Take stock of cultural resources, says director

By GRACE AUKA
INDIGENOUS people must take stock of their cultural resources, says National Cultural Commission (NCC) executive director Dr Jacob Simet.
Simet made this remark at a media briefing last week, referring to what was expected during a week-long workshop.
The intangible cultural heritage (ICH) workshop started this week in Goroka, Eastern Highlands.
It is funded by the sub-regional office in Samoa.
Titled “Community-based inventory making of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)’’ comes at a time when work has been done at international level to protect traditional knowledge.
“There is a general concern on the part of indigenous people to take ownership of their cultural resources,” Simet said.
Cultural resources include tangible and non-tangible cultures.
At a national level, the commission has been working on an instrument to protect the traditional knowledge in PNG, he said.
“It is now a bill before parliament.”
PNG also rectified the 2003 convention for the safe-guarding of intangible cultural heritage.
“Community participation is encouraged, especially local authorities when it comes to research,” Simet said.
He said awareness and proper consultation was done with local authorities when it came to research.
With PNG’s rich cultural diversity, the commission is focused on ensuring that this heritage is maintained properly.
The workshop is timely as NCC is embarking on a nationwide cultural mapping programme which will take stock of cultural resources in PNG for documentation.
The workshop in Goroka would bring community representatives, ICH custodians and cultural officers to learn good practice in community-based ICH inventory making.