In early April the British Government declared the Chagos islands and the seas surrounding them as a  marine protected area, MPA. It also includes a no-take marine reserve where commercial fishing will be completely banned.  The new MPA is the world’s largest, and it will double the global coverage of the world’s oceans under protection.

Professor Charles Sheppard of Warwick University has spent many years undertaking scientific research and campaigning for protection for the Chagos. In an interview  Professor Sheppard outlines the importance of the Chagos itself  and the much wider influence it can have on the Indian Ocean as a whole.

Listen to this interview