Chagos Marine Reserve
The Bertarelli Foundation has entered into a partnership with the British government in order to sponsor the safeguard of the world’s largest marine reserve in the Chagos Islands, a British territory in the Indian Ocean.
The Blue Marine Foundation, a conservation group who has been instrumental in achieving this partnership, was founded in order to fund the creation of a global network of marine reserves and to provide private sector solutions for the sea.
The Marine Protected Area will cover some quarter of a million square miles of sea (210,000 square miles) around the archipelago in the Indian Ocean and include a "no-take" reserve banning commercial fishing.
The 55 islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean which form the British Overseas Territory have at least 60 endangered species in their coral reefs and waters. They are home to more than 220 types of coral, 1,000 species of fish and at least 33 different seabirds and have been described as the most pristine tropical marine environment on Earth.
Photo by Anne and Charles Sheppard
