Based on the ICHCAP Field Survey on Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Efforts in some East and Central Asian countries from 2009 to 2012, this summary provides a brief overview on the ICH situation in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan . 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. This survey report offers a large sample of the diverse ICH situations in East Asian and Central Asian countries. Although each country has a different background on issue of intangible heritage, depending on its cultural, economic, and socio-political situation, the countries participating in the survey share a commonality: They are post-communist countries that were once under the Soviet system. Moreover, they share a traditional culture shaped by nomadic pastoralism that offers a variety of cultural similarities. For instance, they keep an ancient and rich tradition of epic singing, and they are highly concerned about this oral heritage as it is on the brink of disappearance. In this sense, they have much to exchange and share in regards to safeguarding ICH. The countries participating in the survey are concerned with the threats against their ICH, but most of these nations are in the early process of defining ICH and establishing independent national ICH lists. At the same time, each country expresses a high degree of motivation and encouragement for safeguarding ICH, sharing experiences, and participating in international cooperation programmes. Apart from the main subject, a brief glimpse is taken on the situation of intellectual property in ICH safeguarding in each country. Compared to the Southwest Asian countries that participated in the field survey, the East Asian and Central Asian countries provided little information on intellectual property issues, so it is recommended that ICHCAP undertake the Field Survey on Intellectual Property Issues in the Process of ICH Information Building and Information Sharing in some countries to see their status on this subject.\n\n- Ratified the ICH Convention in 2008; survey conducted in 2009 and updated in 2014.\n- As of March 2018, has 6 ICH elements on the RL, 1 element as GSP, and no accredited NGOs.

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.'

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 44 is 'Traditional Knowledge to Lead a Healthy Life.'

In November 2013, Jindo County hosted a symposium on shaman heritage and public events. Organized by ICHCAP and the World Ethnic Dance Institute with the support of the Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea, the participants from Northeast Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia explored measures through which shaman cultural heritage can be safeguarded with international cooperation. Diversity and Commonality of Shaman Heritage in Asia—Current Safeguarding Status and Challenges of Asian Shaman Heritage is a dual-language publication with the meeting’s discussion and presentation papers available in both English and Korean.

ICHCAP and the Vanuatu Cultural Center organized the fourth sub-regional networking meeting in collaboration with the UNESCO Apia Office. Representatives from the collaborating organizations as well as from six Pacific countries—Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, and Vanuatu—attended the meeting in Port Vila, Vanuatu, in April 2013. This publication includes presentation materials as well as meeting summaries to provide information to promote international cooperation among Pacific experts and institutions in the ICH safeguarding field.

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.

Organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Mongolia, the Mongolian National Commission for UNESCO, the UNESCO Beijing Office, and ICHCAP and hosted by the Cultural Heritage Centre, Mongolia, the Seminar on Cooperation towards Strengthening Networking and Information Sharing of ICH in Northeast Asia took place from 29 June to 3 July 2014 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Representatives from Mongolia, Republic of China, Japan, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and the Republic of Korea participated in this historic event. For the first time, all five countries of the Northeast Asian region met in a single venue to discuss common issues and tasks related to safeguarding and promoting ICH in the subregion. Facilitating Documentation of Living Heritage and Information Exchange for ICH Safeguarding in Northeast Asia is a collection of the meeting paper presentations also included are photographs and a description of how to move forward within the subregion.\n\nNote: The articles are in English, but some are supplemented with information in Chinese or Korean.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by the UN Member States on 25 September 2015, is an action plan for tackling the most challenging issues of our world today. The hope is that within the next fifteen years, the sustainable development goals (SDGs) will encourage universal efforts to end all forms of poverty and ensure that no one is left behind.\n\nThe methods and practices to accomplish these goals will vary depending on the context. In the Pacific region, incorporating intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is crucial to accomplish any of the SDGs since it plays an important role as a “driver, enabler and guarantee of sustainable development.\n\nAlthough each nation in the Pacific has its own diverse ICH, they all share a sense of longing for sustainable development and community well-being. Traditional and local knowledge have always played a pivotal role in protecting clean water supplies, coral reefs, and rainforests; healing the sick through traditional medicine; and building homes resistant to climate change. Ensuring the success of the SDGs in the Pacific will require an understanding of how ICH can be incorporated in the SDGs from the local perspective.

Based on the ICHCAP Field Survey on Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Efforts in some East and Central Asian countries from 2009 to 2012, this summary provides a brief overview on the ICH situation in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan . 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. This survey report offers a large sample of the diverse ICH situations in East Asian and Central Asian countries. Although each country has a different background on issue of intangible heritage, depending on its cultural, economic, and socio-political situation, the countries participating in the survey share a commonality: They are post-communist countries that were once under the Soviet system. Moreover, they share a traditional culture shaped by nomadic pastoralism that offers a variety of cultural similarities. For instance, they keep an ancient and rich tradition of epic singing, and they are highly concerned about this oral heritage as it is on the brink of disappearance. In this sense, they have much to exchange and share in regards to safeguarding ICH. The countries participating in the survey are concerned with the threats against their ICH, but most of these nations are in the early process of defining ICH and establishing independent national ICH lists. At the same time, each country expresses a high degree of motivation and encouragement for safeguarding ICH, sharing experiences, and participating in international cooperation programmes. Apart from the main subject, a brief glimpse is taken on the situation of intellectual property in ICH safeguarding in each country. Compared to the Southwest Asian countries that participated in the field survey, the East Asian and Central Asian countries provided little information on intellectual property issues, so it is recommended that ICHCAP undertake the Field Survey on Intellectual Property Issues in the Process of ICH Information Building and Information Sharing in some countries to see their status on this subject.\n\n- Ratified the ICH Convention in 2011; survey conducted in 2012\n- As of December 2014, has two ICH elements on the RL and two accredited NGOs

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.

East Asian region is developed a rich of variety in the intangible heritage manifests, from oral traditions, performing arts, customs, and rituals to festivals, clothing, crafts, and food throughout the centuries. However, as with other counties in the Asia-Pacific region, which is a treasure house of ICH, traditional cultural heritage of East Asia was in a crisis of extinction due to shifts in industrial structures and the population outflow of younger generations to urban areas. In response, the Republic of Korea and Japan introduced the concept of intangible cultural heritage in policies related to safeguarding cultural heritage more than fifty years ago. Mongolia, with the support of its respective government, followed suit by establishing an institutional foundation for national ICH inventory making and ICH safeguarding after ratifying the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003). Moreover, in relation to ICH safeguarding activities, UNESCO Category 2 Centres, which support ICH safeguarding activities, have been simulataneously going through the establishment process in the Republic of Korea, China, and Japan. As a well-intentioned objective for the future activities, the three centres are making efforts to build a cooperative mechanism among themselves. Another effort made in the region is the establishment of the ICH safeguarding system in Mongolia. The government of Mongolia has drawn up a national ICH inventory and identified bearers as well. The countries in East Asia have been very active in safeguarding, and their participation at regional and international levels. Therefore, countries in the region need to build trust and collaborative relationships while safeguarding ICH at national, regional, and international levels.\n\n- Ratified the ICH Convention in 2004; conducted survey in 2014.\n- As of March 2018, has 31 ICH elements on the RL, 7 elements on the USL, 1 element as GSP, and 2 accredited NGOs.

The Booklet presents materials related to the National Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) of the Kyrgyz Republic. Publication introduces the intangible cultural heritage and directed at raising awareness about the ICH elements among the wider public, concerned specialists, national and international organizations working in the field of the intangible cultural heritage.