Protect Chagos

The Chagos contains the world’s largest coral atoll and the greatest marine biodiversity by far under UK jurisdiction. It also has one of the healthiest reef systems in the cleanest waters in the world, supporting half the total area of good quality reefs in the Indian Ocean. As a result, the ecosystems of Chagos have so far proven resilient to climate change and environmental disruptions. The Chagos no-take marine reserve would be as important as the Galapagos or the Great Barrier Reef, and with the whole of its territorial waters included, would be the world’s largest marine reserve.

Reefs
The Chagos no-take marine reserve would protect one of the world’s most resilient coral reefs at a time when scientists recognise that reefs face rapid decline due to pollution, warming and ocean acidification. If Chagos is managed well, these reefs may provide an opportunity for marine life to seed recovery of degraded reefs elsewhere.

Wildlife
The Chagos no-take marine reserve would maintain the pure and unpolluted waters of Chagos, providing a safe refuge for its rich marine life, including many threatened species, such as turtles and sharks, and globally important populations of seabirds.

Fisheries
World fish stocks have declined catastrophically because of destructive and unsustainable fisheries practices. The Indian Ocean has been badly affected in this regard, given its heavily populated rim of countries. A large ‘no-take’ protected area would assist fish population recovery, potentially increasing fish numbers over a much wider area. The protected area would also provide a temporary refuge for migratory species, such as tuna, from exploitation.

People
In the long-term, a Chagos no-take marine reserve would contribute to a richer ocean and would benefit people living in and around that ocean, such as the coastal countries of East Africa and elsewhere.

Science
Chagos is one of the few marine locations in the world where there are almost no ongoing, direct human impacts over almost all of its areas. The marine reserve can serve as a reference site for global scientific research to aid in our understanding of such things as climate change, tropical marine ecosystems and the impacts of commercial fisheries.

Deep Ocean
The deep oceanic waters around the Chagos Islands, out to the 200 nautical mile limit, include an exceptional diversity of undersea geological features (such as 6000m deep trenches, oceanic ridges and sea mounts). These areas almost certainly harbour many undiscovered and specially adapted species.

Seabirds
Over 150,000 pairs of seventeen species of seabirds breed on the atolls, and ten of the islands have formal Birdlife International recognition as Important Bird Areas. Seabirds and nesting turtles too will benefit from the additional conservation measures that a protected area will bring. Both groups are recovering from severe depredations of the past in a way that is not possible in most places.

UK international commitments
The creation of the Chagos Protected Area would be an important contribution by the UK to at least seven international environmental conventions. It would also contribute to the UK’s global commitments, such as halting the decline of biodiversity by 2010, establishing marine protection networks by 2012, and restoring depleted fish stocks to sustainable levels by 2015.

The Chagos islands and surrounding waters are a British Overseas Territory, also known as the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) and the Chagos archipelago. These 55 islands, located in the central the Indian Ocean, are tiny in size and are distributed amongst a vast area of coral reefs and open sea. The land area totals only 55 square kilometres (21 square miles) but is spread over a total oceanic exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 544,000 square kilometres (210,000 square miles), twice the size of the UK’s land surface. The largest island, which comprises about half the land area, is Diego Garcia.

For a map of the Chagos islands and their position within the Indian Ocean, please click here.

There was an established community who lived and worked on the islands from the late 19th century. Following the decision in the 1960s that the islands should be set aside for defence needs, the islanders were relocated to Mauritius and the Seychelles. Although many still live in these islands, some have since moved to the UK. Over the past decade, the Chagossians have brought a number of claims against the UK Government and there have been several court judgements on this matter. A case is currently before the European Court of Human Rights on the question of whether or not the Chagossians should have a right to return to the islands.

For more information on the Chagos Islanders, please visit our People page.

Whilst the members of the Chagos Environment Network (CEN) are fully aware of the legal challenges brought by Chagossian groups against the UK government, we believe these islands need conservation now and that this will be beneficial under all future scenarios.

We cannot predict the future. We believe that the Chagos Islands and their surrounding waters should be protected for the resources and values they have today. That is why we are urging that the Chagos Islands and their surrounding waters be designated as a no-take marine reserve “without prejudice” to the outcome of the legal process. This designation would mean that the Chagos Islands and their resources would remain healthy no matter what the future holds, but that conservation arrangements could be modified if necessary in the light of a change in circumstances.

The CEN has developed contacts with some of the Chagossian groups based in the UK and indeed we invited them to speak at the launch of our campaign at the Royal Society in April 2009. At that meeting – whilst not specifically endorsing the CEN proposal – Allen Vincatassin, Patron of the Diego Garcian Society, said: “As I saw on my recent visit to Diego Garcia and the Chagos, the pristine environment of the archipelago has to be continuously preserved. We are keen to work in partnership with the Chagos Conservation Trust. Preservation of the environment goes beyond the sphere of politics.”

On the 19th of November 2009 the Chagos Conservation Trust held a workshop with one of the UK-based Chagossian communities to discuss the global importance of coral reefs. The workshop was also attended by Dr Allen Vincatassin (Patron of the Diego Garcian Society and Diego Garcian Community Leader), a representative of the RSPB, and Coral Cay Conservation (CCC). CCC offered the opportunity to join their Reef Conservation Scholarship Programme. Two scholarship places are being made available to Chagossians wishing to learn how to scuba dive and to learn about the importance and fragility of coral reefs, as well as how and why we need to protect them.

The island of Diego Garcia where the military base is located is in the far southeast of the archipelago, and is tens of miles, and in many cases hundreds of miles, away from most other islands, reefs and their surrounding waters. Whilst there has been damage to some reefs close to the military area of Diego Garcia, it is not highly significant in the context of the tens of thousands of square kilometres of reefs in the entire Chagos ecosystem. Even around the Diego Garcia military base, ecological and water chemistry results show that the area remains in good condition.

These islands are very remote making visiting them impractical. There are no commercial tours to the Chagos Archipelago. Rules regarding private visits are very strict and it is only possible to visit one or two sites by private yacht – and then only with permission of the BIOT government. Most non-government visitors to Chagos are highly skilled scientists who land a coveted position on one of the occasional research expeditions to the area. Therefore unfortunately there is almost no possibility of visiting or volunteering on these islands.

If you would like to do more to help conservation on the Chagos, you can become a supporting member of the Chagos Conservation Trust, see http://www.chagos-trust.org/joinus.asp

Please visit the Chagos Conservation Trust website, the Pew Environment Group’s Global Ocean Legacy website or visit our Resources pages for more information.

If you have further questions about the campaign and cannot find answers to them here, please email info@protectchagos.org.