India is the repository of an astounding wealth of intangible heritage with distinctive qualities of its own. The variety of geophysical features of India reflects its cultural diversity, from the Himalayan peaks to the sea coast, river-fed plains, marshlands, and deserts, all of which has helped shape its intangible culture in consonance with nature. India is a pluralistic society that combines different religions, faiths, racial communities, languages, and cultures. It has a wide range of artistic activities, traditional knowledge systems, folklore, performing arts and festivals, with about eight hundred dialects, and more than twenty officially recognized languages, several faiths, various styles of art, architecture, literature, music, dance, and lifestyle patterns from the urban and rural to the tribal.

According to the oral traditions of the Cook Islands, sacred rituals were commonly performed on what is known as a marae or sacred ground. Each tribe has its own marae where ceremonies such as offerings of prayers, tributes to the gods and the induction of traditional titles on family members were once carried out. It also acted as a meeting place for important tribal matters.

Malaysia is a developing nation of Southeast Asia. A few of their famous slogans reflect the diversity of its present ethnic groups in terms of language, customs and traditions inherited from past generations, ‘One Malaysia‘ and ‘Malaysia Truly Asia‘. Malaysia’s cultural fusion is the result of immigration, trade and cultural exchanges over many centuries with Arab nations, China, and India, where the arrival of the first foreigners brought along with them their wealth as well as their cultural heritage and religion. Presently, these ethnic groups still maintain their cultural traditions, but managed to come together to develop Malaysia’s unique and contemporary diverse heritage.

The Yakan is one of the major ethnolinguistic groups of the Philippines. Among the Yakan of Basilan in Mindanao, Philippines, instrumental music is given much importance. For instance, the kwintangan, an instrument of five to seven bossed gongs laid in a row, are used for courtship and celebrations.

The National Institute of Folk & Traditional Heritage, popularly known as Lok Virsa, was established by the government of Pakistan in 1974 with a mandate to collect, document, preserve, and disseminate Pakistan’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

Indigenously developed shamanism varies according to geographic location and anthropological characteristics. But all these variations share the belief that nature commands all life. So it can be said that shamanism of Myanmar originates from nature worship in which the spirits within nature govern life. Appeasing these spirits brings good to all living creatures; however, evil is cast upon those who disobey the laws of the spirits. Within the context of these beliefs, humans must soothe the spirits through rituals. However, since direct contact with deities and spirits is not possible for everyone, shamans emerged to act as agents who can communicate with the spiritual world through various rituals.

The role of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage has evolved from its mandate regarding cultural heritage generally. ICOMOS was created in a world that had experienced the destruction of significant heritage places during World War II and faced the threat of destruction throughout the Cold War period. The Second Congress of Architects, Conservationists and Technicians of Historical Monuments held in Venice in May 1964 produced the Venice Charter and established ICOMOS.

Edward Freeman defined a stakeholder as any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of an organization’s objectives. In business management literature, stakeholders are people or groups who have the power to directly affect an organization’s future. Others stress that it is necessary to consider a very broad range of individuals, groups, communities, and organizations, including the less powerful: the affected that can also affect, when taken into consideration. Thinking in terms of stakeholders and using mapping techniques, grids, and tools to identify relevant stakeholders have become crucial steps in strategic planning in the twenty-first century, not only in business contexts but also in culture management. In contexts of consensus building, the central process of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, it is an important technique not only for bringing together as much potentially relevant information and experience as possible but also for trying to act in an ethical way and cultivate sustainable development.

Relative to the creative economy of South Korea, the importance of the Eurasian Turkic states is growing. The reorganized resource-rich countries of the Eurasian continent, ancient nations belonging to the Silk Road, have established themselves from the beginning of the 21st century as political and economic powers in the international arena. CIS countries such as Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan were protagonists of the great Silk Road that linked the East and the West that had been cut off from each other in ancient times.

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).

The Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre (SAC) is a public organization under the supervision of the Thai Ministry of Culture. Established in 1989, the Centre’s primary mission is to promote understanding among peoples through the study of human societies. SAC’s activities fall within three main program areas: documentation, research, and public education and outreach. Geographically, SAC’s program activities focus on Thailand and the Greater Mekong Sub-region, with the broad aim of fostering tolerance and cross-cultural awareness in the region through anthropological research and public education.

All humans aspire to a healthy life, which is a fundamental right. The definition of health has varied from age to age. In the past, health vaguely meant the state of not having a disease or illness, but the 1946 Constitution of the World Health Organization defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” In broad terms, however, today health can also mean a state of an individual coping with his or her inner and outer environmental changes to maintain complete well-being at all levels. More broadly, health can mean the optimal state in which an individual can effectively play his or her social roles and responsibilities. The purpose of medicine, therefore, is for an individual to maintain a healthy condition. Currently there are two major branches of medicine in Korea: traditional Korean medicine (TKM) and Western medicine.