As one of the four major estuarine deltas in China, Liaohekou Estuary Delta enjoys a geographical environment surrounding both river and sea, a coastline constantly advancing towards the ocean and the unique estuarine natural resources, all of which have given birth to the distinctive regional culture of Liaohekou Estuary. The marine regression feature of “abundant water, no mountains and few trees, with weeds, ponds and tidal creeks spreading all over” and a system of interwoven cultural forms such as “sailing boats, wetlands, fishing-geese, influx of river and sea, fishing and gathering,” make the culture of Liaohekou Estuary region distinctive. The special geographical conditions and natural ecological environment bred the regional culture of Liaohekou Estuary, as well as a community of Guyuyan or “old fishing-geese” with very special livelihoods. Over hundreds of years, the culture and traditions of Liaohekou Estuary have developed into a special field of knowledge, and the regional food culture, which is based on the knowledge of the special marine food materials of Liaohekou Estuary, is particularly unique.

This paper looks at the current situation for intangible cultural heritage in Australia, a place of great cultural diversity. Australia is a continent, a vast country, with a migration story 65,000 years old, when the first humans arrived, after homo sapiens sapiens left Africa. Since then, migrants from around the world have come to this continent, particularly since British colonization in 1788, resulting in many ethnic and cultural groups settling.

Within the world of professional tattooing, Samoans are famous for the continuity of their practice despite missionaries’ efforts to ban it. A detailed study of the archives of the Marist’s fathers and the London Missionary Society revealed that in the western island of Savai‘i, some districts and their ali‘i (high ranking chiefs) where defying the church by organizing tattooing initiation rituals during the second half of the nineteenth century. This in turn, incited the Marist Fathers to ask for official permission from headquarters in Rome to let them practice tattooing.

Since 2014, NGOs has been playing an important, if not decisive, role in ICH safeguarding, and the UNESCO Convention 2003 was implemented in Ukraine. The development center “Democracy through Culture,” the independent think-and-do tank engaged in cultural policy issues, including cultural heritage, took a core part in preparing the periodic report of Ukraine on the implementation of the Convention 2003 (approved at the eleventh session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Addis Ababa, in 2016) and coordination of all stakeholders.

Nepal is a multiethnic, multilingual, and multicultural country with rich cultural heritage located between India and China. The 2011 census recognized 125 caste and ethnic groups and 123 different languages. The new constitution of the Nepali federal republic has further recognized all the spoken languages as national languages. The National Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities (NFDIN) recognized fifty-nine indigenous nationalities residing in Nepal in 2002 (NFDIN 2011). However, in the 2011 census only forty-seven indigenous nationalities were reported (CBS 2012). Among them, Tharu is the second-largest indigenous group with a population of 1.7 million residing in various districts of southern Nepal (CBS 2012).

As India is surrounded by Arabian Sea in the west, Bay of Bengal in the east, and the Indian Ocean in the south, the fishing tradition had its roots in Indian civilization from ancient past. Moreover, India is also considered the land of rivers as there are several rivers flowing across the country. The origin of fishing traditions can be traced back to the ancient Harappan civilization. The earliest available records on the life of the fishermen of the Southern region of Indian is from the Sangam literature, such as Ahananuru and Kuruntogai Anuru, which have literary references of the fishermen communities, including their cultural, economic, and social history. Sangam literature, though it was written in Tamil, sheds light into early Kerala life and dates back to the first five centuries of the Christian era. The physiographic divisions of the Sangam period were termed as tinais or five eco zones. The neythal(coastal) region was occupied by people like Minavar, Parathavar, Parthavas, Nulayars, and Turaivans. In Thiruvilayadalpuranam, a collection of epic stories written by Paranjothi Munivar, described the fishermen as neyther, parathavar, valayar, karayar, arayar, and pattanavar. The term valayar was derived from the Tamil term valai, meaning net. The term karayar was derived from the Tamil world karai, meaning shore. The term pattanavar, was derived from the Tamil word pattanam meaning town with the natural advantage of coastal region as the people engaged in fishing and salt making as their livelihood.

Lialiaci is a publication of the iTaukei Institute of Language and Culture, Ministry of iTaukei Affairs. Lialiaci means to ponder or reflect upon deeply.\n\nThat is the intent of these articles and perspectives on culture.

Located Northern Vanuatu, Pentecost Island is home to a unique traditional marriage practice, different from practices on other outer islands of Vanuatu. Traditional marriage practices begin between families of future spouses with food gifts offered from the groom’s family to the bride’s family. If a marriage agreement is reached between the two families, the groom’s father will return later with mats for the future bride. Future gifts are exchange between the two families to prepare for the wedding ceremony, signaling respect and a sense of community between the families.

Food, together with its preparation, cooking, sharing, and consumption, is now considered a form of cultural heritage (Brulotte, 2016). Traditional cuisine is passed down from generation to generation and is often an expression of cultural identity of communities. For example, sometimes the only thing migrants carry with them is the food of their countries, and cooking traditional food is a way to preserve their culture outside their place of birth. It is not surprising that today, food is receiving special attention from governmental organizations with the aim of preserving historical roots and cultural identication, providing food as close as possible to the farms of production and addressing health problems such as reducing obesity and\nunbalanced nutrition.

"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."

From 1990 to 2010, as an ethnologist devoted to the process of heritagemaking, I investigated Alpine communities and their strategies in facing a changing world. In an historical perspective, my eldwork has been oriented to making memories and the ways they worked as strategies of resistance in facing the many uncertainties of the future (Certeau 1990).

iTaukei intangible cultural heritage has contributed to sustainable lives in the past and has continued to sustain lives of iTaukei people at present. The concept of sustainable development is not new to iTaukei\ncoastal communities, as their cultural and social practices towards environment sustainability, inclusive social development, economic development, and peace and security have proven otherwise. iTaukei coastal communities are quite familiar in addressing the needs of the present and future generations, the needs of the vanua1 as a whole, and ensuring sustainable lives for each member of the community. It ensures balances between nature and communities, economic and social stability. Sustainability can be associated with the iTaukei concept of sautu.2 Sautu in the iTaukei context can mean peace, wellbeing, prosperity and fertility of fishing grounds. Therefore, different sociocultural practices ensure a sustainable food system in iTaukei coastal community.