>> time for a quick check of the headlines on al jazeera. china has stepped up security in shanghai following days of rare protest against president xi's zero covid policies. nine people have been killed by al-shabaab fighters during an attack on the hotel in somalia's capital mogadishu. somali forces say they rescued 60 people when they ended the siege. an iranian general has acknowledged that more than 300 people have been killed in

protests across the country. is the first official word on casualties in two months. iran says it will not cooperate with you in fact-finding mission into alleged human rights violations during a crackdown on protesters. it was parked by the death of a 22-year-old in police custody. >> i don't have the new statistics but maybe over 300 people have died or have been martyred so far. some were among the best young people in the society. why, because we found the enemy. >> turkiye's president said he will create a security corridor along the southern border with syria. airstrikes in northern syria resumed over the weekend, killing at least five people. the elastic -- escalation comes week after bomb attack in istanbul.

the third round of talks on the piece protest in the democratic republic of congo have begun in the kenyan capital of nairobi. deriving president said he fully supports efforts to stem the violence. a rebel group widely believed to be backed by rwanda is not attending the meeting. the mauna loa volcano in hawaii is erecting for the first time in nearly four decades. lava flows are currently being contained in the basin at the top of the volcano would've conditions change, the eruption could prove i threat to nearby residents. mono low is the world's biggest active volcano and takes up more than half of hawaii's big island. those are the headlines. the news continues after inside story. thanks for watching. goodbye for now.

♪ >> how can culture be best reserved? the united nations is holding meetings to discuss how to preserve ancient cultures from around the world. from falconry to zambian dance and truffle hunting, traditions are being considered for inclusion on the intangible cultural heritage list. so how could it insure such practices survive for generations to come? this is "inside story." ♪ >> hello and welcome to the program. i'm adrian finighan. unesco is meeting in morocco to

consider 56 nomination for inclusion on a list of what he calls intangible cultural heritage. the yuan agency aims to both protect and promote cultural practices to prevent them being lost to history. the list includes entries like falconry, the art of training and flying falcons practiced in two dozen countries around the world. or the collection of traditional dances, these shirts looking for financial support to help preserve them. food is also on the list. gastronomy in singapore, a major collection of muted dining and culinary activities and multicultural urban areas. or dance, and art that fuses indigenous music with contra -- complex dances. zambia maintains a tradition that is typical of what you wants to highlight.

the dance team is among many nominees that have been shortlisted. >> i am the director of the dance team. we are here where we do our activities from. the significance of the dance is a celebratory dance. we have teams dance among a number of people. it is common among these people. at the end of the week, all of the teams gather, celebrate, and have fun.

the dance fits our social center. for instance, you see people bringing the fish, scaling the fish and cooking the fish. another dance will depict people harvesting cassava and turning it to cassava paste. we're very happy that unesco has come on board to report on our culture. i think in this way none of our cultural activities and traditions will disappear. ♪ adrian: let's bring in our guest for today's discussion from paris, were joined by juliet hopkins with unesco's living

heritage cultural center. and a writer and cultural activists. also in paris, karen archer, deputy director of the french heritage society. welcome to you all. juliet, let's start with you. what exactly constitutes an intangible cultural heritage? why's it so important to protect them, and how do you go about doing so? juliet: think of for having me today. it's a pleasure to be here. intangible cultural heritage is different to tangible heritage and a number of important ways. of course on the one hand dealing with physical sites and object, and on the other hand we are talking about cultural practices passed on from generation to generation that form part of our cultural traditions. the second important difference is the approach to safeguarding itself and how to safeguard it.

it's not fixed in the past, it's very much alive in our communities. what is important is the idea of intergenerational transmission. it has a continued social function and cultural meaning for communities. something would like to say everyone has, it is relative to everyday life, he checks our identity, how we understand ourselves and each other and how we understand the world around us more generally. it's the dead -- dynamic nature of cultural heritage that is really important to remember. it's extremely important terms of how each generation adapts her own cultural heritage to respond to the evolving needs and reality that they have. so how do we go about safeguarding it, which is the second part of the question. the 2003 convention is an international instrument which is aiming at safeguarding this

