A/HRC/30/53 cultural heritage should be understood as resources enabling the cultural identification and development processes of individuals and communities which they, implicitly or explicitly, wish to transmit to future generations (ibid., para. 6). Cultural heritage also includes traditional knowledge and cultural expressions. B. Indigenous peoples and cultural heritage 6. Indigenous peoples’ cultural heritage includes tangible and intangible manifestations of their ways of life, world views, achievements and creativity, and should be considered an expression of their self-determination and their spiritual and physical relationships with their lands, territories and resources. While the notion of heritage encompasses traditional practices in a broad sense, including language, art, music, dance, song, stories, sports and traditional games, sacred sites, and ancestral human remains, for indigenous peoples the preservation of heritage is deeply embedded and linked to the protection of traditional territories. Indigenous cultural heritage is a holistic and inter-generational concept based on common material and spiritual values influenced by the environment. 2 It also includes biocultural heritage and traditional food production systems such as rotational farming, pastoralism, artisanal fisheries and other forms of access to natural sources. 3 7. Taking into account the various understandings of culture and cultural heritage, the Expert Mechanism proposed the following: Indigenous peoples’ cultures include tangible and intangible manifestations of their ways of life, achievements and creativity, and are an expression of their selfdetermination and of their spiritual and physical relationships with their lands, territories and resources. Indigenous culture is a holistic concept based on common material and spiritual values and includes distinctive manifestations in language, spirituality, membership, arts, literature, traditional knowledge, customs, rituals, ceremonies, methods of production, festive events, music, sports and traditional games, behaviour, habits, tools, shelter, clothing, economic activities, morals, value systems, cosmovisions, laws, and activities such as hunting, fishing, trapping and gathering. (A/HRC/21/53, para. 52) 8. It is important to acknowledge that the traditional categorization of heritage as “tangible”, “intangible”, and “natural” demonstrates its limitations: tangible heritage carries out meanings, while intangible heritage is often embodied in specific objects. This categorization is particularly inappropriate in the case of indigenous peoples. It is important to adopt a holistic approach to cultural heritage and acknowledge that the rigid legal regime of protection for cultural heritage could be problematic for indigenous peoples. II. Review of the international legal framework on the rights of indigenous peoples with respect to their cultural heritage 9. Standards relating to the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples are dispersed in several international regimes, in particular in human rights instruments, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) instruments, intellectual property treaties and the international environmental law and policy regime. 2 3 4 See the submission from the Asia Indigenous Peoples’ Pact. See the submission from the International Indian Treaty Council.