The culture of the Central Asian steppes expresses itself vividly in the lifestyle of traditional nomadic practices. Mongolian culture has been in practice in the nomadic life and the traditions surrounding the nomad’s home (ger). And it is present in religious celebrations, national festivals, art and crafts, music and dance, language and literature, which form the backbone of Mongolian intangible cultural heritage of Mongolia. Mongolia is filled with valuable cultural properties and intangible cultural heritage of humanity that have been kept or practiced for thousands of years.\n\nGer, Mongolian Traditional Dwelling\nThe traditional architecture of the Mongols differed strongly from that of the settled peoples of Asia and other continents. Centuries ago, there the ger, also known as a yurt, appeared. It still offers shelter to nomads in particular places in Central Asia. Its development and fundamental principles are determined by the specific features of the way of life of Mongol tribes, which made it necessary to evolve a light and collapsible structure to be used as a dwelling or for public functions.\n\nMongolian Language and Literature\nMongolian is the language of most of the Mongolian population and inner Mongolia. By origin, Mongolian is one of the Altaic family of languages, and the history of the Mongolian language is long and complicated. Significant literary work of early Mongolia includes The Secret History of the Mongols, which was published in 1228).\n\nMongolian Religion and Beliefs\nThe Mongols have practiced several religions, of which Shamanism and Buddhism were the most common. The faith in Mongolia is Buddhism, though the state and religion were separated during the socialist period, but with the transition to the parliamentary republic in the 1990s, there has been a general revival of faiths across the country\n\nMongolian Art and Crafts\nMongolian arts and crafts have been passed down across generations from the Paleolithic times to today, leaving behind deep impressions on all facets of life and conscious, aesthetic, and philosophical thinking. Highly developed Mongolian arts and crafts come from the second millennium BCE. The works included sculptured heads of wild animals with exaggerated features. Other items include knives, daggers, and other items of practical and religious use.\n\nMongolian Music and Dance\nMusic is an integral part of Mongolian culture. Among Mongolia’s unique contributions to the world’s musical culture are the long songs, overtone singing, and morin khuur (the horse-headed fiddle). The music of Mongolia is also rich with varieties related to the various ethnic groups of the country. Among the most popular forms of modern music in Mongolia are Western pop and rock genres and the mass songs written by contemporary authors in the form of folk songs.\n\nHorse Culture of Mongolia\nIt is famously known that horses play a large role in the Mongols’ daily and national lives. Common sayings are, “A Mongol without a horse is like a bird without wings,” and “Mongols are born on horseback” these are arguably true words. Even today, horse-based culture is still practiced by nomadic Mongolians.\n\nVisit https://www.toursmongolia.com/tours for additional information about Mongolian culture.\n\nPhoto 1 : Prairie meadow grass inner Mongolia traditional clothing © Batzaya Choijiljav\nPhoto 2~7 : © Batzaya Choijiljav

In many cultures, there is a concept of expected gendered roles where people perform certain functions, parts, or kinds of a cultural or social activity according to their gender. Men are expected to be strong and masculine, and employ the roles which are more related to hard labor, leadership, and literacy. Women, traditionally, assume feminine and maternal characteristics and roles in supporting men in their social events. Although these notions of gender qualities and roles differ from culture to culture, it is often found that the traditional customs which dictate who can and cannot participate in specific parts of the culture are often bounded by gender stereotypes and taboos.

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.

"The Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (‘ICH Convention’ or ‘Convention’ hereafter) was adopted in 2003 and subsequently brought into force in 2006. The ICH Convention mandates signatories to use or mobilise various measures to safeguard intangible cultural heritage. \nEven though the Convention does not succinctly mention the elaborate legal measures for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, the intellectual property rights to protect intangible cultural heritage and its holders are implied throughout provisions of the Convention. To implement the Convention’s spirit, the Operational Directives clarify legal form as safeguarding measures by stating that: State Parties shall endeavor to ensure, in particular through the application of intellectual property rights, privacy rights and any other appropriate form of legal protection, that the rights of the communities, groups, and individuals that create, bear and transmit their intangible cultural heritage are duly protected…."

Kutch is a frontier district in the state of Gujarat in western India, situated on the border of India and Pakistan. Covering an area of 45,674 km², it is the largest district of India. It is surrounded by the Great and Little Rann of Kutch on the North, South, East, and the Arabian Sea on the West. In the beginning of the twelfth century, Kutch was ruled by Chavda, Sama, Sanghar, Kathi, and Solanki dynasties. From 1147 AD to 1947 AD, Kutch was ruled by the Jadejas, whose ancestors migrated to Kutch from Sindh (now in Pakistan). Sindh is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeast of the country, it is the third largest province of Pakistan. Sindh is bordered by Balochistan province to the west and Punjab province to the north. Sindh also borders the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan to the east and Arabian Sea to the south. The influence of Sindhi culture is very prominent in Kutch due to the history of migration of pastoralists as well as artisanal communities. The current paper aims to explore the cross border cultural relationships between local communities of Kutch, India and Sindh, Pakistan by critically examining their shared oral tradition of Gujharat and a significant traditional textile craft practice called Ajrakh.

