A Comparative Look at the List of ICH in Need of Urgent Safeguarding of UNESCO Examples of Mongolia, Uganda, China and Türkiye

Abstract

The "Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage",(ICH) adopted by UNESCO in 2003, has been one of the cultural conventions that has attracted the most international attention since the day it was signed by 183 State Parties, as of December 2024. "ICH Lists" created within the context of the Convention have become the visible face of the State Parties' efforts to safeguard cultural heritage elements in the international arena. The most popular list is the "Representative List of the ICH of Humanity (RL)". "List of ICH in Need of Urgent Safeguarding (NUS)" is the importance and necessity of which are frequently emphasized, and "Register of Good Safeguarding Practices (GSP)" are the ICH Lists. The list that best suits the logic of the Convention to safeguard and preserve a cultural heritage element as quickly as possible is the Urgent Safeguarding List. It is known that the Intergovernmental Committee, which is the decision-making body of the Convention, has given priority to the Urgent Safeguarding List and the Register of Good Practices, taking into account the number of elements registered in the lists of the State Parties, due to the density in the Representative List in recent years. In the evaluations made by the Committee in order for any element to be registered on the Urgent Safeguarding List, attention is paid to the viability of the element, the applicability of the protection plan and their adequacy. Additionally, whether there are tools to preserve this heritage; The contributions of traditional knowledge carriers, local governments, municipalities and NGO’s are taken into account. Also, it is seen that criteria such as the extent to which the transfer can be achieved or the extent of the risk of loss due to globalization and social-environmental transformation processes are also prioritized in the evaluation process. There are three heritage elements registered from Türkiye, in the Urgent Safeguarding List as of December 2024, namely Whistling Language, Traditional Ahlat Stone Workmanship and Traditional knowledge, methods and practices concerning olive cultivation. The three countries with the highest number of elements registered on the Urgent Safeguarding List are Mongolia, Uganda and China. Considering the Intergovernmental Committee's approaches to safeguarding and its decisions on evaluation criteria in implementation processes, it can be predicted that the elements on the Urgent Safeguarding List will increase in number as well as their importance and value. In this article, in addition to the three elements in Turkey's Urgent Safeguarding List, an example from the first three countries with the highest number of elements registered on the list is selected, also the importance and contributions of local governments in the safeguarding processes of these elements have been tried to be conveyed.