The Chagos archipelago is a part of the British Indian Ocean Territory and contains the world's largest atoll - the Great Chagos Bank. The Foreign Office is consulting on the idea of giving it protection and creating the world's largest protected marine area and this idea gets an enthusiastic mention in David Miliband's blog.
Now I would, until recently, have been pretty hazy about where the Chagos Archipelago is, why it's important, and what it's got to do with the UK, but I've got myself better informed. The archipelago was depopulated by the UK 40 years ago to allow the building of the US base at Diego Garcia and it's probably that lack of people which has helped keep the area so fantastically rich in wildlife all this time. It is the home to corals, seabirds, turtles and so much more.
Might this be what the UK government is lining up to be its big announcement in next year's International Year of Biodiversity? If it is, then it is a good start!
But there is a lot more to do! The UK Overseas Territories tend to fall through the cracks when it comes to nature conservation. Keen as we are to claim these territories as our own when it suits us, government departments are less keen to claim the responsibility for conserving the UK wildlife that lives on far-flung territories such as the Chagos, Henderson Island, Tristan da Cunha and Monserrat. All is not well with this wildlife and these territories hold large numbers of globally threatened species of birds which may go extinct on our watch without investment of money to save them. There are signs (here and when Hilary Benn recently announced an extra quarter of a million pounds expenditure) that the UK government is beginning to take its responsibilities a little more seriously, and perhaps the consultation on the Chagos is another example, but there is a long way to go before we can claim to be lookiing after the world's threatened species at home - which is what conservation on the UK Overseas territories means.
We fear this is an easy area for any government to cut when the finances get tough - had you heard of the Chagos archipelago? did you really care deeply about it? In order to send the right signal to decision makers please sign the RSPB's Letter to the Future - we want a future rich in nature.
A love of the natural world demonstrates that a person is a cultured inhabitant of planet Earth.
Well having looked at the legal case it sounds absolutely horrendous.Seems these poor people described by various politicians as something along the lines as poor tarzans a man fridays(how politically correct is that)were more or less chased off of their Islands to allow the yanks to have a base which I believe Blair(he of weapons of mass destruction in forty minute fame)agreed to the yanks more or less keeping the base forever so we(grovel grovel)get cheaper nuclear weapons.Seems to me that the Islanders have won cases to return to the Islands but have never managed to repopulate them,even being harassed and chased to get them off.Sadly I think that anyone who believes the governments of USA and GB are likely to act honorably are very naive and these poor Islanders Have been treated as badly as almost any group of people.Wherever are the human rights people although of course the USA seems totally exempt from doing anything except invading other countries.