In a statement, the multilateral organization said 72 of the 181 states parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Intangible Cultural Heritage had submitted candidacies for a forum to celebrate the 20th anniversary of that instrument.
The Committee, a body made up of 24 countries, will consider 45 applications for inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and six applications for inscription on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage requiring urgent protection measures.
Four registration files in the Registry of Good Safeguarding Practices are also evaluated.
According to UNESCO, two applications for international financial assistance submitted by Paraguay and Zimbabwe will also be considered at the meeting at the Cresta Mowana Resort in Kasane.
In its document, the organization recalled that intangible cultural heritage includes oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals and festive events, as well as knowledge, applications and techniques related to nature, the universe and crafts.
To date, 567 elements from 136 countries have been included in the intangible cultural heritage of humanity, while the list of elements requiring urgent protection measures includes 76.
The nominations include several from Latin America and the Caribbean, such as the practices and meanings in the preparation and consumption of ceviche in Peru, the Junkanoo parade in the Bahamas, and the Bolero: Identity, Emotion and Poetry Set to the Song of Cuba and Mexico were processed.
The candidates for the region complete the meeting of cultures in Potosí Ch’utillos in Bolivia and the traditional construction of wooden boats in Carriacou and Petite Martinique in Granada.
Regarding the Urgent Protection List, Paraguay proposes the ancestral and traditional techniques for making the Poncho Para’í from 60 lists from the city of Piribebuy.
The area dedicated to good practices has in turn received requests from Panama with a program of practices to protect the intangible cultural heritage for the Armila Sea Turtle Cultural and Ecological Festival and from Venezuela with a program to protect the bandos and parrandas of the Holy Innocents from Caucagua.