Help Protect the Chagos Islands
17th December 2009
One of the key goals of Fota Wildlife Park is to help promote conservation efforts around the world and now we want to help protect the chagos islands.
The Chagos Islands are in the middle of the Indian Ocean. They have belonged to Britain since 1814 (the Treaty of Paris) and are constituted as the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). Only Diego Garcia, where there is a base, is inhabited (by military personnel and employees). The other 54 tiny islands add up to only 16 square kms (8 square miles) in total.
Now, before it is too late, there is an opportunity to save this precious natural environment, creating a conservation area comparable with the Galápagos or the Great Barrier Reef.
Please sign their pledge by adding your details to the petition on www.protectchagos.org. This will register your support for this amazing project and encourage the British Government to make it a reality.
There are some 4000 Chagossians and descendants living in enforced exile, who claim the right of return to their homeland. Most of them are living in extreme poverty in the slums of Port Louis in Mauritius. The MPA proposal, which envisions giving menial jobs to a dozen or two of the men will not make things right.
To get the people’s attention, then-Governor of the Colony, Sir Bruce Greatbatch, ordered the extermination of the children’s
pet dogs on Diego Garcia, the largest island. This was carried out by proud members of the United States Navy.
The Foreign Secretary is not entirely at fault for this shameful episode in British history, having been six years old when the
dogs were gassed. He has, however, spent millions of Pounds preventing these people and their families from returning to the
northern atolls, which are a hundred kilometers from the military base on Diego Garcia. The compensation they were coerced into settling for may have been less than the Minister has spent to keep them in forced exile.
Did I mention that the Chagossians are full British citizens? The story is so shocking that it is difficult to believe. To learn more, you may watch John Pilger’s “Stealing a Nation”,
http://tinyurl.com/yc279nk or the URL above. Thank you.