Letter and submission from Chagos Conservation
Trust (CCT)
BRITISH INDIAN
OCEAN TERRITORY
Thank you for your letter of 27 March 2008.
You kindly agreed that if the Chagos Conservation Trust (CCT)
would send by 30 April a further written submission, with more
specific proposals for BIOT environmental governance, this should
arrive in time to influence the Committee's considerations. The
further submission is enclosed.
The CCT invites the FAC to recommend to the
Government that it gives high priority to the environmental protection
of BIOT and responds to the more specific proposals for BIOT environmental
governance which emerge from current discussion among significant
organisations, as outlined in the attached submission. These proposals
for governance are aimed also to be compatible with security requirements
and with possible outcomes for the case of the Chagossian people.
BIOT is considered to have the most pristine
tropical marine environment surviving on the planet and to be
by far the richest area of marine biodiversity of the UK and its
Overseas Territories. It has the world's healthiest coral reefs
and its largest coral atoll. The Government acknowledges this
in undertaking to manage the whole BIOT area "as if"
it were a natural World Heritage site (that is "a site of
outstanding universal value for the world's natural heritage").
BIOT also provides a scientific benchmark as a rare area which
is not ecologically degraded; this is very valuable for finding
solutions on issues such as pollution, species extinction and
climate change.
However, adequate measures to manage the BIOT
area accordingly and on a sustainable basis have not yet been
implemented. By way of example, only 3% of the shallow water area,
which is the richest in biodiversity, is protected and virtually
none of the deep sea is protected. (An indication of the pressure
on Indian Ocean marine life is the fact that the shark population
is some 90% smaller than 40 years ago).
The CCT Executive Committee includes representatives
of RSPB, the Universities of Wales and Warwick, the Zoological
Society, Coral Cay Conservation and The Nature Conservancy. The
attached proposals for BIOT environmental governance will now
be discussed more widely with the Royal Society, the Pew Trusts
and other organisations with an interest in the Chagos environment.
SUBMISSION
The British Indian Ocean Territory (The Chagos)
has the most pristine tropical marine environment surviving on
the planet. Its quarter of a million square miles is Britain's
greatest area of marine biodiversity by far. The attached Chagos
Conservation Trust draft "discussion paper" summarises
reasons why the Chagos natural environment is so important and
makes specific proposals for its protection.
The UK Government and the British Indian Ocean
Territory (BIOT) Administration are committed to managing BIOT
as if it were a World Heritage site and have enacted significant
legislation to protect this globally important environment. However
a more robust and extensive framework for conservation is needed
to meet future challenges. The existing environmental safeguards
should be strengthened to create a long-term conservation framework
with the maximum international support. It would be a world class
natural conservation area and a major contribution to "saving
the planet". Elements of the policy framework (most of which
are not new) might include:
— The existing Ramsar Area should be
extended (as already agreed by the Government in principle) first
to the territorial waters and then to the whole Chagos Archipelago,
with strict reserve areas for the priority biodiversity sites.
The BIOT Environment Zone (created in 2004) should be completed.
— A comprehensive Chagos marine and
fisheries management and conservation system should be established,
to include a "no-take" fishing zone, initially covering
at least one third of the Territory's coastal and lagoonal waters
(as already provided for in the Chagos Management Plan). This
would increase Indian Ocean fish stocks and thus benefit people
in neighbouring countries.
— A small, fixed scientific research
facility should be established, perhaps on a northern Chagos island.
— A sustainably funded, small organisation
(perhaps a Public Foundation) should be established by the Government
to manage and conserve, with effective support from other organisations,
the natural marine and terrestrial environment and biodiversity
of BIOT, as well as the related science, research, education and
protective visiting. Experience should be drawn from best practice
in other comparable protected natural areas in the world.
— The issue of human habitation should
take full account of the environmental implications. The conservation
and scientific frameworks proposed in this paper could be organised
to offer financially viable and sustainable balanced employment
opportunities for a limited number of new inhabitants.
— Wider international support should
be promoted for a comprehensive Chagos nature reserve framework
(eg Ramsar, IUCN, UNESCO World Heritage).
13 April 2008
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