Well, not just yet, but steps are being taken to attempt so. A coalition of conservationists, spanning nine conservation organizations, has appealed to the British public to urge Prime Minister Gordon Brown to make the Chagos Archipelago a full no-take marine reserve, which would make it the largest protected marine area on Earth. The Chagos [...]
Well, not just yet, but steps are being taken to attempt so. A coalition of conservationists, spanning nine conservation organizations, has appealed to the British public to urge Prime Minister Gordon Brown to make the Chagos Archipelago a full no-take marine reserve, which would make it the largest protected marine area on Earth.
The Chagos Archipelago is a community of 55 tropical islands over half a million square kilometers of the British Indian Ocean Territory. Captured from France in 1814, this mass of marine biodiversity has been amazingly untouched by intensive human involvement, as the Chagos have been unoccupied since the late 1960s, save for military and civilian contractor personnel. The island of Diego Garcia, shown above, is currently only inhabited by a joint British-American military base. As a result of the lack on human industry over the majority of the archipelago, the surrounding coral reefs are in amazing pristine condition. The Chagos supports the world’s largest coral atoll, home to an approximated 220 coral species, and over 1,000 fish species. With no pollutants, or other significant industrial involvement, the reefs have proven to be resiliently ”immune” to the perils that other worldwide reefs have been afflicted with. However, concern is still present. The Chagos Conservation Trust indicates both legal, and illegal fishing, have taken its toll, and have demonstrated a decrease in shark, sea cucumber, and turtle populations. As such, the coalition, known as the Chagos Environment Network (CEN), has urged the British government, as well as the British public, to push for proactive and immediate intervention. The CEN promoted a public consultation [PDF] launched by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in late 2009. If approved by the British government, it would make the 554,000 square kilometers of reef the largest protected marine area on earth.
No brainer, right? Protecting the environment = good, corruption of the environment = bad!! Well, not so fast, yet again. There is a very volatile political and humanitarian issue right in the center of this environmental debate. Between 1967 and 1971, an estimated 2,000 native Chagossians were “displaced” from their native islands, in order to make way for the Diego Garcia military complex. They were exiled to Mauritius and the Seychelles, more than 1,000 miles away, where most have lived in a degree of poverty since. A long standing legal battle, over the rights and ability for these islanders to return to their native home has thrown an enormous wrench into the gears. While this debate and court battles continues, and is expected to conclude later this year, it leaves the possibility of protecting this marine wonderland up in the air.
photo cc [serendigity]
