On 3 December 2025, IRCI held the second working group meeting as part of its Preliminary Research on Intangible Cultural Heritage and Ecosystems project. Dr Satoshi Ishikawa, Professor at Kyoto Prefectural University, was invited as a guest speaker and delivered a presentation titled ‘Sustainable Community Development and Area Capability’.

‘Area capability’ is a concept proposed by Dr Ishikawa that promotes sustainable local development by increasing the kinds of local resources and expanding the number of people who use and care for these resources. To achieve this, he emphasized, it is important to create a sustainable cycle for local resources, where community members take responsibility for caring for their own resources, share successful experiences, and foster collaboration among local communities, local government agencies, and academia. Discussions during the meeting focused on these points.

The meeting highlighted that similar challenges exist in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage (ICH), including the decline in local custodians and the decline of local communities themselves, and that the resource management based on area capability and ICH safeguarding share common goals and issues. The discussion extended to the role and potential of ICH as local heritage in revitalizing communities and ensuring the sustainability of natural environments, and provided valuable new perspectives to enrich IRCI’s upcoming project ‘Research on ICH Contributing to SDGs: Intangible Cultural Heritage and Ecosystems’ starting in April 2026.

The second working group meeting at IRCI on 3 December 2025