Kusunda is one of the former hunter-gatherers of western Nepal. Currently, no single person of the tribe is living in the jungle. Due to lack of marriageable population, Kusunda started marrying people from the villages and gradually settled in villages. nGyani Maiya Sen, 92, is one of the last speakers of the Kusunda language. She is also the last surviving member of the tribe who until nine years of age lived with her parents in the jungle. Currently, Gyani Maiya lives with her grandchildren in a house in Lamahi, Dang. She often teaches Kusunda among children and enthusiasts. Gyani Maiya fears that the Kusunda language will be lost along with her.

The flint gun, a true witness of the skill and expertise of Mongol craftsmen, wittedness and sharpness of Mongol hunters, is a primary form of the practice of firearms used through XVI-XIX centuries. Parts comprising the flint gun include flint, breechblock, main barrel, ramrod and the accessories include gunpowder, bullets, and the wooden bucket to contain the accessories. The mechanism of the flint gun is based on shooting with bullet through ignition of gunpowder caused by the spark emitted from the flint.

The Eagle Festival, one of Mongolia's most popular tourism events, has been held since 2000 with the aim of reviving the Kazakh eagle hunting tradition, passing it on to future generations, promoting it to domestic and foreign tourists, and turning it into a tourism product. The tradition of eagle hunting is believed to have originated among Central Asian nomads 6,000 years ago and has survived to the present day, with Mongolia being the best-preserved country. Therefore, in order to promote this rich heritage around the world and increase the flow of tourists, the “Eagle Festival” is held twice a year, in the spring on March 4-5 in Ulaanbaatar and in the fall in Bayan-Ulgii aimag in the first 7 weeks of October. The event begins in the form of a competition, in which eagles adorn themselves with national costumes, place domesticated eagles on their arms, ride horses trained to hunt eagles and join the parade. The best national costumes, horses and eagle equipment are selected. There are competitions to test the eagle's ability to hunt. The relationship between the eagle and the eagle hunter is determined by whether the eagle is obedient or not. In some years, live animals are caught and tested for eagle hunting.\n\n

Kusunda is one of the former hunter-gatherers of western Nepal. Currently, no single person of the tribe is living in the jungle. Due to a lack of marriageable population, Kusunda started marrying people from the villages and gradually settled in villages. nGyani Maiya Sen 92 is one of the last speakers of the Kusunda language. She is also the last surviving member of the tribe who until nine years of age lived with her parents in the jungle. Currently, Gyani Maiya lives with her grandchildren in a house in Lamahi, Dang. She often teaches Kusunda among children and enthusiasts. Gyani Maiya fears that the Kusunda language will be lost along with her.

Tales are an important genre of the oral prose literature of the Mongolians. Tales typically begin with the phrase “Once upon a time, in such-and-such a place, in such-and-such a country.” Mongolian tales are symbolic. The most frequent ending is “and they lived happily ever after.” The legends are a popular genre of oral prose literature. The real-life legends are always complementary expressions of historical events within folk literature. Historical facts are usually adorned with fanciful magic and metaphoric devices to later become historical legends. Among the restored and digitised data, the tales take up the most recording hours. Within the framework of the project, over two hundred hours of tales and almost fourteen hours of legends were restored and digitised.

Storytelling is an oral expression that recalls phenomenal events that occurred in society or human lives. The stories, which are expressed artistically, have a certain level of interest and are unique. The storyteller is an individual who has seen that special event or has heard of the events from other person who knows the event very well. Besides storytelling, this category includes materials of local dialects, folk talks of traditional rituals and customs, and the remembrances. The category of storytelling covers over fifty hours of recordings.

Benedictions\n\nMongolian well-wishing is a powerful expression of the miraculous capacity of words. It is one of the genres of Mongolian oral poetry that uses melodies. Briefly, benedictions (well-wishing) propitiate people’s future happiness and well-being through skilfully composed and recited poems. There are thousands of benedictions on various subjects. For instance there are benedictions recited while beating the sweat cloth of a saddle, while distilling milk vodka, while celebrating a birth, and while cutting an infant’s hair for the first time. Besides ancient benedictions, many contemporary benedictions are being kept at the ILL. These include benedictions for a new ger, weddings, a child’s first haircut, endowment practices, mare-milking ceremonies, foal-branding ceremonies, the People’s Revolution, and others for the military.

Folk Short Songs\n\nMongolian folk songs are divided in three different categories, such as long songs, short songs and the authors’ songs. Folk songs are shorter than other forms of expressions with average durations of one to five minutes, but there is a high volume of them. Thus, restoring, categorising, and digitising folk songs were the most time-consuming tasks compared to others. Within the framework of the project, just under forty-eight hours of songs were restored and digitised.

