Diego Garcia legal black hole - A response to Sheppard et al

Journal of Environmental Law

Volumn 21, Issue 2, 2009, Pages 295-298

  Sand, Peter H ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH   (Germany)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 67650229992     PISSN: 09528873     EISSN: 1464374X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/jel/eqp014     Document Type: Note

References (36)

1. P Sand, 'Diego Garcia: British-American Legal Black Hole in the Indian Ocean?' (2009) 21 JEL 113, 128. By 2004, 'the US Air Force had still not cleared up its oil spills'
2. R Edis, Peak of Limuria: The Story of Diego Garcia and the Chagos Archipelago (rev edn, Chagos Conservation Trust, London 2004) 103. However, the Diego Garcia base earned the American Petroleum Institute's 2004 Award for 'Excellence in Fuels Management' for issuing 88.8 million gallons of JP-5 jet fuel during Operations 'Enduring Freedom'and 'Iraqi Freedom'.
3. References in Sand (n 1) 125.
4. Ibid.
5. The UK has registered Diego Garcia as hydro-acoustic station HA-08 under section A(1) of the 1996 Protocol to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. In settlement of several lawsuits by environmental organizations, the US Navy agreed on 27 December 2008 to disclose previously classified information on its sonar use, and to prepare environmental statements for sonar exercises and ranges around the world
6. 'U.S. Navy - Conservationists Reach $16 Million Settlement' Environment News Service (Washington/DC 5 January 2009).
7. See also IUCN Resolution 3.068 on undersea noise pollution (BangkokWorld Conservation Congress, 25 November 2004).
8. According to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 'the UK Freedom of Information Act has not been extended to the Overseas Teritories' (letter to the author from BIOT Administrator J Yeadon, 31 March 2009).
9. See the official Ramsar site map, in P Sand, United States and Britain in Diego Garcia: The Future of a Controversial Base (Palgrave Macmillan, NewYork 2009) 60.
10. See the background paper prepared under the auspices of the Chagos Conservation Trust on 1 June 2008: http://www.reefnewmedia.co.uk/ cmt_chagos/uploads/PDF/Science/DISCUSSION_PAPER_(BIOT)010608.pdf (last accessed on 28 April 2009)
11. see also C Sheppard and J Turner, 'Eco-Imperialism', letter to the editor, 201 New Scientist no 2700 (21 March 2009) 22.
12. Ibid, 11.
13. See the statement by the chairman of the Chagos Refugees Group, 'Response to the Conservation Plan of the Chagos Conservation Trust' (O Bancoult/CRG, Port Louis, 13 February 2009).
14. See the declarations in the UN General Assembly: (1984) 55 BritishYbk Intl L 519, and (2002) 73 British Ybk Intl L 701
15. and in the House of Commons (1990) 61 British Ybk Intl L 572
16. (1998) 69 British Ybk Intl L 540
17. (2000) 71 British Ybk Intl L 592
18. (2001) 72 British Ybk Intl L 633
19. (2002) 73 British Ybk Intl L 707
20. (2004) 75 British Ybk Intl L 666
21. and (2006) 77 BritishYbk Intl L 639.
22. Constitution of Mauritius, Art. 111.
23. Statement by Mauritian Foreign Affairs Minister A Boolell, 'Mauritius Opposes Setting Up of a Natural Park in Chagos Archipelago' African Press Agency (Port Louis 12 March 2009).
24. Ratified by Mauritius on 19 September 1995. Since 1996, the non-governmental Mauritius Marine Conservation Society (MMCS) has called for nomination of the Chagos Archipelago as a (Mauritian) world heritage site
25. see T Ollivry, Diego Garcia: Enjeux Stratégiques, Diplomatiques et Humanitaires (Harmattan, Paris 2008) 30.
26. Ratified by Mauritius on 4 September 1992
27. see the First National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity (Ministry of Agriculture, Food Technology and Natural Resources, Port Louis 2000) 8, 27.
28. Text in [1986] OJ C253/10
29. ratified by Mauritius on 3 July 2000, see Nairobi Convention: National Status Report on the Marine and Coastal Environment (Ministry of Environment and National Development, Port Louis 2007) 14, 23. Mauritius will host the next conference of the parties in 2010.
30. See K Tetzlaff, 'Indian Ocean Commission' (2007) 18 Ybk Intl Envl L 659, 661.
31. In the case of the Papahanaumokuakea reserve (Hawaii), international designation as a 'particularly sensitive sea area' (PSSA) was granted by IMO on 3 April 2008, while UNESCO nomination as a world heritage site is still pending
32. see 'Marine National Monument' White House Press Release (6 January 2009).
33. On the EEZ dispute with the Maldives, see Sand (n 1) 134.
34. See P Sand, 'Public Trusteeship for the Oceans' in T Ndiaye and R Wolfrum (eds), Law of the Sea, Environmental Law and Settlement of Disputes: Liber Amicorum Judge Thomas A. Mensah (Martinus Nijhoff, Leiden 2007) 521, 527
35. M Turnipseed and others, 'The Silver Anniversary of the United States' Exclusive Economic Zone: Twenty-Five Years of Ocean Use and Abuse, and the Possibility of a Blue Water Public Trust Doctrine' (2009) 36 Ecology LQ 1
36. and M Turnipseed and others, 'Oceans: Legal Bedrock for Rebuilding America's Ecosystems', 324 Science no 5924 (10 April 2009) 183.