Connect Chagos: People and Wildlife Project

The Project

The Connect Chagos Project was created in 2012 to engage with Chagossian communities based in the UK in order to increase environmental awareness and to contribute to the conservation of the Chagos Archipelago.

Staff from the Connect Chagos Project worked in Crawley and Manchester, hosting events such as Environmental Open Days and Tailored Sessions to actively engage with the community and to increase awareness of the extraordinary environment of the Archipelago.

Each summer an Environmental Training Course was run, in partnership with many conservation organisations, which covered a variety of nature-related topics from bird monitoring, habitat management and marine conservation. Individuals who successfully completed the training course were then invited to apply for bursaries to fund advanced training and to join a scientific expedition to the Chagos Archipelago.

From 2012 – 2015 the project actively engaged with >700 community members from Crawley and Manchester. 42 ambassadors completed the environmental training course, 19 of which went on to carry out advanced training which included chainsaw training and gaining SCUBA diving qualifications. 7 ambassadors have joined scientific expeditions and one individual has recently represented the community at a “Big Oceans” meeting in Hawaii.

The Connect Chagos Book

The book was created as a lasting legacy of the project and as a resouce for the community. It's colourful pages contain information on each of the topics covered during the training course. Starting with an "Introduction to Conservation" it not only educates the reader on the wonderful environment of the Chagos Archipelago but provides useful hints and tips for learning about our wildlife here in the UK. A PDF version can be downloaded below, or contact Kirsty Richards to be sent a hard copy.

The Connect Chagos Book (5.36 MB)