In the policy period 2021-2024, the Dutch Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage – together with the heritage communities themselves and various academic partners – will pay specific attention to the question of how intangible heritage can contribute to an ecologically sustainable future. The Center will make this heritage more visible, thereby supporting heritage practitioners and drawing attention to the opportunities offered by intangible heritage to policymakers. After all, much intangible heritage can be additionally supported by a specific policy and at the same time serve as an instrument for policy goals.
Relevant questions in this regard are: how is the human-nature relations and interconnectedness dealt with in the heritage? What significance do the knowledge and skills of non-human presences, in particular plants and animals, play and how do they form the intangible heritage together with people? What can we learn from that?
This article sets out the initial questions and the direction of this research area.