S.Atlantic : "..Not Squander Ecosystems," Says Rammel
Submitted by SARTMA.com (Juanita Brock) 27.03.2003 (Article Archived on 10.04.2003)
The environmental Heritage of Overseas Territories must not be allowed to fade away.
WE WILL NOT SQUANDER THE OVERSEAS TERRITORIES' ECOSYSTEMS, RAMMELL CONFIRMS
The environmental heritage of the Overseas Territories must not be allowed to fade away, Bill Rammell, Foreign Office Minister responsible for Global Issues, stressed today.
Speaking ahead of a conservation conference taking place in Bermuda from 22 - 27 March, the Minister said:
"The UK has a rich natural heritage in the environment of the Overseas Territories. We must not squander this or allow it to fade into obscurity. We have a shared vision with the Overseas Territories, to implement sustainable environmental management practices. And for this reason I am pleased that the UK has been able to co-sponsor the international conference beginning tomorrow, taking us a step closer to ensuring that we do not lose these rich ecosystems."
- The conference in Bermuda, entitled "A Sense of Direction" will be attended by government and NGO representatives from the UK, the UK’s Overseas Territories (UKOTs), and other small island communities. The aim of the conference is to provide an opportunity to discuss conservation issues of common concern, as well as to share expertise and best practice.
- The UKOTs' ecosystems range from tropical to Antarctic, with at least 10 times as many endemic species as the British Isles. In particular, the UKOTs have:
- 2% of the world’s coral reefs, including the world’s most northerly coral reefs (Bermuda) and one of the world’s largest and most pristine coral atolls (the Great Chagos Bank in the British Indian Ocean Territory)
- some of the world’s most important breeding colonies of albatrosses (Falkland Islands, Tristan da Cunha, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands)
- the most important Atlantic nesting sites for Green Turtles (Ascension Island)
- two remote island World Heritage Sites rich in endemic species (in the Pacific, Henderson Island, the largest of the Pitcairn Islands; and in the South Atlantic, Gough Island, the most southerly of the Tristan da Cunha group)
- Gibraltar is a key migration route for birds of prey
- some of the finest wider Caribbean marine resorts (Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Turks & Caicos Islands, Anguilla)
- an active volcano (Montserrat)
- a fine current example of habitat restoration (the Millennium Gumwood Forest on St Helena)
- British Antarctic Territory: a sensitive barometer for the effects of human actions on the world’s climate and atmosphere
- The conference will be officially opened on 23 March by the Premier of Bermuda, The Hon Jennifer M Smith. The Bermudian Minister of the Environment will also attend. The main agenda sessions will cover conservation issues of Bermuda; Environment Charters and strategic planning; managing conservation organisations; implementing management plans; climate change; dealing with invasive species. Delegates will also have an opportunity to visit some of Bermuda's key environment and heritage sites.
- The FCO will be represented at the conference by the Head of the Environment Policy Department. She will deliver a presentation on the "UK Government’s commitment to the Environment Charter process in the UKOTs". The Environment Charters, signed in September 2001 by the governments of the UK and UKOTs, represent a shared vision to support the implementation of sustainable environmental management practices in the UKOTs. The conference will focus on progress made to date by the governments of the UK and its Overseas Territories in taking forward the commitments laid down in the Environment Charters. The texts of the Charters are available on the FCO website (www.fco.gov.uk).
- The conference has been sponsored by a number of organisations including the FCO's Environment Fund (which contributed £70,000 towards the cost of the conference) and the Bermudian government. It has been organised jointly by the UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum, the Bermuda National Trust, the Bermuda Zoological Society, the Bermuda Audubon Society, and the Bermuda Ministry of the Environment.
- This is the third conference of its kind: the first was held in London in 1999, and the second in Gibraltar in 2000.
- More details on the UKOTs are available on the FCO website, and on the UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum website, www.ukotcf.org
Press Officer: Trish O'Donnell, 020 7008 3114
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