In memory of Professor Charles Sheppard, OBE

The Chagos Conservation Trust was sorry to hear of the recent passing of a great friend to the Trust, Professor Charles Sheppard, a former CCT Chair who was awarded an OBE in 2014 for his services to environmental conservation in the British Indian Ocean Territory.

He recently published a new book, The Chagos Archipelago: A Biological Biography, just one in a long list of works about the islands, having spent half a century dedicated to research in the Chagos. During this time, Charles has facilitated studies by more than 100 scientists, and his scientific input led to the archipelago becoming one of the world's largest no-take marine reserves in 2010, covering 544,000 km².

In addition to working at Warwick University's School of Life Sciences, he also consulted for a range of United Nations, governmental and aid agencies on tropical marine and coastal development issues. And spent a decade as Science Adviser for the BIOT Commissioner, part of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

The Trust sends its sincere condolences to his wife Anne, and family. He will be much missed.