Knowledge lives on.

Kente weaving at Afrochella Festival, Ghana, 2021.Photo: Fquasie · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Heritage record

Living heritage

Exploring Indigenous knowledge, ancient heritage and traditional craft through the people, places and materials that sustain them.

A global context for Indigenous Peoples

Published estimates and programmes · linked to their sources

476 million

Estimated Indigenous people worldwide

United Nations ↗

90 countries

Where Indigenous Peoples live, according to the UN

United Nations ↗

5,000+

Distinct Indigenous groups in FAO’s global overview

FAO overview ↗

2022–2032

International Decade of Indigenous Languages

UNESCO programme ↗

Our living world

Kente

Ghana
Akan & Ewe textile traditions

Ghanaian kente weavers use horizontal looms to make strips of silk, cotton or rayon. Colours and designs carry social meaning; finished cloths can take their names from proverbs, sayings and shared histories.

2024UNESCO inscription ↗3 fibresSilk · cotton · rayon ↗

heritage record

UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage · 2024
Kente weaving at Afrochella Festival, Ghana, 2021.
Photo: Fquasie · CC BY-SA 4.0

Data & source notes

UNESCO heritage record ↗
Practice, materials, meanings, transmission and 2024 inscription.

Ghana community inventory · PDF ↗
Identifies the Akan and Ewe communities and production locations.

01 / 03

People & practice

Knowledge is made together.

The annual renewal of Q’eswachaka brings four Quechua-speaking communities together. Families pass on rope-making and bridge-weaving skills through shared work.

read the heritage record

Explore the people

Quechua rope makers demonstrating Q’eswachaka bridge craft at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Washington, DC, 2015.
Photo: Jarek Tuszyński · CC BY 4.0

Landscapes shaped by knowledge.

In the Philippine Cordilleras, Ifugao communities maintain rice terraces through irrigation, forest-water knowledge and shared work. The landscape brings food production, water management and cultural life together.

Five terrace clusters form the UNESCO World Heritage property. Their care shows the connection between a place, its material systems and the knowledge of its people.

explore the knowledge

UNESCO World Heritage · five clusters · inscribed 1995
UNESCO: traditional knowledge and climate resilience

The village of Batad sits within steep green and water-filled Ifugao rice terraces in the Philippines. — Batad rice terraces and village, one of the five inscribed clusters.
Photo: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas · CC BY-SA 4.0

From the heritage records

Wood as structure, memory and craft.

Zafimaniry knowledge connects the selection of local wood with houses, furniture and carved objects. UNESCO’s record describes a tradition sustained through practical skill across generations.

read the record

MADAGASCAR · UNESCO ICH · 2008

A child rests at the opening of a wooden window in a Zafimaniry house in Madagascar. — A child at a wooden window in the Zafimaniry region, Madagascar, 2011.
Photo: krishna naudin · CC BY-SA 2.0

Terraced ochre adobe dwellings with blue doors at Taos Pueblo, with mountains and a bright blue sky behind them.

A living community keeps adobe architecture in use. ↗

UNITED STATES · WORLD HERITAGE · 1992

Photo: John Mackenzie Burke · CC BY-SA 4.0

A woman artisan in blue clothing sits among patterned cloth and batik workshop tools in Yogyakarta.

Wax, colour and pattern in Indonesian batik. ↗

INDONESIA · UNESCO ICH · 2009

Photo: Danangfirmanto · CC BY-SA 4.0

A finely woven Samoan pandanus mat with long fringe and red decorative accents, photographed at an Apia market.

Fine pandanus weaving and the bonds of ceremonial exchange. ↗

SAMOA · UNESCO ICH · 2019

Photo: Sarah Kelemen · CC BY 2.0

explore the six targets

The Q’eswachaka grass-rope suspension bridge crosses the Apurímac River between rocky banks in Peru.

Documentary focus · Peru

A bridge renewed.
A bond reaffirmed.

Q’eswachaka brings together grass-rope engineering, ritual and collective work.