Sounds that Run in the Vast Grasslands of Mongolia_Oral Traditions and Performing Arts in Mongolia\n\nSince the early 1950s, the Institute of Language and Literature at the Academy of Science (ILL) has been sending survey teams one to three times a year to research and gather data on oral literature and local dialectics. These activities set the groundwork for officially establishing a new archive with written documents and magnetic audio tapes that could be used for research purposes and be maintained. Preserved on magnetic tapes are languages and dialects that have gone extinct, have lost their distinctiveness, or have been adsorbed into other languages or dialects.\n\nHowever, most of the magnetic tapes being kept at the ILL are more than sixty years old, and the expiration date on many tapes has already lapsed. Also, improper storage conditions have caused some tapes to dry out, cling to one another, or fracture. For these reason, it would be hard to transmit to the next generation. Accordingly, since 2008, efforts have been made towards restoring and digitizing superannuated magnetic tapes within the internal capability and capacity of the ILL. The lack of training, finance, and proper tools and technical equipment has, nevertheless, created several obstacles and the digitizing results have not been very successful.\n\nAt this crucial state, the ILL introduced a cooperative request to the Foundation for the Protection of Natural and Cultural Heritage (FPNCH), and the FPNCH proposed that ICHCAP continue the joint project and take measures for restoring and digitizing superannuated magnetic tapes and distributing and disseminating the data among the general public. According to the above decision, the FPNCH and ICHCAP implemented the Joint Cooperation Project of Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage by Using Information Technology from October 2011 to April 2012.\n\nAs the first stage of the project, the Expert Meeting for Safeguarding ICH by Using Information Technology was held in the Republic of Korea to exchange information with experts for digitizing and restoring the analogue data. The experts of Mongolian National Public Radio, the ILL, and the FPNCH started the project after sharing restoration and digitization knowledge with the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) of Korea, the National Archives of Korea, and the Korea Film Council.\n\nAs the main outcome of the project, a total of 715 hours of superannuated magnetic tapes including epics, folk tales, tales accompanied by the morin khuur, traditional arts, khuumei, chor, long and short folksongs, and traditional customs were restored, digitized, and categorized. Among them, 128 audio clips were selected and reproduced in a ten-CD collection called Sounds from the Mongolian Grasslands. The collection also includes a twenty-page handbook in English or Korean. Through this project, the general public’s, involved organizations’, and domestic and international experts’ awareness about Mongolian ICH increased, and the archive and music contents of regional ICH were strengthened.

This publication of the guide book on intangible cultural heritage of the Philippines is the precious result of the enthusiastic efforts made by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) to reconfirm and restore the national treasure of the long protected traditional culture, which have been alienated and marginalized during the colonial period of many centuries. This guide book has been edited to understand holistically the entire aspects of living heritage, the five domains defined by the Convention, and emphasize the importance of the communities practicing and transmitting them.

Based on the ICHCAP Field Survey on Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Efforts in some South-East Asian countries (2009-2012), this summary provides a brief overview on the ICH situation in Cambodia, Thailand, Viet Nam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos, and Myanmar . 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 South-East Asian countries. Each country has a different background on the issue of intangible heritage. \n\nFor instance, Indonesia is the only country participating in the field survey that has a programme in the Register of Best Practices. Viet Nam developed ICH-related definitions in its Law on Cultural Heritage; whereas the Philippines has a strong legislative background and solid network of public structures protecting cultural heritage. Cambodia recognises the link between cultural heritage and development of national economy and runs relevant activities on promoting traditional culture while maximizing its economic benefits to the country. For Laos, training local artists rather than researchers in ICH safeguarding, including IPR, is deemed to be essential, as the artists are the important resources that master their arts. Among the South-East Asian participants, Thailand and Myanmar are the newest to approach ICH safeguarding. Although all countries are concerned about the threats ICH faces, most countries participating in the survey haven’t defined ICH and haven’t established national ICH lists. Meanwhile, drawing up an inventory of traditional cultural expressions in different forms—register, cultural map, or database—is a common activity in these countries. Moreover, each country expresses a high degree of motivation and encouragement for safeguarding ICH, sharing experiences, and promoting international cooperation.\n\n- Ratified the ICH Convention in 2005; conducted survey in 2009 and updated in 2015.\n- As of March 2018, has 11 ICH elements on the RL, 1 element on the USL, and 2 accredited NGOs.\n