[Coral-List] Chagos Tribunal and Chagos conservation

Sheppard, Charles Charles.Sheppard at warwick.ac.uk
Tue Mar 24 11:13:25 EDT 2015


People might like to recall that it was a coalition of several of the UK's largest and most respected science societies and NGOs that advised the government to declare the Chagos MPA, not just the Chagos Conservation Trust and Pew!  There is very good reason for this of course and a visit to the chagos-trust.org can explain why they did, as can the 250+ papers written so far by a couple of hundred scientists. 

The Tribunal also declined to find any improper motive for the declaration, as has been often repeated, as have various earlier judgments too.  It is all for conservation of a very large set of largely undamaged reefs, the largest such tract left in the world.   Scientists operate within governmental constraints of course - as in most places.  Here the government listened to scientists, and this is not liked by those opposing the MPA
no-take rules.

So the Tribunal ruled that Mauritius holds legally binding rights to fish in the waters surrounding the Chagos Archipelago.  Whether this is a set-back to marine conservation or whether it is a new beginning for Chagos
conservation will depend on the action of Mauritius in its reaction to this court ruling.  On the one hand it could say that having had these rights legally recognized, it did not want to exercise them, but rather to have its scientists and conservationists join the international conservation efforts to maintain a world-class fully protected marine reserve for the huge benefit of millions of people in Indian Ocean States.  That would indeed be a new beginning for Chagos conservation and one which we and others concerned with marine conservation would wholeheartedly welcome.  Or they could seek to exercise those rights, which would be a set-back to marine conservation and science, though how big a setback would of course depend on the scale, locale and enforcement of the fishing.  With power comes responsibility.  We hope and would wholeheartedly welcome Mauritius joining conservation efforts and we have several times offered to fund Mauritian scientists  (using UK government funds) to join in with the conservation work - without success so far, but we hope this will change. 

Our intent is to do whatever is possible under government framework to protect that large tract of reefs and prevent or hugely delay any slide into the condition seen in most other reefs of that ocean.


Best wishes
Charles
_______

Professor Charles Sheppard 
Chair, Chagos Conservation Trust


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