UNESCO, Peru Agree to Latin American Create Center for the Protection of Nonmaterial Cultural Heritage

UNESCO´s drector-general Koichiro Matsuura and Peruvian foreign minister Oscar Maurtua de Romaña signed last week an agreement that paves the way for the foundation of the Latin American Center for the Protection of Nonmaterial Cultural Heritage.

The center will be headquartered in Cusco, Peru, and stands for the first organization of its kind ever founded under the leadership of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

All regional states that sign up for the center´s membership will conduct joint actions aimed at safeguarding the rich cultural nonmaterial heritage of Latin America.

Nonmaterial cultural heritage is construed as those forms of popular expressions and oral traditions such as music, dancing, rituals and mythology. The concept also embraces everything related to nature, the environment, the universe and knowledge, as well as handicrafts and certain cultural spaces.

The center will set up a number of networks for information sharing and collaboration among experts and institutions. The entity will equally plan regional activities sponsored by UNESCO.