Laos has a rich diversity of cultures, lifestyles, and arts, many of which intersect. The country’s seventeen provinces stretch 1,162 kilometers from north to south, with 6.8 million inhabitants representing fifty officially recognized ethnic groups in four main language families. The majority Tai Lao people, from whom the country gets its name, make up about 53% of the population, with numerous ethnic minority groups comprising the rest.\nLaos is well known for its UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre (TAEC) is a cultural heritage social enterprise in the UNESCO World Heritage town of Luang Prabang. It is the only independent museum and resource center in Laos dedicated to the collection, preservation, and interpretation of the traditional arts and lifestyles of the country’s diverse ethnic groups.

At altitudes of 3,525 and 2,973 meters, the Merak and Sakteng communities, respectively, are two separate settlements, yet because of their identical culture and traditions, people tend to refer to these communities as a single entity, as one village. The two settlements are separated by a high pass called Nyak-cung La, and traversing this land involves a strenuous day-long trek between these two settlements. The people of these settlements are believed to have migrated from Tshona to Tibet in the fourteenth century, led by ’Lama Jarepa. Ever since their arrival, they have been wearing distinct dress and speaking a unique language, and they have become accustomed to the lifestyle associated with inhabiting the higher altitudes of eastern Bhutan and living as nomads.

The Philippines, in the tropical waters of the South China Sea at the western edge of the Pacific Ocean, is dry from January to May and rain-swept for the rest of the year, especially during the monsoon months of June to September. The archipelagic country is vulnerable to climatic changes. The balmy ocean air becomes searing heat of 40 degrees Celsius in summer, and the monsoon rains extend in duration with increased volume.

Northwestern Luzon, Philippines, has a narrow coastal plain and a hilly inland terrain, both of which are full of rivers and streams that originate in the Gran Cordillera mountain range. The Ilocano ethno-linguistic communities make up most of the region’s population. Given the geographic location on the seacoast and near the mouths of rivers, fishing is an important economic activity for most inhabitants.

Teyyam is a divine dance that is prevalent in the northern districts of Kerala, such as Kannur and Kasargod. The name teyyam is derived from daivam, a Sanskrit word meaning ‘god’ or ‘deity’. Performed in shrines, sacred groves, houses, and open places, teyyam represents mythological, divine, ancestral, animal, and heroic characters, each with its own distinct shape and form of origin. There are over 350 of these teyyams.

Central Asia is a region that has served as the centre of social and economic, in particular cultural interrelations of East and West. The nations of this region have a rich cultural heritage and ancient traditions like any nation in the world. The nations of Central Asia - Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan – make up a unified cultural space, defined by great grassland steppes and famous mountains, nomadic culture and common history, relics and traditions. Throughout this region we find petroglyphs, keregsur, steles, ruins and other monuments attesting to the mingling of peoples in the Central Asian steppe since prehistory. The territory of our own nation, Mongolia, has indeed been the centre several nomadic empires at various stages in history, established by different peoples of Central Asia sharing a similar cultural origin – Hunnu, Khitan, Turks, Uighurs, Kyrgyz and Mongols.

UNESCO’s Intangible Heritage Convention, which was adopted in 2003 and entered into force in April 2006, highlighted “Recognizing that com-munities, in particular indigenous communities, groups and, in some case, individuals, play an important role in the production, safeguarding, mainte-nance and re-creation of the intangible cultural heritage, thus helping to enrich cultural diversity and human creativity.” Articles 1 and 15 on purposes of the Convention make further references to issues relating to the participation of communities, groups, and individuals. By respecting and empowering practicing communities to define, desig-nate their intangible heritage, and engage in protecting ICH, many states have come to acknowledge community as one of the central goals of the convention. In fact, the interrelationship between community and heritage seems to be inseparable. Valdirmar Tr. Hasfstein pointed out that “At closer inspection, intangible cultural heritage is practically synonymous with community” and therefore “the purpose of the conven-tion is not only to safeguard traditional practice and expressions, but also, and just as importantly, to safeguard communities” (Valdirmar Tr. Hasfstein 2004, p.212)

In Palau, important lessons about life and how to conduct oneself may be captured in a particular oral tradition. Stories are told a retold from generation to generation to impart significant principles and values about being Palauan. There are stories explaining the origins of life on Palau, settlement patterns, and migration between places. These oral traditions may be transmitted through stories, chants, performances, and architecture. Significant cultural sites are also a medium of conveying important oral histories of migrations and events that supports close lineage among families and villages. Other oral stories show the importance of certain plant and animal species in Palauan culture.

