[Coral-List] Proposed Marine Protected Area in the Chagos - The Plight of the Chagos Islanders
Richard Dunne
RichardPDunne at aol.com
Sun Jan 31 15:38:10 EST 2010
Dear Listers
For those of you following the debate about the proposal for a Marine
Protected Area in the Chagos Archipelago (BIOT). There is a film (55
minutes long) by John Pilger, an Australian journalist. It was made in
2004 and describes what happened to the Chagos Islanders. It can be
viewed on Google videos at the link below. It contains several
interviews with Prof David Stoddart OBE, the founder of the
International Society for Reef Studies (ISRS) whom many of you will know
and who deprecates the treatment of the islanders by the British Government.
STEALING A NATION (John Pilger, 2004) is an extraordinary film about the
plight of people of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean - secretly
and brutally expelled from their homeland by British governments in the
late 1960s and early 1970s, to make way for an American military base.
Stealing a Nation has won both the Royal Television Society's top award
as Britain's best documentary in 2004-5, and a 'Chris Award' at the
Columbus International Film and Video Festival.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3667764379758632511#
IF YOU HAVE ALREADY SIGNED THE PETITION IN SUPPORT OF THE MPA on the
Chagos Environment Network website. WERE YOU AWARE OF THESE HUMAN RIGHTS
ISSUES? or did you get the impression from that website that it was
simply the case of establishing a MPA in a remote uninhabited part of
the world?
Are you entitled to think again? Certainly if you feel that you did not
know the full facts. If you wish to do this then simply sign the Marine
Education Trust petition
(http://www.marineeducationtrust.org/petition/protect-chagos) and send
an e-mail to info at marineeducationtrust.org with any further details.
Here are just a few of the signatories to that petition who support the
idea of an MPA BUT ONLY with the participation and consultation with the
Chagossians and the Mauritian Government.
Coral Reef Scientists, former diplomats, politicians, lawyers,
academics. If you want to see the full list then go to the website.
Former President of the Republic of Mauritius - Cassam Uteem
Former British High Commissioner to Maurtitius and Deputy Commissioner
for BIOT - David Snoxall
Emeritus Professor Barbara Brown - Newcastle University UK, co-founder
and former Vice-President International Society of Reef Studies, former
Editor in Chief ‘Coral Reefs’ 2005-8, Founder and Director of Centre for
Tropical Coastal Management Newcastle University
Dr Alasdair Edwards – Newcastle University UK, former Director of Centre
for Tropical Coastal Management, Chair of GEF/World Bank ‘Reef
Restoration and Remediation Working Group.
Dr Tom Goreau - USA President Global Coral Reef Alliance
Professor Chris Perry - Chair, Tropical Coastal Geosciences, Manchester
University UK
Dr Sue Wells - Coral reef conservation consultant, Cambridge UK
Professor Andrew Balmford - Professor of Conservation Science, Cambridge
University
Dr Elizabeth Gladfelter - coral reef biologist USA
Professor John Ogden – Director, Florida Institute of Oceanography USA,
former President International Society of Reef Studies (ISRS)
Dr Mark Spalding - Global Conservation Specialist - Cambridge UK -
co-author of the Chagos Conservation Plan 2003
Dr Tom Spencer - Geography University of Cambridge
Professor David Simon - University of London
Associate Professor Kenneth Cathan - Mauritius
Professor John Eade - London
David Evans - Marine Biologist
Dr Judith Lang USA coral reef researcher
Dr Emma Mawdsley - Geography Department Cambridge University
Dr Ester Peters - USA coral reef scientist
Dr Elizabeth Tyler - Tropical Ecology Group, Oxford University
Dr Deborah Potts - Geography Kings College London
Katherine Muzik - Marine Biologist
Dr Lynn Dicks - Conservation Science Group, Department of Zoology,
Cambridge University
David Vine - Assistant Professor, American University Washington USA -
author of 'Island of Shame: The Secret History of the US Military Base
on Diego Garcia'
Dr Carlos Ruiz Sebastian - marine biologist South Africa
John Howell - Former Director of Overseas Development Unit
Jack Everett - USA Saving Our Environment Campaign
Andy Vivian – BBC Producer - UK
Dr Bill Burnett – Head of Biology St Paul’s School, London - UK
Dr Sean Pyne-O’Donnell - Norway
Graham Pascoe – Lecturer - Germany
Dr Liz Andrew – University of Manchester, Fellow Zoological Society
London, UK
Dr Tony Lemon - Dept of Geography Oxford University
Erich Hoyt - research fellow Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society UK
Abigail Moore - Marine Conservation volunteer Indonesia
Ofer Ben-Tzvi - PhD candidate coral reef biology - Israel
Dr Martin Little - Biologist UK
Adel Heenan - PhD candidate University of Edinburgh
Dr Basia Zaba - University of London
Sabrina Meunier - Field Centre Manager Shoals Rodrigues, Mauritius
Dr Martina Burtscher - University of the Highlands and Islands UK
Dr Emmanuel Gregoire - Directeur de recherche IRD France
Dr Sean Carey Research Fellow at the Centre for Research on Nationalism,
Ethnicity and Multiculturalism (CRONEM) at Roehampton University - UK
Durkje Gilfillan - Attorney South Africa
Jim McGowan - Cmdr RN (rtd) Barrister - Hong Kong – former Legal Adviser
to the Commander in Chief Fleet
Hans A. De Savornin Lohman - Netherlands Attorney at Law
Maite Mompo - Spain Lawyer
Richard Dunne - Lt Cdr RN (rtd) BA (Cantab) Barrister UK, former Legal
Adviser to the Commander in Chief Fleet 1988-91, editor The Manual of
Naval Law (1991 ed)
Rebecca Musarra – Lawyer – USA
Amir Matar – Research Associate, Public International Law and Policy
Group, Washington - USA
--
Richard P Dunne
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