The Chagos Islands don’t exactly crop up in everyday chat, or news coverage for that matter, but the archipelago has recently become the world’s largest marine reserve, hitting the headlines in the process. Sitting in the centre of the Indian Ocean and spanning an area covering over 500,000 square km, the reserve will surround and safeguard the biodiversity of the Great Chagos Bank, the largest living coral structure in the world.
With a ban on commercial fishing in and around the islands and the ongoing protection of tropical habitat, coral reef and deep sea abyss, conservationists and environmentalists alike have come out to praise the move, which will effectively double the area of the world’s ocean covered by reserve protection.
However, as with all things worth doing, it’s not all plain sailing. Despite all of its potential good, there is an ongoing battle for the return of original residents to the islands who were evicted between 1969 and 1971 to make way for the US Air Force base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands. Additionally, there is the matter of sovereignty over the islands. The Mauritius government has dictated that the reserve cannot achieve legitimacy until the sovereignty of the islands has been corrected, despite promises by the UK government to cede sovereignty of the islands back to Mauritius when it is no longer needed for military purposes.
All of this is obviously being played out in the background of the requirement for strategic military bases in close proximity to Afghanistan and Iraq, but, as with politics in general, red tape and bureaucracy are standing in the way of what is right. The reserve should achieve legitimacy unequivocally and without contest and the natural inhabitants of the islands allowed to return. Sovereignty of the islands should be given back to Mauritius and the US army base left to strike a bargain with the mauritius government over retaining its strategic location. Even without all of that, though, the reserve will still be ace.
