Don't know if anyone has heard about this. If you haven't then please allow me to bring it to your attention. The Chagos Islands have belonged to Britain since the 1814 Treaty of Paris and are constituted as the British Indian Ocean Territory. Protecting this area, by creating a conservation area comparable with the Galapagos or the Great Barrier Reef, would be a major contribution by the UK to global marine biodiversity conservation. The Chagos archipelago is a very special and rare place – a relatively unpolluted and undisturbed part of the Indian Ocean, with its islands, reefs and waters still teeming with life. And one click from you will help save it. Protect Chagos
Protecting the marine environment of the Chagos archipelago is very important, but let's not forget that the Chagos archipelago used to be home to over 1,000 indigenous people - the Chagossians - until they were illegally (and inhumanely) expelled from the islands in the 1960s and 1970s. The Chagossians now live in exile in Mauritius, the Seychelles and the UK - and have been campaigning for the right to return non-stop for the past 40 years. The Chagossians are committed to the conservation of the Chagos environment but, if a limited resettlement has any hope of succeeding, then the complete no-take fishing ban (which the Chagos Environment Network's petition at protectchagos.org calls for) would be disastrous to their cause. Leading conservationists like Dr David Bellamy have made it clear that environmental protection *can* go hand-in-hand with the Chagossians' right of resettlement. All that's required is the political will. So it's really, REALLY important that their cause is not forgotten - by politicians or the general public. Nobody is saying that the plan to protect Chagos is a bad thing; just that it should not come at the cost of harming the Chagossians. Their human rights must be provided for. I would urge people to respond to the FCO's consultation on an individual basis, or through any organisation that they might be involved with, and to remember the Chagossians when you do so. The details of how to respond can be found on the UK Chagos Support Association blog, which is also a place to be kept up-to-date with news and events. Peter
