Folkland, International Centre for Folklore and Culture is a nonprofit NGO devoted to promoting folklore and culture. Headquartered in Kerala in south-western India, Folkland has three main centers and several chapters in India and associations with other organizations abroad through MOUs and collab-orative partnerships. Folkland has been affiliated with the UNESCO ICH sector since 2010. Folkland envisions a society that respects cultural heritage by conserving arts and cultural traditions and transmitting them to future generations. As such, Folkland is proudly dedicated to promoting Indian culture and values with a focus on intangible cultural heritage. The center provides access to knowledge and information about intangible cultural heritage and is known for promoting indigenous culture that inspires audiences to explore the cultural and artistic heritage of Kerala. The main domains covered by Folkland are performing arts; oral traditions and expressions; social practices, rituals, and festivals; and traditional crafts. Folkland documents oral traditions and practices and extends training to younger genera-tions to revitalize old and near-extinct traditional art forms. One ICH element of particular interest to Folkland is tolpavakoothu (shadow puppetry).

The life of the Bauls of Bangladesh revolves around body-centric ascetic practice termed sadhana. Bauls believe in the co-existence of every element of the endless Brahmanda, meaning universe in the human body. Thus, they make caring for the body their highest priority over anything else. They have created extensive verse about body-centric sadhana codes that they transmit through song. The verses or songs include descriptions of control over the consumption of daily necessaries, mainly food. And, they believe in the doctrine মানুষ যা খায়, সে তাই (a human is what he or she consumes). They also judge food as medicine, as the need to live a hale and hearty.

Co-orgarnized by ICHCAP and Hue Monuments Conservation Centre (HMCC), this year’s Asia-Pacific ICH NGO Conference was held in Hue, Vietnam under the theme of ICH NGOs towards Sustainable Development of Communities.

Bread making is more than a culinary tradition: it is an integral part of the Austrian Lesach Valley’s cultural heritage, which carries aesthetic, symbolic, and religious value for the community of the valley. Rituals, customs, and personal stories constitute the nature of the element and illustrate the high significance of the practice for the region.

I arrived in Hue City by the Perfume River (Sông Hương) on a rainy afternoon in September 2019 to spend about a month gathering materials and data related to the preservation of the Hue Imperial Complex. One of my friends was waiting for me at a local bar together with his Bach Ho (White Tiger) master, a man in his sixties wearing a black martial arts shirt. After greeting one another, we began our conversation by taking about Hue’s recent conservation projects and local landscapes, before my friend’s master touched upon the history and the heyday of Bach Ho martial arts (the 1960s to the early 2000s). Indeed, Vietnamese people have created their own martial arts to boost their health and protect their homeland against aggressive and more powerful foreign invaders for a few thousand years. As Van Dung highlight: “martial arts contributed glorious pages to the history, appeared as a proof for resolute spirit, inexhaustible struggle, fearless of death, difficulty or danger and as a creative mind of people” (2017, p. 27). The Vietnamese philosophy of martial arts is “the Truth—the Goodness—the Beauty”; it attempts to advance Vietnamese culture and characters by forging a sturdy body, enduring health, and a strong spirit that provides support in dealing with difficulties and hardship (Van Dung ., 2017, p. 28). Viet Nam has some of its own styles of martial arts, but due to being located at a crossroads of civilizations, various martial arts from China, Korea, and Japan have been brought into and mixed with native ones, including kung fu, karate, judo, aikido, and taekwondo (Van Dung , 2016, p. 69). With the tremendous growth of this industry, martial arts have become an integral part of sports and physical activity culture, conveying not only lifestyles but also educational value and entertainment (Ko ., 2010, p. 3).\nHue became one of the biggest centers of martial arts in Viet Nam because it was home to the Nguyen dynasty, the final feudal society of Viet Nam (1802–45). The Nguyen dynasty fought against local rivals and also stood against Western colonialism, particularly the French invasion (Odell and Castillo, 2008, p. 82). Therefore, the practice of martial arts was very much encouraged and was stimulated through the organization of a number of nationwide martial arts competitions to select the best talents in the country (Le, 2020). Several temples were constructed, at which the masters’ skills and teaching were honored by the carving of their names on the stone columns.\nThe Hue Association of Traditional Martial Arts confirms that there are around 15 types of martial art within Hue, including Viet Vo dao, Bach Ho, Nga My, Thien Muc Son, Thieu Bao, Nam Son, Hau Quyen dao, Thieu Lam Dai Tam, and Kinh Van An. Other Vietnamese martial arts had their origins elsewhere, as noted, in countries such as China, Japan, and Korea, but Bach Ho (a genuine Vietnamese martial art) remained one of the most prevalent types of martial art in Hue City. Unfortunately, the stature of Bach Ho is fading significantly in comparison with other martial arts. This study thus aims to explore the relevance of Bach Ho in contemporary contexts and the primary impediments to its transmission. It will then propose recommendations for safeguarding and promoting Bach Ho as intangible cultural heritage for future generations. These are the primary objectives behind the selection of Bach Ho as our research topic.\nTo conduct our study, we worked closely with representatives from the Association of Traditional Martial Arts of Thua Thien Hue and different groups from the martial arts. In

As one of the four major estuarine deltas in China, Liaohekou Estuary Delta enjoys a geographical environment surrounding both river and sea, a coastline constantly advancing towards the ocean and the unique estuarine natural resources, all of which have given birth to the distinctive regional culture of Liaohekou Estuary. The marine regression feature of “abundant water, no mountains and few trees, with weeds, ponds and tidal creeks spreading all over” and a system of interwoven cultural forms such as “sailing boats, wetlands, fishing-geese, influx of river and sea, fishing and gathering,” make the culture of Liaohekou Estuary region distinctive. The special geographical conditions and natural ecological environment bred the regional culture of Liaohekou Estuary, as well as a community of Guyuyan or “old fishing-geese” with very special livelihoods. Over hundreds of years, the culture and traditions of Liaohekou Estuary have developed into a special field of knowledge, and the regional food culture, which is based on the knowledge of the special marine food materials of Liaohekou Estuary, is particularly unique.

Cultural Space of Gong in Central Highlands covers all the fertility red soil in the territory of 5 provinces including Kông Tum, Gia Lai, Đắc Lắc, Đắc Nông, and Lâm Đồng. \nIt is the place where the Ba Na, the Gia Rai, the Ê Đê, the Xê Đăng, the Jẻ Triêng, the Mạ, the M’Nông, the Cơ Ho, the Brâu, the Rơ Măm,… have been residing for a long time. These ethnic groups live in small villages named pơ lây, buôn, bon and living mainly by agricultural cultivation, animal husbandry and benefitial resources of the nature.\n

In Buddhism, deities and gods are imagined as either male or female. They can appear either calm and peaceful or fierce and frantic. Generally, the more peaceful gods are the deities of harmony, aesthetics, kindness, diligence, and so on whereas the fierce ones are the guardians whose role is to threaten and daunt the demons.

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.

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.

During the first pilot project implementation on inventorying intangible cultural heritage in Uganda from 2014, Gulu Theatre Artists have been investigating a number of traditional foods within the Pageya Chiefdom to get an overview over the rich food tradition in this area.

Traditional food systems of native peoples around the world are critical to cultural identity and customs as well as to the continuation of biological genetic diversity. However, such traditional cuisines are becoming increasingly vulnerable due to the advent of global food systems, agroindustry, and changing lifestyles as well as to shifting preferences and ignorance of original ingredients. Furthermore, territorial transformations and distancing from ancestral lands have led to the loss of knowledge regarding the benefits of diverse ecosystems and their natural resources.