Comments on: Conserving the Chagos

By: gosford solicitors

gosford solicitors — Thu, 13 May 2010 02:26:08 +0000

All extremely true, but I don’t support what you say myself. I will stay the more conventional view. But I without doubt support your right to have your own point of view. Interesting anyway.

By: Policy_Team

Policy_Team — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:11:06 +0000

Dear Peter, you may be interested to hear about a meeting taking place at Royal Holloway, University of London, on Thursday 7th January. Organised by the Marine Education Trust the meeting will consider the socio-economics of managing a marine protected area in the Chagos archipelago. Taken directly from the Marine Education Trust's literature, "the principal aim of the workshop is to bring together participants from Marine Centres, Universities, and NGOs who have practical experience of MPA development and management, as well as Chagossian, Government and marine industry stakeholders, to discuss socio-economic obstacles and opportunities in the context of a possible MPA in the Chagos Archipelago". If you would be interested in attending, please contact Tara Hooper.

By: Peter Harris

Peter Harris — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:49:11 +0000

A “paper park” is exactly what this MPA will be because the government has already made it clear that it will not even consider allowing a permanent settlement to be established in the vicinity – not even a research/conservation facility. So quite why the scientific community is queueing up to offer its unqualified support for these proposals, I don’t know. (You should read the submission already made by the IUCN, who Professor Carl Lundin works for. It offers no criticism of the government’s position whatsoever, not even constructive criticism).

However, the real travesty here is that nobody in the scientific community seems to be speaking up on behalf of the indigenous people of the Chagos archipelago, the Chagossians. As everybody with even a passing interest in the Chagos islands knowes, the Chagossians were illegally expelled from their islands in the 1960s and 1970s to make way for the creation of the US base on Diego Garcia. They have been campaigning to return ever since and have repeatedly made it clear that they want to be a part of conservation efforts. So why don’t they get a mention in any of this?

The government’s attempt to bury the Chagossians’ campaign underneath the issue of environmental protection is utterly reprehensible. I do hope that there are some in the scientific community who will do the honourable thing and at least qualify their support for an MPA with a statement in support of the Chagossians’ right of return. At the very least it should be made clear that the issues of environmental protection and resettlement are not mutually exclusive.