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.

Culture is chiefly perceived as a driving force for sustainable development in the UN’s action plan for people, planet, and prosperity entitled “Transforming Our World: 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’. In this context, there is a foreseeable strength in ICH to generate means for sustainable development. The following issues are considered as starting points of discussion: (1) the methods of aligning commercial activities with ICH safeguarding activities, (2) the possible risks to ICH viability and the ways in which they can be mitigated, and (3) the prospect of moving toward and maintaining a mutual relationship between ICH Safeguarding and development policies.\nKeeping the grassroots level highly pertinent in Session 3, we intend to put various NGOs activities at the center of the discussion, particularly in light of our pursuit to assess their presence in sustainable tourism development and eco‐tourism, looking into the possibility of expanding the role of NGOs in areas such as cultural mapping and gender equality. To end, a plenary discussion will be held. The outcome document will be circulated to share the discussion points of and lessons learned from the meeting.

Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city and the last stronghold of the ancient Burmese kings, has been considered the country’s cradle of traditional arts and crafts. Shwe chi hto or golden embroidery has been one of the most famous crafts in Mandalay especially during the monarchy period when gold and silver tapestries adorned the kings, queens, ministers, and all the members of the higher class in society.

The Inle Lake is the second largest freshwater shallows in Myanmar, located on the western edge of the Shan Plateau of the eastern part of the country. The estimated surface area is 44.9 square miles and the highest elevation is 2900 feet (880m). Inle Lake is a major tourist destination in Myanmar, attracting tourists by the picturesque beauty of the lake surrounded by mountains, houses standing on poles in the \nlake, beautiful floating gardens, and the cultural practices of the Intha fishermen. The main ethnic people of Inle Lake are Inthan while Pa Oh, Taungyo, Kayan, and Shan people also add to its diversity. \n\nThe people who live in Inle Lake are called Intha (people of lake). They live on the shore and on the lake, making a living by fishing, engaging in handicraft activities, cultivating on floating gardens as well as on \nthe delta of the lake. For transportation, the Intha people use wooden boats; for long trip they use long tail boats with engines, carrying local passengers and goods. Small boats are used for their daily activities.\n\nThe main economy of Inle depends on cultivation and fishing. The unique style of the Intha people is rowing the boat with one leg by standing. They paddle this way because reeds and water plants are many \nin the lake, and if they row sitting down on the boat they could not see reeds and water plants. There is no gender for this rowing style, from an early age; people are trained to paddle with their feet. \n

Enrichment, inclusion and empowerment. Why these concepts and why in that order? Are they, next to “sustainable development” of course, the key concepts for the 2020s in heritage policy and practice? Do these concepts already appear in the universe of the Blue Book, the nickname of the Basic Texts of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage 2018 Edition? This set of texts includes among others the 2003 UNESCO Convention text itself, the most recent version of the Operational Directives (ODs) approved by the General Assembly, the 12 Ethical Principles and the new Overall Results (Based) Framework/ORF (2018).1)\nThe word “empowerment” cannot yet be found but the verb “empower” is used twice: OD130 and OD133. Two times to empower the Director General of UNESCO so she can authorize the use of the emblem of the 2003 Convention. \nThe word “enrichment” cannot yet be found but the verb “enrich” is used twice: in the preamble of the 2003 UNESCO Convention. First in the statement that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals (CGIs), play an important role in (safeguarding) intangible cultural heritage “thus helping to enrich cultural diversity and human creativity”. Then in a statement that international agreements concerning heritage “need to be effectively enriched and supplemented by means of new provisions relating to the intangible cultural heritage.”\nThe word “inclusion” is used twice. Once in the Rule of Procedure (22.4) in a warning/request to delegates of State Parties or observers not to advocate for granting financial assistance or the inclusion on

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.

The Ramanarpanam Trust established the DRIK Foundation, a value-based learning center for Indian Art and Culture, and innumerable learning and education platforms for the children and youth of oppressed and exploited communities. DRIK and DWARAKA were formed to protect the socio-economic and cultural heritage and values of rural India. All the above organizations together have launched the DRIK DWARAKA ACADEMY, integrating rights learning with community change, skill development, livelihood generation and leadership development among children, youth, and women. DRIK JEEVANOTSAVA, a cultural empowerment movement, has spread the message of human rights, values, peace, and leadership through its activities. Together with AVAS (Association for Voluntary Action and Services), this cultural network has taken root to revive traditions and heritage, giving livelihood options and rejuvenating old folk forms of songs, dances, storytelling, puppet shows and much more towards transforming communities.