heritage. it is celebrating its 20th anniversary next year. his purpose is to safeguard this heritage, raise awareness about it, and show respect for and provide international cooperation between state stored at safeguarding. i wanted to underline this aspect about promoting respect for the diversity of intangible heritage. in that waits about learning spec for other people's ways of life for each other and all of our similarities and differences. adrian: tell us about your work concerning the protection of intangible cultural heritage in nigeria and what you see as the main threats to this heritage there. >> yes, i'm very happy to be here, thank you to everyone. yes, i worked as a journalist

and editor, i've done curatorial work in places like a unesco world heritage site and i've also visited other places. the threat especially increasingly has to do with leadership and a lot of policy gaps which don't pertain to these places. in the southwest part of nigeria, for instance, it is crucial to the community, to the history of the people, to the founding of the town, and it's the center for the world festival which takes place in early august every year. now that places actually threatened in terms of the environment by what is rampant

in towns along the route of the river because at its heart is the river which is also tied to the beliefs of the people, to the history and all of that. and all the way in the diaspora, people in brazil, cuba, parts of the united states, for instance, come to this place as a commemoration of identity and belonging and ancestral ties. because of the gold-mining, the water is being polluted. this -- this is water that adherents of the goddess believe has healing powers. it's like an herbal mixture for them. when it's polluted with all of these metals, the color, the

characterization, everything changes. so that is a real threat. so there is the need definitely to continue to save places like that. last year, for instance, visited historical site here nigeria, which is in danger of being destroyed. it's from these artifacts that you actually understand the traditions of the people, the songs, the stories, the beliefs of the people and how that ties in with previous generations, even to challenges that we are facing today, definitely. adrian: karen archer, tell us about the work of your society and protecting the cultural

heritage, the intangible cultural heritage of france. karen: thank you, i'm very pleased to be with you today as well. we deal both in tangible and intangible. we raise funds to protect historic monuments for their restoration and preservation and historical parks as well. touching back on what the previous speaker said, there's also an intangible quality because there's a translation. you can consider perhaps bricks and stones as the framework, it's a testimony of past civilizations, of craftsmen and artisans who come before us, but there's also kind of a leering -- living heritage, not only to restored but to give a vocation to these monuments so they are living and open to the public, and also the question of parks and gardens is very important now as well.

it also has a role to play in sustainable development, biodiversity, and with the restoration in carrying on traditional crafts, living heritage, and the skills that are transmitted from generation to generation. adrian: juliet, one quick question, i want to come back to pinning down what constitutes an intangible cultural heritage. what about dying languages and religions? are they eligible for protection, and what happens in the case of controversial practices? are they still considered for inclusion? juliet: the question on languages and religions, this was discussed a lot in the beginning of the convention in the drafting of the text itself. with regard to languages, it's

not a language itself that is defined as intangible cultural heritage in the convention under article two, but it is how it is related to these oral expressions of these practices. it is a way that it can be transmitted generation to generation. in terms of religions, there are many aspects of intangible cultural heritage that are related to organized religions. they might be particular social practices or rituals which come from religious traditions and origins. but an organized religion itself does not fall under the convention definition of intangible cultural heritage. in terms of when it comes to more controversial elements are inscriptions, if we refer back to our culture, is say since all

must be in line with international human rights instruments. so any practice or tradition which might not be aligned or might conflict with such international instruments does not fall under the definition of intangible cultural heritage in the 2003 convention. adrian: juliet, what does it mean then for a community when a practice is given unesco intangible cultural heritage status, and does that state's a role to play in ringing disparate communities together? juliet: that's a very good question. just to go back to the list of the conventions, how it is recognized as intangible cultural heritage, we have two lists, there is a representative list of intangible cultural heritage and this is made up of

elements of intangible cultural heritage that demonstrate the diversity of the heritage and help raise awareness of its importance, and the second one is the urgent safeguarding list that is about intangible cultural heritage that is identified as being particularly at risk. the purpose is to mobilize international awareness around the element in danger encourage states to introduce specific actions and plans to introduce these risk. these might be in designing education programs around the element and creating particular policy environments to help those elements arrived. for the community themselves, inscription on one of these this can bring a lot of awareness to their intangible cultural heritage. it brings greater recognition, it can help boost international recognition around this element and provide the frameworks for

introducing and safeguarding plans of actions. we should also remember that these lists are not an end in themselves. it's really the start or launchpad a further safeguarding actions between states and communities for future generations. adrian: one of the things that interest me about the list we're talking about here is the shift there has been toward more environmental concerns recently. he talked about the pollution coming from these illegal mines. how much of your work directly concerns the environment? have you noticed the shift toward protecting the environment when considering intangible cultural heritage? >> indeed. i loved the phrase used by the speaker in paris, and the one i mention for instance is a place where it is inherited through

