The Chagos Archipelago A Biological Biography

About this book

This book is the story of the Chagos Archipelago, in response to literary silence on the subject for many years. Exploring its immense natural riches and biodiversity, both on islands and marine, this book addresses competing claims to its resources, its politics, and the desire of some commercial opportunists to exploit the area. It is about the fight to conserve a wonderland of biodiversity and obtain its protection from exploitation, especially of its reefs and other marine life. This book elucidates on the importance of the Chagos Archipelago and why so much research was done there.

Rather than a typical research book, this book follows research in a narrative form and anticipates the now substantial Government, UN and legal interest in the Archipelago since the UK was told to 'decolonise', it. It is also the story of our planet in miniature: the archipelago encapsulates much of the world's conservation tribulations in a way we can much more easily understand. This story will explore all the difficulties faced by the Chagos Archipelago, including displaced people, old and derelict industries (coconut in this case), the military, politics, rich and untouched ecosystems that some want to exploit. ruined habitats on land, climate change, and territorial claims. It will examine how all of these factors have affected the natural history, biodiversity and conservation of the Archipelago.

With beautiful photography of the Chagos Archipelago coral reefs and islands, as well as graphs indicating their findings, this book offers professionals, researchers, academics and students in Conservation and Biodiversity an insight into one of the worlds most diverse ecosystems. This is also accessible for non-academic readers with an interest in climate change, biodiversity and the importance of conservation.

Contents

Introduction    

1. A tour of the Archipelago
2. Geography, origins, human use
3. Natural history of the islands and human settlement
4. Restoration, rats and the persistence of the coconut
5. Coral reefs of Chagos
6. Dark Ages and Enlightenment
7. The first ocean heatwave
8. Connections, and the major reef components
9. Creation of the BIOT Marine Reserve
10. Climate change research  
11. The world’s conservation conundrum in one archipelago
12. What of the future?

References

Customer Reviews

Biography

Charles Sheppard is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Warwick, who has specialised in coral reef research, especially on environmental impacts affecting them. He has published over 200 scientific papers on marine environmental matters, as well as written several academic and university textt books. One important aspect of his work was on the Chagos Archipelago, and his research there, with that of colleagues, resulted in the creation of the world's largest no-take marine reserve. He has received several awards and recognitions for his conservation work.