SDG Target 11.4 aims to achieve sustainable communities through ‘strengthening efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage’. IRCI’s previous project ‘Research on ICH Contributing to SDGs: Intangible Cultural Heritage for Sustainable Cities and Communities’, completed in FY 2024, advanced research on the integrated safeguarding of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, primarily focusing on World Heritage sites and cultural or historical landscapes in the Asia-Pacific region. However, the relationship between ICH and the natural environment, particularly in the context of World Natural Heritage sites, has not yet been thoroughly explored. This project aims to develop a better understanding of the relationship between ICH and the natural environment and to prepare a new project in the following years that will undertake research into methodologies for holistic safeguarding of various forms of community’s heritage, including natural environment.

 

In FY 2025, preliminary research is conducted through extensive literature reviews and the organization of seminars. These activities will help identify both domestic and international trends in related fields and deepen understanding of the significance of various ICH elements related to the environment, such as traditional ecological knowledge and practices. Information on ICH connected to environmental conservation, including World Natural Heritage, Biosphere Reserves, and Geoparks, will also be collected. In addition, project collaborators will be selected, and the necessary framework will be developed to implement full-scale case studies across the Asia-Pacific region starting in FY 2026.

 

The case studies will not only document and investigate the relationship between ICH and the environment and the roles ICH plays in environmental conservation and sustainability, but also aim to develop community-based methodologies for safeguarding and transmitting ICH that are closely linked to nature for enhancing the community’s sustainability. This project is expected to advance discussion on the holistic safeguarding of the community’s heritage, while also contributing to the sustainable use of natural resources and environmental protection, in alignment with SDGs 14 and 15, from the perspective of ICH.