UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are important parts of the UK, not foreign countries. Although small in size, they support far more endemic taxa and other globally important biodiversity than does Britain and Ireland. They are also important for their historical and cultural heritage, both in their own right, and their historical links for UK.
However, there is little public awareness, either within UKOTs or in mainland UK, of the biodiversity and cultural importance of the UKOTs, and the challenges they face.
The Crown Dependencies (CDs), although better known in metropolitan UK than are the UKOTs, face similar challenges and issues to the UKOTs, and so have been included in the tours.
These virtual tours have been developed to widen awareness of the UKOTs and CDs and increase understanding of their importance. The virtual tours draw attention to the biodiversity and cultural value, and highlight the challenges they face and the opportunities to protect and conserve their important features. Links are provided to some organisations based in the UKOTs and CDs.
Not all the tours are ready yet, and the development process is ongoing. Completed tours are coloured green in the selection box below. The "Tour under construction" slide for tours not yet prepared will be replaced with the full tour when it is ready, and an announcement will be made on the UKOTCF home page when new tours become available. Even the ones that are done will be updated and extended from time to time.
We hope that you will enjoy visiting the UKOTs and CDs by way of the Virtual Tours. Comments, suggestions on content and updates are welcome, and should be sent to the UKOTCF Environmental Education Co-ordinator, Ann Pienkowski, at apienkowski@ukotcf.org
| select a Tour from the map titles or from the list below.... |
