‘Communities’ – whether local, regional, or transnational – can provide an essential force in the protection of our global underwater cultural heritage (UCH). As an issue of low political concern, with its protection vulnerable to externalities and compliance weaknesses, UCH forms an ideal test case for exploring governance solutions without reliance on the state. It is also an area where communities are increasingly integrated within governance models. This article examines the theoretical justification for reducing reliance on top-down laws to protect natural and cultural heritage, exploring Ostromian arguments for greater community self- and co-regulation. Using this theoretical framework, it highlights numerous advantages of community-oriented governance in the management of a complex global concern, such as UCH protection, and underscores the role and importance of the appropriate design of meta-regulation in steering communities towards wider public objectives. The article also identifies where communities or ‘networks’ have provided important additional protection for UCH, and discusses further policy mechanisms – such as community buy-in, incentivization, and self-regulation – which could help to facilitate community-led governance in the future.

中文翻译：

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在水下文化遗产的全球保护中利用地方和跨国社区

“社区”——无论是地方的、区域的还是跨国的——都可以为保护我们的全球水下文化遗产 (UCH) 提供必不可少的力量。作为一个政治关注度较低的问题，其保护易受外部性和合规性弱点的影响，UCH 形成了一个理想的测试案例，可以在不依赖国家的情况下探索治理解决方案。这也是社区越来越多地融入治理模式的领域。本文探讨了减少对自上而下的法律保护自然和文化遗产的依赖的理论依据，探讨了奥斯特罗姆关于更大的社区自我和共同监管的论点。使用这一理论框架，它强调了社区导向治理在管理复杂的全球问题（如水下文化遗产保护、并强调适当设计元监管在引导社区实现更广泛的公共目标方面的作用和重要性。本文还确定了社区或“网络”在哪些地方为水下文化遗产提供了重要的额外保护，并讨论了进一步的政策机制——例如社区支持、激励和自我监管——这可能有助于促进未来以社区为主导的治理.