We were saddened to hear that Prof. Charles Sheppard recently passed away at his home in Scotland. Charles was a passionate advocate for the creation of the Chagos Archipelago MPA and a talented scientist who advanced our understanding of how climate change is affecting coral reefs.
The Bertarelli Foundation was very pleased to be able to support Charles’ vision for the Chagos MPA in 2010. The interdisciplinary and collaborative programme of marine science that followed, was built upon the strong foundation of science that Charles – and his wife Anne – initiated decades earlier. The hundreds of scientists that have travelled to the middle of the Indian Ocean in the years since were very much standing on Charles’ shoulders.
Charles’ final book, The Chagos Archipelago: A Biological Biography, was published very recently and is a fitting and lasting testament to his life’s work.