日本水下文化遺產保護機制淺析

The Exploratory Study on the Protection Mechanism of Underwater Cultural Heritage in Japan

聯合國教育、科學及文化組織於2001年通過《水下文化遺產保護公約》，2009年1月2日正式生效，揭櫫水下遺址以就地保存為最優先考量，不得進行商業開採，以及要強化國際合作、資訊共享及教育培訓等幾項重要原則。日本為我國之鄰近國家，臺灣附近海域為連結日本至南海及菲律賓海之必經要道，加上過去臺灣受日本殖民統治之歷史及文化因素，我周邊海域擁有為數不少之日本籍沉船，依公約之原則及精神，雙方未來應有許多合作之空間。日本雖未訂有水下文化遺產專法，惟其水下文化遺產之調查、發掘、管理、保存、展示等規範，特別是環境影響評估、就地保存及保護區管理等實務經驗，仍值得我國未來研擬水下文化遺產政策及管理機制之參考。

The UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage was adopted in 2001 by the Plenary Session of the 31st General Conference and entered into force on 2nd January 2009. This Convention consists of several main principles, such as in situ preservation as the first option, no commercial exploitation of a site, international cooperation, personnel training and information sharing. Since Taiwan was previously under Japanese colonial rule, and is situated on a nautical route from Japan to the South China Sea and the Philippine Sea, there are many sunken Japanese warships or wrecks in the waters surrounding Taiwan. Japan, is a neighboring country that has cultural and historical links with Taiwan, and as such there should be cooperation between both nations in the protection of underwater cultural heritage in the future. Although there is no specific underwater cultural heritage law in Japan, her regulations are still worthy of reference for the future development of underwater cultural heritage policies and management mechanisms in Taiwan, particularly in terms of the investigation, excavation, management, preservation and display of underwater cultural heritage, and more especially the practices of environmental impact assessment of cultural resources, in situ conservation and marine protected area management.