a means to get people thinking about, and engaged with, concepts of cultural transmission and heritage conservation.

The term pastellessa represents an extraordinary combination of food, culture, music, and folklore, an expression of the people of Macerata Campania. It’s a term with a very rich history and tradition, relating to the celebration of a religious event: the Feast of Sant’Antuono (St. Anthony the Abbot).

The current topic of this conference is not very well studied in the Philippines. The word –shamanism- is regarded as an arbitrary umbrella-catch-all term for lack of something better because what it refers to in the Philippines is a far ranging set of practices, belief and value systems that are very specific. It is with some trepidation that these sets of practices, beliefs and value systems may not at all fit into the north-Asian concept of Shamanism, especially with reference to the structure and social organization. The latest local term used is –pagdidiwata – referring to the rituals invoking spiritual beings (diwata). The other terms used\nare bunung, baki, pagaanito, alisig, and many others depending on the culture of the some 80 different major ethno-linguistic groups in the country. Common to all is the belief in the existence of a spirit world to which the world of people should relate, through the medium of ritual specialists. There are differences, however, in the structure and social organization in the social behavior related to ethnic practice.