TEHRAN – Iran is playing host to a regional conference that explores West and Central Asia’s intangible heritage protection in the face of climate change.

Attendees from Iran, Armenia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkey, as well as guests from Japan and Indonesia, met in the three-day event, which is currently underway in the ancient city of Isfahan.

Moreover, the conference is set to investigate roles played by non-governmental activists in protecting intangible cultural heritage while reviewing strategies to enhance its resilience against the impacts of climate change in the cited region.

Currently, Iran chairs UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage for the Asia-Pacific Group.

According to Ali Darabi, the deputy tourism minister, the Islamic Republic, firmly adheres to the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the most active countries in the world in the implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage,” Darabi noted in an address to the 5th Ordinary Governing Council Meeting of the Regional Research Center for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage in West and Central Asia.

Darabi said that tangible cultural heritage is born from the intangible heritage of nations as it bears secrets of human-oriented coexistence throughout history… “In fact, intangible cultural heritage is the soul of a nation’s culture.”

“Although intangible cultural heritage has been popularized in international literature over the last two decades, in West Asia and consequently in Islamic Iran, this concept has been of interest for centuries,” Darabi said, adding that Iran is proud of promoting symbols and manifestations of rich intangible cultural heritage.

Iran has secured a vibrant range of its cultural heritage from traditional skills in building and sailing Iranian Lenj boats in the Persian Gulf to Radif Iranian music and from pilgrimages to St. Thaddeus Monastery to the art of the miniature, on the UNESCO list named the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

As mentioned by Darabi, Iran enjoys 21 UNESCO-registered elements of intangible cultural heritage, of which nine are shared with other countries in the region.

The Convention for the Protection of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, adopted by the UNESCO General Conference on October 17, 2003, applies at both national and international levels.

AFM