Yohor, a singing round dance of the Buryat ethnic group in Mongolia, the Buryat Republic of the Russian Federation, and the People’s Republic of China (Shineheen Buryats), is a complex synchronized expression of poetry, melody, and movement. Yohor is performed in the traditional manner with vocal singing and the modern way with playback music. Elders generally opt for the traditional way and have rich repertoire on Yohor songs. They say that the old way of singing is very important in the traditional way of dancing Yohor and that song can also affect the way of dancing.\nthe Yohor dance reflects a cultural uniqueness and a unity of Buryat people in three countries. Separated because of a long history and complicated political situations, Buryat people’s culture, tradition, and language changed. The Buryat language, an official dialect of Mongolian, has already been included in the category of severely endangered languages by the 2010 UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger. With this language loss, the number of elders who know the song narratives and old Yohor song repertoire are decreasing, and this brings the Yohor dance under the risk of disappearance as its complexity of song and movements but also of language. The annual and biennial cultural festivals, such as Altargana, Yohor, Night Yohor, and Global Yohor, show how Buryats have been trying to revive the traditional culture and art for long time. Even though, the collective memory and living experience of Buryat people is under the risk of disappearance due to rapid modernization and globalization with language loss.

Dr. Urtnasa Norov received his tertiary education at the State Pedagogical University in Moscow (1972-1977) and later graduated with a doctoral degree from the Academy of Social Science in Moscow (1984-1987). He served as Director General of the Culture and Art Department in the Ministry of Culture of Mongolia (1993-1997), served in the Department of External Cooperation (1997-2001), and held the title of Secretary General of the National Commission for UNESCO (2001-2011). His research fields include culture, cultural heritage, civilization, and so on. He is currently serving as President of the Mongolian National Committee for the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS).

The public foundation "CACSARC-kg" was created on the basis of the Central Asian Association for the Support of Crafts (CACSA) - one of the leading non-governmental organizations in the region with an open membership, working in the field of development of the handicraft sector, whose head office was in Bishkek from 2000 to 2008.\nAt its creation, CACSA consisted of several enthusiasts of the region's craft movement, and by 2009, over eight years, CACSA had created a regional network of 76 organizations (from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia) and implemented more than 50 projects in the field the development and support of crafts, where more than 5,000 artisans across the region have directly and indirectly benefited. During these eight years, CACSA has gained significant experience in the development of the artisan sector of the region, providing artisans with training, marketing and international promotion services.\nAt the end of 2008, the head office of CACSA, according to its Charter, moved to Almaty (Kazakhstan), and in March 2009 “CACSARC-kg” was registered as an independent public fund to continue activities in Kyrgyzstan for the development of crafts and traditional culture.

The Institute of Language and Literature (ILL) at the Mongolian Academy of Sciences is a scientific organization that manages academic researches on philology, literature, and folklore in Mongolia. The ILL was founded as the Institute of Sutra and Script in 1921. The name subsequently institute changed to the Cabinet of Philology in 1930, to the Centre for the Study of Philology and Literature in 1957, and finally to the Institute of Language and Literature in 1961 when the Mongolian Academy of Sciences was established. nSince 1962, the ILL at the Mongolian Academy of Sciences has been implementing fieldwork on folk heritage and local dialects one to three times per year. Sometimes folk tellers and singers have been invited to make audio and video recordings. As a result of these activities, the ILL has built a treasury of audio recordings and manuscripts of Mongolian cultural heritage. For instance, this treasury contains tales, heroic epics, long and short songs, and wise and metaphoric words. Also our researchers have recorded ethnic legends and stories about rituals and customs and festivals. About 1100 hours of audio recordings have been preserved in this fund. We are also preserving 451 units of handwritten books and manuscripts.

Mongolia’s Foundation for the Protection of Natural and Cultural Heritage works for not only the safeguarding of ICH but also the integration of the tangible and intangible cultural heritage ofnMongolia in the moment of modernization. Efforts for viability in such a changed environment are well dissolved here.

Arts Council of Mongolia (ACM), an arts and culture NGO, was established by Mongolian arts, civic, and business leaders in 2002 with the support of the Mongolian Foundation for an Open Society. Its mission is to support the sustainable development of Mongolian arts and culture and to preserve the cultural heritage of Mongolia. ACM runs four different program areas: Arts, Community Arts Education, Cultural Heritage, and a Development Program.