Watch the UNESCO documentary
Opens on UNESCO’s video page ↗

The grass-rope Q’eswachaka bridge across the Apurímac River, Peru.
Photo: Aga Khan (IT) · CC BY-SA 4.0

View source notes

The heritage record describes an annual renewal by the Quechua-speaking communities of Huinchiri, Chaupibanda, Choccayhua and Ccollana Quehue. Families twist plant fibres into ropes; craftspeople weave the structure between stone anchorages.

UNESCO inscription: 2013.
Four participating communities; the bridge is renewed each year.
The linked UNESCO film is credited to Peru’s Ministry of Culture, 2010. The still photograph above is a separately credited Commons image.

UNESCO heritage record and practice data ↗ · UNESCO documentary and film credit ↗

Sources & evidence

Heritage registers

UNESCO · LIVING HERITAGEPractices, skills, craft and community transmission ↗UNESCO · WORLD HERITAGECultural landscapes, historic places and conservation ↗U.S. NATIONAL PARK SERVICEAdobe materials and architecture at Taos Pueblo ↗explore materials

Research & policy

FAO & PARTNERS · 2021Indigenous Peoples’ food systems: sustainability and resilience ↗WHO · 2025–2034Global Traditional Medicine Strategy: evidence and safe practice ↗UNESCO · 2022–2032Preserving and revitalizing Indigenous languages ↗all source links

Living through generations

Skills are shared.
Cultures keep evolving.

Living heritage is sustained through practice, teaching and adaptation. The craft of a weaver, a builder’s material knowledge and the work of a community carry culture into everyday life.

explore people

UNESCO: understanding living heritage ↗

Photographs change between documented practices.
Individual creators, licences and source records →

Materials with meaning

Objects reveal the connection between a local resource, a skilled process and the culture that gives it purpose.

Quechua craftspeople in traditional clothing braid grass ropes at the 2015 Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, DC.

QUECHUA COMMUNITIES · PERU

Grass to rope

Plant fibres are twisted and braided into the ropes used to renew Q’eswachaka.

Practice and material source ↗

Photo: Jarek Tuszyński · CC BY 4.0

A glass jar of pale yellow Chios mastic resin with loose resin pieces beside it.

MASTIC VILLAGES · CHIOS, GREECE

Resin to heritage

Cultivation and processing of mastic resin connect tree knowledge with a shared craft tradition.

Practice and material source ↗

Photo: Raimond Spekking · CC BY-SA 4.0

TAOS PUEBLO · UNITED STATES

Earth to home

Sun-dried earth bricks and adobe plaster form dwellings cared for by the community.

Practice and material source ↗

Photo: John Mackenzie Burke · CC BY-SA 4.0

BATIK COMMUNITIES · INDONESIA

Wax to pattern

Wax protects selected areas of cloth during dyeing, allowing motifs and colours to emerge.

Practice and material source ↗

Photo: Danangfirmanto · CC BY-SA 4.0

People row an Oselvar wooden boat on calm water near Osøyro, Norway, with snowy hills behind them.

NORDIC MARITIME COMMUNITIES

Timber to boat

Overlapping wooden planks form the hulls of traditional clinker-built boats.

Practice and material source ↗

Photo: Kjell Magnus Økland · CC BY-SA 4.0

SAMOAN WEAVING COMMUNITIES

Pandanus to gift

Fine leaf strips become mats whose ceremonial exchange reaffirms relationships.

Practice and material source ↗

Photo: Sarah Kelemen · CC BY 2.0

One world. Many traditions.

Explore 18 documented examples across six continents. The collection includes Indigenous Peoples and other traditional communities; each record identifies its own people, place and heritage status.

Heritage & culture

People, knowledge & development

Research & public institutions

Photograph credits · 23 real photographs

Photographs are reproduced from the linked Wikimedia Commons files under their stated licences. Images are resized to WebP; display crops are used in page blocks. The photograph viewer shows complete frames. Each image retains its individual licence.

