Extract

Cultural Heritage has three categories: tangible (movable and immovable) and intangible heritage. Intangible heritage is relatively new as international policy but has existed in national policy in some countries. The UNESCO convention of intangible cultural heritage was adopted in 2003. It corresponded to the increasing interest in cultural diversity. It is assumed that intangible cultural heritage is important for identity and cultural diversity, which guarantee sustainable development (Kono, 2009). However, the concept of intangible cultural heritage can be difficult to pin down and the definition of cultural heritage varies from country to country. The convention defines it as the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artifacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as a part of their cultural heritage. Therefore, how to elaborate inventories of intangible cultural heritage, and how to define communities who hold intangible cultural heritage are still unsolved questions. Moreover, it is difficult to apply intellectual property rights to intangible cultural heritage (Kono, 2009).