In the historical books and folk beliefs of the Việt, there have been many stories and legends of Thánh Gióng - the Saint of the ancient Việt who was considered as one of the four immortal gods by the Vietnamese nationwide. The monarchic dynasties of the Great Việt in Vietnam bequeathed him as a Heavenly King. Legend has it that he was born as the result of a magical union between a girl from Gióng village and the giant footprint of the rain god in the Việt’s myths. At the age of three, he grew miraculously into a giant after hearing the King’s appeal to find gifted people to save the country and its people. After defeating the foreign invaders, the hero went to Sóc mountain and flew into the heaven.

The kalukor fishing method or beach seine was practiced in the 1970s by fisherfolks that live along a stretch of the Lingayen Gulf in Pangasinan, Philippines. It started with only two units of fisherfolks who introduced it in the coastal area. The livelihood available in this coastal community has always been fishing and the production of related fish products that are prepared traditionally. The fishermen and their able family members that mostly include their kin and fisherfolk neighbors embark each day at 2:00 a.m. to undertake a traditional seine fishing method locally called kalukor. \n\nA boat will cast out connected ropes and nets off shore and set a V-shaped seine one-hectare area in the sea. The net is pulled down vertically with weights attached to its bottom while objects are placed on the net’s top edge to let it float. The seine net ends are pulled strategically by two groups holding ropes until seine reaches the shore, bringing in a fish catch. The duration of this process, with guidance of a boatman who signals the group when to pull increasingly to achieve balance to contain fish and other marine varieties, takes three to four hours to see net pouch with the fish catch reaching the shoreline. Presently, there are more than ten beach seines taking turns, lining up the stretch of the gulf in a day of fishing. The nature of Lingayen Gulf having a soft-bottom bed makes near shore seine fishing more\nappropriate. The fishing infrastructure that fisherfolks employ is a safer method and regulated by the municipal office to preserve marine ecological niches.

According to the Mongolian astrological calendar, as well as in other Asian countries, this year is the Year of the Tiger. As well as a year, the third of the twelve animals of lunar astrology is also marked with the day of the tiger (the day of the conquest of the tiger), the month of the tiger (the first month of spring), and the tiger hours of the day (3.40 a.m. to 5.40 a.m.). Mongols teach that, “If you do not get up with tiger i.e., during the tiger hours, then the day will be late. If you do not study in young age, then growing up will be late.” The tiger is also one of the eight cardinal directions on the map of Mongolia, representing northeast. This corresponds with the octagonal shape of a yurt, on which homeowners place the appropriate symbols depending on the direction of each face.

Gandharba, also written Gandharva or Gaine is one of the musician communities of Nepal. This community has their own unique culture, musical instruments, music, traditions, festivals, language, rituals and social practices perpetuated from their forefathers. Long before the postal networks and the use of electronic communications in Nepal, the musicians of this unique community would roam all over the nation to spray the news in the form of songs and music. The Gandharba were the sole entertainer and the information disseminator of the numerous isolated communities across the mountains of Nepal. Thus they are also wknown as the messenger of the nation. But due to the Modernization, Urbanization, Socio-economic challenges, limited Education and other changes seen in the society; the present status of the Gandharba community’s identity and the intangible cultural heritage is at risk. The outcome of this research have identified the major challenges of the survival of the community’s identity and possible solution and suggestion for building effective networking system among the Gandharba communities of Nepal to confront the challenges and to support, revitalize, reconstruct and safeguard their intangible cultural heritage and their identity in a long run.