Kente weavingKente weaving at Afrochella Festival, Ghana, 2021.
Fquasie · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

Great ZimbabweThe Great Enclosure and surrounding ruins at Great Zimbabwe.
Janice Bell · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

Zafimaniry wood knowledgeA child at a wooden window in the Zafimaniry region, Madagascar, 2011.
krishna naudin · CC BY-SA 2.0
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

Living-root bridgesA living-root bridge near Mawlynnong, Meghalaya, India.
Chaduvari · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

Ifugao rice terracesBatad rice terraces and village, one of the five inscribed clusters.
CEphoto, Uwe Aranas · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

Indonesian batikA batik artisan among textiles and workshop tools at the Yogyakarta palace, Indonesia, 2019.
Danangfirmanto · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

Q’eswachakaThe grass-rope Q’eswachaka bridge across the Apurímac River, Peru.
Aga Khan (IT) · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

Kallawaya knowledgeA Kallawaya ceremony at Yumani, Isla del Sol, Bolivia.
Montserrat Boix · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

Taquile textile artTextile objects photographed on Taquile Island, Peru, 2023.
Draceane · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

VoladoresVoladores de Papantla during a rope descent.
Yaomautzin Ohtokani Olvera Lara · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

Haida · SGang GwaayCarved poles at SGang Gwaay Llnagaay, Haida Gwaii, Canada.
Yvrsigmatech · Public domain
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

Taos Pueblo adobe architectureMulti-level adobe dwellings at Taos Pueblo, New Mexico, United States, 2017.
John Mackenzie Burke · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

Canto a tenoreTenores di Bitti “Mialinu Pira”, a Sardinian vocal quartet.
Sardegnabella · CC BY-SA 3.0
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

Chios masticA jar and loose pieces of Chios mastic resin.
Raimond Spekking · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

Nordic clinker boat traditionsAn Oselvar wooden boat near Osøyro, Norway, 2010.
Kjell Magnus Økland · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

Budj BimLake Surprise, Budj Bim–Mt Eccles National Park, Victoria, Australia.
Dhx1 · CC0
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

Vanuatu sand drawingA photographed sand drawing from Vanuatu.
PhillipC · CC BY 2.0
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

‘Ie Samoa fine matsA Samoan fine mat, known as an ‘ie toga, photographed at a market in Apia, Samoa, 2009.
Sarah Kelemen · CC BY 2.0
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

Quechua rope makersQuechua rope makers demonstrating Q’eswachaka bridge craft at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Washington, DC, 2015.
Jarek Tuszyński · CC BY 4.0
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

Kallawaya textile makingA Kallawaya woman weaving on a loom; a research photograph of women from Muñecas Province living in El Alto.
Noemi Gonzales C. · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

Mastic trees on ChiosYoung mastic trees photographed on Chios, Greece.
Palden Dorenský · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

Zafimaniry community lifeA Zafimaniry woman in Ifasina, Madagascar.
Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

A knitter on TaquileA man knitting on Taquile Island, Peru, 2006.
Thomas Quine · CC BY 2.0
Photograph source · Original image · Related heritage record

Knowledge lives on.

Living heritage

A global context for Indigenous Peoples

Kente

Great Zimbabwe

Zafimaniry

Living-root bridges

Ifugao rice terraces

Batik

Q’eswachaka

Kallawaya knowledge

Taquile

The Voladores

SGang Gwaay

Taos Pueblo

Canto a tenore

Chios mastic

Clinker boats

Budj Bim

Vanuatu sand drawing

‘Ie Samoa

Knowledge is made together.

Skill belongs to everyday life.

Heritage takes many forms.

Landscapes shaped by knowledge.

Engineering with living materials.

A drawing can carry a world.

From the heritage records

Wood as structure, memory and craft.

A living community keeps adobe architecture in use. ↗

Wax, colour and pattern in Indonesian batik. ↗

Fine pandanus weaving and the bonds of ceremonial exchange. ↗

A bridge renewed.A bond reaffirmed.

Sources & evidence

Heritage registers

Research & policy

Living through generations

Skills are shared.Cultures keep evolving.

Materials with meaning

Grass to rope

Resin to heritage

Earth to home

Wax to pattern

Timber to boat

Pandanus to gift

One world. Many traditions.

Africa

Asia

South America

North America

Europe

Oceania

Follow the evidence.

Heritage & culture

People, knowledge & development

Research & public institutions

A bridge renewed.
A bond reaffirmed.

Skills are shared.
Cultures keep evolving.