英国建立查戈斯群岛海洋生物保护区

The UK government has created the world's largest marine reserve around the Chagos Islands.

英国政府在查戈斯群岛附近建立起世界上最大的海洋生物保护区。

Conservationists say the area is a biodiversity hotspot

The reserve would cover a 545,000-sq-km area around the Indian Ocean archipelago（群岛，列岛） , regarded as one of the world's richest marine ecosystems（生态系统） .

This will include an area where commercial fishing will be banned.

But islanders, who were evicted（驱逐，驱除） to make way for the US air base on the island of Diego Garcia, say a reserve would effectively bar them from returning.

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said establishing the reserve would "double the global coverage of the world's oceans under protection".

He commented: "Its creation is a major step forward for protecting the oceans, not just around BIOT [British Indian Ocean Territory英属印度洋领地] itself, but also throughout the world.

"This measure is a further demonstration of how the UK takes its international environmental responsibilities seriously."

Conservationists say the combination of tropical islands, unspoiled（未损坏的） coral reefs（珊瑚礁） and adjacent（临近的，毗邻的） oceanic abyss（深渊，无底洞） makes the area a biodiversity hotspot of global importance.

The archipelago, which has been compared to the Galapagos Islands and to Australia's Great Barrier Reef, hosts the world's biggest living coral structure - the Great Chagos Bank. This is home to more than 220 coral species - almost half the recorded species of the entire Indian Ocean, and more than 1,000 species of reef fish.

William Marsden, chairman of the Chagos Conservation Trust, commented: "Today's decision by the British government is inspirational（鼓舞人心的，带有灵感的） . It will protect a treasure trove of tropical, marine wildlife for posterity and create a safe haven for breeding fish stocks for the benefit of people in the region."

Mauritius（毛里求斯） has asserted a claim to sovereignty（主权，君主） over the islands; and the UK has agreed to cede（割让，放弃） the territory when it is no longer required for defence purposes.

But in a letter to the Sunday Times newspaper earlier this year, Mauritius' High Commissioner Abhimanu Kundasamy said: "There can be no legitimacy（正统，合法） to the [marine protected area] project without the issue of sovereignty and resettlement being addressed to the satisfaction of the government of Mauritius."

The former residents of the islands, who were evicted from（驱逐，赶走） the British overseas territory between 1967 and 1971 to make way for the US Air Force base on the largest island, Diego Garcia, have fought a long-running battle in the UK courts for the right to return.

Of the islands, only Diego Garcia, which has played a key role in the US-led operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, is currently inhabited.