the songs, through the practices and all the people in so many people and communities come into this place and just keep it alive every day. it is threatened by the environment and by the nonchalance of persons in authority who don't basically take it seriously, these threats to these places. so for that, there is environmental pollution, and also not just in threats to the site evidently but also to the water which the people bathed in and drink and all of that, the holy water, so to speak. and this river actually flows through up to 20, 30 different towns and communities. so it is a threat to a lot of people and to their relationship to history as represented by the

site. some increasingly environment is a concern and there is the need internationally to have basically a cohesive message about what national government should be doing to complement the efforts of an organization such as unesco for instance and also for activists on the ground. and as i mentioned, the whole industry, heritage trees being felled in places where people and songs and beliefs and all of that have thrived, and where not just actors and activists, but also archaeologists are trying to piece together the history of the people. and the importance of intangible heritage is, last year i was in

the republic of benuin which isa neighboring country of nigeria to observe a masked play, it is recognized as an authentic heritage by unesco and it includes the accurate performance which when you see it in action, you realize that this is a theatrical tradition which does not stem from the western tradition, it is of the people. you see community cohesion and the modes of expression in the way people see themselves. i had to go from nigeria to go and see it. because we do not have that kind of protection for -- in nigeria for instance, it is preserved in

a more potent form, and have to go there to go in see it. but we have more protection, then we can have these intangible heritage we really impactful in lives and communities. adrian: karen, yes, it is wonderful to be able to protect this cultural heritage, and it is the right thing to do, but how much does it cost, and who pays? there in france, the country seems particularly passionate about certain aspects of its cultural heritage. do you have any problem finding donors, or you more fortunate in france there and --? ? then other parts of the world karen: traditionally france has been a centralized country in terms of culture and historic monuments and that, but that is

changing and they are following more along the anglo-saxon model now, typically with incentives like in the united states for private donors. there is still quite an important amount of state aid but there's a mixture private donors, foundations, of companies that are interested in heritage as well. we were founded to help excite american donors to give to france to maintain these -- it's cultural heritage. in the united states, the model of giving and tax deductibility is very much the norm. i think that is being practiced much more in france as well, in a way because it is so expensive, so the government has to find other ways to try to incentivize private donors and

even individuals as well with things like crowdfunding, where everyone can feel that they have a stake in preserving their heritage. they can be invested in the monuments they choose to support, is not just for the elite and is not removed from their everyday lives. adrian: juliet, what are the main threats to intangible cultural heritage, and to what extent does the protection of it rely on international collaboration? juliet: thanks for the question. in terms of the main threats to intangible cultural heritage, we see a lot of issues around younger generations perhaps losing interest in their heritage or issues around migration, as was mentioned before, there might be threats relating to issues around changes to the environment, biodiversity loss, for instance

or might be a particular material from the environment that may be needed in a practice and is not available anymore. that's not to say that the heritage will disappear because we also have to recognize its adaptive capacity. its ability of communities to adapt their practices to the changing environment, they might replace that material with another material. international cooperation can play a very important role in raising awareness of those threats. and kind of gathering international support around them to take action in terms of developing specifics and plans to address those threats. adrian: juliet, i can understand the need to protect inherited cultural traditions, but one is unesco considered important to protect contemporary practice as well?

juliet: contemporary practices, when i mentioned living heritage still has -- these practices are passed down from generation to generation, but that's not to say they are stuck in the past or frozen in the past, and communities can still adapt those to the changing needs are situations so that it continues to have relevance in their lives. that's a very important kind of notion in the convention and it is perhaps different to these courses around protection and preservation of heritage, because we understand heritage is not frozen in time, but it continues to evolve through generations. so it can contribute to some of these contemporary issues and can be innovative in providing newer solutions should some of these challenges around

biodiversity laws and things like that. adrian: it has been a fascinating discussion but i'm afraid it must end. thank you all for being with us. and thank you for watching. don't forget you can see the program anytime just by visiting the website at al jazeera.com. and join us on our facebook page . and you can join the conversation on twitter. for the team here in doha, thanks for watching. we will see you again. bye for now. ñl o■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