In April 2010 Britain announced that it would create the world's largest marine reserve (650,000 square kilometres) around the Chagos Islands. Where are they?
Chagos Marine Protected Area Archipelago are legally binding. Chagos Marine Protected Area The Chagos Marine Protected Area, located in the central Indian Ocean in the British Indian Ocean Territory of the United Kingdom, is one of the world's largest marine protected areas, and one of the largest protected areas of any type (land or sea) on Earth. It was established by the British government on 1 April 2010 as a massive, contiguous, no-take marine reserve, it encompasses of ocean waters, including roughly 70 small islands and seven atolls of the Chagos Archipelago. The establishment of the protected area was immediately controversial, as the largest
Chagos Archipelago sovereignty dispute the atoll of Diego Garcia is inhabited only by some 3,000 UK and US military and civilian contracted personnel. The British Government established a marine protected area (MPA) around the Chagos Islands known as the "Chagos Marine Protected Area" was created on 1 April 2010 and enforced on 1 November 2010. It is the world's largest fully protected reserve, twice the size of Great Britain. The designation proved controversial as the decision was announced during a period when the UK Parliament was in recess. On 1 December 2010, WikiLeaks release a leaked US Embassy London diplomatic cable dating back to