Intangible cultural heritage is a culmination of insight and wisdom for life. Intangible cultural heritage that has been passed down over the years affect our value systems in the present. It is also likely that this will continue in the future given a similar environment. Thus the transmission of intangible cultural heritage as the spiritual source behind tangible heritage is important. Intangible cultural heritage allows us to understand the past, find wisdom for the present, and predict the future. We can learn about the values, social consciousness and worldview that people held in the past through intangible cultural heritage. This then becomes a tool to understand the people of the present and predict the future based on the past. Thus, as the history of humanity progresses, the greater the need becomes to analyze the cultural elements accumulated in tradition. As people in modern society face the pressures of urbanization, industrialization and intense competition, intangible cultural heritage provides the spiritual comfort of a homecoming by reviving the nation’s cultural memory.

These children attend a Sámi kindergarten, and as the example above shows, they are learning—in the practical way—about traditional Sámi food as a part of their day in the kindergarten. This article will look into the importance transmitting traditional knowledge about food and the food-chain process, from raw nature materials to cooked dishes served on the table to the young generation, and highlight some examples of good and healthy traditional food.

The region of Bay of Bengal has been an important part of maritime activities, including trading and fisheries from very ancient times. The significance of the region continues even at present. The massive \nwaterbody is a representation of a busy network of trade and commerce and the basis of livelihoods for thousands who surround it from all sides from various countries. Fishing as an occupation is an important \nsector of food and nutritional security and India alone, has more than nine million active fisherfolk across its coastline, who are directly dependent on fisheries for their livelihood, amidst which 80 % are small scale fishers. The sector of fisheries employs over 14 million people and contributes to 1.1 % of the Indian GDP. Though the number remains unaccounted for in most countries, but amidst the number of \nfishermen, there is a substantial number of fisherwomen, who have been contributing through generations in various ways, including supplementing the family income through alternative methods of income, as well as being the main conduits of maintaining various elements of intangible cultural heritage, including traditional methods of fishing. This research paper is an attempt to look into the contribution of the fisherwomen community around the western fringes of the Bay of Bengal, especially looking at the countries of Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka and the vital contributions of these womenfolk. The fisherwomen \nnot only help to sustain the families through the main profession of the family, but also helps financially through various subsidiary modes of income, like handicrafts and artwork. This is extremely helpful for sustaining the family in time of the lean seasons of fishing, as well as during periods of disaster, like the present Covid-19 pandemic situation. These attempts of the fisherwomen, thus, connects various factors to \noverall social cohesion and development, including sustaining various channels of intangible cultural heritage which directly connects to their main profession and also helps in transmission of community values \nand also redefines gender roles within the community.

The ICH festivals in the Kyrgyz Republic are a great way to safeguard the cultural heritage. Kyrgyzstan has a rich ICH and embraces all ICH domains including the oral traditions andexpressions, performing arts, social practices, rituals and festive event, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe, and traditional craftsmanship. Festivals feature various ICH domains such as arts and crafts, cuisine, folklore, felt, hunting with birds, horse games, etc. For instance, the festivals Kyrgyz Shyrdagy and the Oimo International Festival are held with the aim of safeguarding and popularizing traditional knowledge and skills of handicrafts, for safeguarding and promoting traditional games, various birds of prey festivals are held, such as Salbuurun and Kok Boru. Moreover, festivals are dedicated to safeguarding oral traditions, such as Aitysh, the art of improvisation as well as many other festivals reflecting traditional cuisine, folklore, etc.

As in other countries in Spanish-speaking Latin America (Ryan, 2011), and former Spanish colonies such as the Philippines (Gonzales, 2015), there are both longstanding indigenous fighting systems as well as more recently created warrior arts and combat sports in what is now known as Mexico. Since the early 1990s, there has been inception and steady dissemination of several invented martial arts developed in the central, Gulf, and northern regions of Mexico by Mexican martial arts veterans with decades of experience in combat sports and Asian martial arts. New martial arts are often created by experienced martial artists experiencing personal troubles within broader social crises (Jennings, 2019). In the case of the Mexican pioneers, their combative experience is aided by their research into native forms of fighting and their vision to create a unique martial

Ancient Koreans first adopted Chinese characters (hanja, 漢字) for widespread use in the middle of the 4th century, with the establishment of educational institutions and the import of Chinese books as textbooks. The Korean way of pronouncing Chinese characters was called dongeum (東音), and differentiated from the Chinese way. In 1443, Koreans created their own characters (hangeul). Since then, hangeul, Korean-Chinese words and Chinese characters have been used in combination.The mother tongue (vernacular) of Koreans from the ancient to the present has been part of the Altaic family. This mother tongue can be called the indigenous language (native Korean), distinct from Korean-Chinese (dongeum) words. Needless to say, Korean culture and indigenous language predate Korean-Chinese words. Thus, it is a meaningful task to seek the origins of intangible cultural heritage (hereinafter intangible heritage) in indigenous language.

An eminent gathering of experts and the diversity of their knowledge based on first-hand efforts at safeguarding intangible heritage makes the task of a rapporteur daunting. Please allow me to share some reflections from a day of intense discussions. Rather than a summary of presentations, which are already provided by the organisers, I beg your attention to the following. The Director-General of UNESCO, Madame Irina Bokova, has consistently emphasised the critical role of a culture in peace and sustainable development. She says that it ‘is a source of identity and dignity for local communities, a wellspring of knowledge and strength to be shared’. The safeguarding of intangible heritage is critical to the viability and sustainability of this ‘source of identity and dignity’. Safeguarding is a process that informs intercultural, intergenerational, interagency, and interdisciplinary dialogue.

Across the East African region, intangible cultural heritage is situated and ICHoriented NGOs evolve in a challenging environment, where the promotion and preservation of the region’s diverse and rich intangible heritage is considered a low priority, and generally unhelpful for meeting these countries’ considerable development challenges. As a result of the negative connotations given to culture—due to a variety of\nfactors, both historical, religious and social—and, therefore, to the very limited resources that are made available for its preservation in all its forms, few NGOs are active in this field, and their activities are both fragmented and poorly resourced. Nevertheless their numbers are increasing, their range of activities is widening, and coordination mechanisms (including with their respective governments) are emerging. This gives hope for a future where NGOs active in the ICH field will be in a better position to make the important contribution that is sought of them.

The Quebec Council for Intangible Heritage (Conseil québécois du patrimoine vivant, CQPV) has undertaken the task of measuring ICH in the corollary Canadian province. The CQPV created and collected data from various sources in order to analyse the main ICH actors and their socio-economic environment and published a 104-page report, including recommendations for public authorities. The aim of the initiative is to better administrate ICH and enhance the support provided towards it. It can be an interesting alternative or complement to national ICH inventories.

Timor-Leste is the newest nation in the Asia Pacific region, following restoration of its independence in 2002. Timor-Leste is part of the Lesser Sunda Islands, which is situated between Australia and Indonesia with an area of approximately 14,874 square km and coastline of 706km(USAID 2015). It is home to 1.18 million people, among which 70% lives in rural areas and depends on subsistence agriculture or fisheries for livelihoods (UNDP, 2016). \n

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.

The Foundation for the Protection of Natural and Cultural Heritage is a UNESCO-accredited NGO located in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. It was established in 2000 with the objectives of protecting and safeguarding various natural and cultural heritage elements, including intangible heritage values, and carrying out various activities for researching, studying, and promoting natural and cultural heritage properties and ICH values.