Based on the ICHCAP Field Survey on Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Efforts in some South Asian countries (2010–2013), this summary provides a brief overview on the ICH situation in Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka . The summary focuses mainly on ICH safeguarding systems, safeguarding policies, and ICH inventories as well as on pending issues and the urgent safeguarding needs of these countries. Moreover, information on the main entities in charge of ICH safeguarding and opinions of each country on the issue of community involvement are provided. To give a quick overview these countries’ participation in ICH safeguarding at the international level, some additional information related to UNESCO is specified as well. Some information on the ICH safeguarding status of Pakistan is updated, based on Periodic Report No.00794/Pakistan on the implementation of the Convention and on the status of elements inscribed on the RL submitted to UNESCO on December 2012. \n\nThis survey report offers a large sample of the diverse ICH situations in South Asian countries. Each country has a different background on the issue of intangible heritage. Although all the participating countries are concerned about the threats facing ICH, most of the countries participating in the survey haven’t defined the ICH and haven’t established national ICH lists and/or ICH inventories.However, each country expresses a high degree of motivation and encouragement for safeguarding o ICH, sharing experiences, and cooperating internationally. A common point noticed among them is that they tend to pay more attention to traditional performing arts in comparison to other ICH domains. Apart from the main subject, information on the situation of intellectual property related to ICH safeguarding in each country is included. However, this issue is very briefly reflected, so it is necessary to go through the ICHCAP Field Survey on Intellectual Property Issues in the Process of ICH Information Building and Information Sharing (2011–2012) to obtain more comprehensive and concrete information on this topic.\n\n- Ratified the ICH Convention in 2005; conducted survey in 2011.\n- As of April 2013, has one element on the RL of UNESCO and no accredited NGOs.\n- Submitted its periodic report on the implementation of the Convention and status of elements inscribed on the RL to UNESCO in December 2012.

ICH Courier is the quarterly magazine on ICH in the Asia-Pacific region issued by ICHCAP since 2009. Every issue has its own theme under the title of the Windows to ICH, and the theme of the Vol 23 is 'Traditional Navigation of Pacific Islanders.'

Based on the ICHCAP Field Survey on Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Efforts in some Pacific countries (2009-2013), this summary provides a brief overview on the ICH situation in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Cook Islands, the Marshall Islands, Tonga, Palau, Vanuatu and Federated States of Micronesia. The summary focuses mainly on ICH safeguarding systems, safeguarding policies, and ICH inventories as well as on pending issues and the urgent safeguarding needs of these countries. Moreover, information on the main entities in charge of ICH safeguarding and opinions of each country on the issue of community involvement are provided. To give a quick overview these countries’ participation in ICH safeguarding at the international level, some additional information related to UNESCO is specified as well. Apart from the main topic, information on the situation of intellectual property related to ICH safeguarding in each country is included. This survey report offers a large sample of the diverse ICH situations in Pacific countries. Each country has a different background on the issue of intangible heritage. Although all countries participating in the survey are concerned with the threats facing their ICH, most of them haven’t defined ICH and haven’t established inventory national ICH list or inventory. However, each country expresses a high degree of motivation and encouragement for safeguarding ICH, sharing experiences, and participating in international cooperation efforts. Compared to some Asian countries, Pacific countries seem to be well aware of the emerging intellectual property issues related to ICH. This might be related to the internationally publicized infringement and violation of intellectual property rights by outsiders on the Pacific’s traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, and genetic resources . Moreover, these countries appear to collaborate closely with the World Intellectual Property Organization on various awareness-raising and capacity-building activities on protecting traditional culture in a broad sense. \n\nTo date, out of the eight Pacific countries participating in the survey, five countries (Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Palau, and Vanuatu) are drafting laws on the protection of traditional knowledge and expressions of culture. Furthermore, in terms of technical terminology, the Pacific countries tend to use “traditional knowledge” and “expressions of culture” as equivalent terms to “intangible cultural heritage”. Pacific countries are also conducting cultural mapping projects, which is another common point that they share. Finally, the Pacific region has the highest rate of indigenous populations of any other region of the world and the highest rate of customary or traditional land ownership.\n\n- Ratified the ICH Convention in 2009; conducted survey in 2009.\n- As of May 2013, has no elements on the ICH Lists of UNESCO and no accredited NGOs.

The concept behind the book is to give the readers a taste of the rich diversity that can be found in traditional medicine practices and the experiences from a number of different perspectives, places and cultures. All the authors acknowledge that for well-being and treatment of illness, traditional medicine has an important complimentary role alongside modern medicine. It is hoped that this publication will contribute to the valuable sharing of experiences regarding the safeguarding of traditional practices, and the wider recognition of the role of traditional medicine in different contexts and cultures.

ICH Courier is the quarterly magazine on ICH in the Asia-Pacific region issued by ICHCAP since 2009. Every issue has its own theme under the title of the Windows to ICH, and the theme of the Vol 34 is 'Wandering Minstrels and Songs of Blessing.'

This report publication is a collection of the discussion papers presented on 28 November 2011 at the International Conference on Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage under the theme ‘Regional Collaboration for Safeguarding ICH in Asia and the Pacific: Tasks and Strategies’, which was held in commemoration of ICHCAP’s inauguration. The conference provided an opportunity to look into the current ICH status and environment of the five sub-regions within the Asia-Pacific region and to seek measures to overcome the many different challenges involved with ICH safeguarding.

As part of the Cultural Partnership Initiative of 2016, ICHCAP invited ICH professionals from Malaysia, Mongolia, Sri Lanka and Tonga. Each participant researched ICH topics of interest that relate to comparative studies, sustainable development, traditional medicine, and safeguarding organizations. These reports were compiled into a bound publication and is now made available as an online download.

2020 World Forum for Intangible Cultural Heritage

Together with the UNESCO National Commissions in the Central Asia, the Seventh Central Asi Sub-regional Meeting on the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage was held between 16 and 18 May at Dushanbe, Tajikistan.\n\nThe report includes papers of the thematic symposium on Sacred Cultural Spaces, Safeguarding ICH and Enhancing Identity and country reports.

ICHCAP, with the support of the Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea and the cooperation of the Fiji National Museum and Yap State Historic Preservation Office of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), hosted the four-day Pacific-ICHCAP Cooperative Workshop on Digitizing ICH-Related Audio-Visual Materials in various locations in Jeonju and Seoul. The workshop was organized to explore methods and technologies involved with digitizing analogue audiovisual resources related to intangible cultural heritage, with emphasis on Pacific art and traditions so that it can be approached and enjoyed around the world.\n\nThis publication includes the nine paper presentations as well as transcripts of the speeches and information related to the field visits.

In 2011 and 2012, field surveys were conducted to examine the intellectual property issues that could arise in the process of ICH information building and sharing. The survey was conducted in eleven countries—Cook Islands, Fiji, India, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Viet Nam. The purpose of the surveys was to highlight the IP-related problems that ICH-related organisations may encounter while conducting ICH information–related activities, such as identification, documentation, digitisation, etc., and promoting the groundwork for a guide to protect IP-related aspects of ICH in the process of information building and sharing.

In 2011 and 2012, field surveys were conducted to examine the intellectual property issues that could arise in the process of ICH information building and sharing. The survey was conducted in eleven countries—Cook Islands, Fiji, India, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Viet Nam. The purpose of the surveys was to highlight the IP-related problems that ICH-related organisations may encounter while conducting ICH information–related activities, such as identification, documentation, digitisation, etc., and promoting the groundwork for a guide to protect IP-related aspects of ICH in the process of information building and sharing.