The Challenges of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage

The Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage was adopted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2003.Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) encompasses living cultural processes and performances.ICH assets are organized into three lists, Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, a List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safekeeping, and Register of Good Safeguarding Practices, which comprises national projects demonstrating success in safeguarding ICH.Although the 2003 Convention has successfully spurred many of its member nations to record and implement activities for safeguarding ICH, UNESCO ICH's current framework and processes, which are broad in both scope and scale, are impeding this very mission.For UNESCO ICH to more efficiently and effectively achieve its goal of safeguarding global ICH, it may be better to narrow its scope and divert more responsibility to member nations.The aim of this paper is to overview the challenges of management of global ICH by UNESCO by examining the scope and process of UNESCO's ICH Lists.