A new report from Policy Exchange has delivered a stark warning on the risk to the Chagos Marine Protected Area following Starmer’s surrender deal. As Guido has noted before...
The area is currently home to around 800 species of fish, 300 types of coral and 50 species of birds, making it one of the most invaluable marine environments in the world. With Mauritius – ranked last out of 131 countries for “Marine Protection Stringency” – set to take control, some of those species could soon be dead in the water…
The draft UK-Mauritius agreement contains no binding legal requirement for Mauritius to protect the natural environment at all. Mauritius also plans to throw open almost the entirety of Chagos waters to fishing, gutting the marine reserve. Policy Exchange’s Professor Richard Ekins said:
“There are many reasons to oppose the surrender of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. One reason is that Mauritius is unlikely to protect – and may well exploit – this vital marine environment. The treaty imposes no meaningful obligation on Mauritius to protect the environment, and the UK has no leverage if Mauritius acts badly.”
If co-conspirators needed yet another reason to oppose the sellout…
Read the report in full below:
