About the Project
ICH in the Asia-Pacific Region
The Asia-Pacific Region is an extremely rich reservoir of unique and diverse cultures, creative forms and expressions. Such cultural diversity stems from the many communities and ethnic groups populating the region. These groups have been able to retain and develop their cultural identities through their particular history, innermost aspirations and deeply-rooted social values.
However, the cultural diversity within the Asia-Pacific region is facing a series of threat such as globalization, growing consumerism and mass tourism to name a few. These threats pose a danger to a number of ICH elements which are by nature fragile and mostly verbally transmitted. If urgent actions are not taken in a timely way, humanity will face the prospect of losing invaluable traditional knowledge and practices specific to that region.
