SEMINAR: [Fwd: Chagos seminar, March 1st at the NCRI]

[Klaas Verwer <kverwer@rsmas.miami.edu>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Chagos seminar, March 1st at the NCRI
Date: 	Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:30:52 -0500
From: 	Sam Purkis <purkis@nova.edu>


Dear Colleagues,

I?m please to announce a seminar by William Marsden, to be held at the
NSU Oceanographic Center on March 1st, entitled:

'*A UK/US Presentation
*
*The Chagos Archipelago (British Indian Ocean Territory)
Creating one of the world's greatest natural conservation areas*'

The seminar will be at 4pm in the Modular Classroom.

I am sure that many of you have been exposed to issues surrounding the
Chagos and its conservation through the recent emotive posts on the
Coral List. The seminar will provide a forum to learn more about the
proposal for what would be one of the world?s largest marine protected
areas, and to participate in the discussion.

William Marsden CMG has been Chairman of the Chagos Conservation Trust
since 2002. The Trust's aims are conservation, science and education in
relation to the Chagos. It works for long-term frameworks for protection
of the area and promotes practical conservation measures and scientific
research and monitoring. William Marsden is retired from the UK
Diplomatic Service in which his appointments included Ambassador to
Argentina, Costa Rica and Nicaragua and Under-Secretary of State, Americas.

Following William?s presentation I will give a short introduction to the
Chagos Conservation Trust US (CCT US), which, as for its British
counterpart, has the primary aim of raising awareness about Chagos and
promoting the conservation of its nearly pristine terrestrial and marine
environments.

Some further background:
The Chagos Islands are in the middle of the Indian Ocean. They have
belonged to Britain since 1814 and are constituted as The British Indian
Ocean Territory (BIOT). Only Diego Garcia, where there is a base
(essentially US) is inhabited (by base personnel). The other 54 tiny
coral islands add up to only 8 square miles in total, set in quarter of
a million square miles of the world's cleanest seas. The Chagos has the
world's largest coral atoll and represents one of the most pristine
tropical marine environments, rich in biodiversity.

In March 2009 the Chagos Conservation Trust and its prestigious partners
in the Chagos Environment Network launched proposals for the future
conservation of the Chagos. In November 2009 the British Government
initiated a 3-month public consultation on these proposals. The UK
Foreign Secretary commented: ?This is a remarkable opportunity to create
one of the world's largest marine protected areas and double the global
coverage of the world's oceans benefiting from full protection. I
strongly encourage you to participate in this consultation.?

I hope that you can join us on the 1st,

Sincerely,

Sam



Sam Purkis, PhD
National Coral Reef Institute (Asst. Professor)
Oceanographic Center
Nova Southeastern University
8000 N. Ocean Drive, Dania
FL 33004
USA

(954) 262-3647 (phone office)
(954) 927-1593 (phone home)
(954) 600-9983 (mobile)
http://www.nova.edu/~purkis


--
Klaas Verwer
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
Marine Geology & Geophysics
University of Miami
4600 Rickenbacker Causeway
Miami, FL 33149

T. +1 305 421 4834 (work)
F. +1 305 421 4632 (fax)
M. +1 305 607 0185 (mobile)

--
Out of office:



I will check e-mail when traveling

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