- 屋久島面積約 500 平方公里，距離鹿兒島最南端約 60 公里，其中約 20% 被列入世界遺產範圍。在登錄地區，亞熱帶到亞寒帶地區的植物垂直分布，豐富的森林植被覆蓋，並且可以看到日本森林原生種繩文杉。此外，多種野生動物生活在該地區，各種生態系也得以保存 Located in the interior of Yaku Island, at the meeting-point of the palaearctic and oriental biotic regions, Yakushima exhibits a rich flora, with some 1,900 species and subspecies, including ancient specimens of the sugi (Japanese cedar). It also contains a remnant of a warm-temperate ancient forest that is unique in this region.
- 1993 年，屋久島與白神山地一起被列入世界遺產名冊，是日本最早列入世界遺產的自然景觀，但並非整個島都屬於世界遺產範圍，而是中央的宮之浦岳和西邊的神木林區 (1,000 年以上) 共約 107.47 平方公里地區被列入世界遺產範圍。整個屋久島山脈都由豐富的森林植被覆蓋，而最主要的樹種為柳杉。在 1993 年列入世界遺產的神木－繩文杉最為著名。近年來由於宮崎駿的動畫「魔法公主」正是以屋久島取景，島上開始盛行觀光業。知名的景點包括有白谷雲水峽，千尋瀑布等；此外日本最南端的高濕地景觀，就在屋久島的小花之江河、花之江河上 It is the largest nesting ground for the endangered loggerhead sea turtle in the North Pacific. Yakushima’s unique remnant of warm/temperate ancient forest has been a natural World Heritage Site since 1993. In the Wilderness core area (12.19 square kilometres (3,010 acres)) of the World Heritage Site, no record of past tree cutting can be traced. In addition to this secondary forest, there are some remaining areas of primary forest, composed mainly of a variety of Cryptomeria japonica, or Japanese cedar, known as yakusugi (屋久杉), the best known single example of which is named the Jomon Sugi (縄文杉), as its age is estimated to date to at least the Jomon period of Japanese history, 2300 years ago.
參考文獻 References
- 『Yakushima』UNESO
- https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/662)
- 維基百科，自由的百科全書 – 屋久島