The news was broadcast this week by Malvina Islands Television (FITV) on its program Malvinas in Focus , which reported that the Executive Council had approved the proposal and interviewed Erica Berntsen , an official from the Environment Department, about its rationale. The official project, titled National Nature Reserve Proposal : a proposal for expanding the nature reserve network in the Malvina Islands, specifies that the islands have 19 nature reserves , in addition to the national park established in 2025, which together protect some 47,400 hectares, equivalent to 3.9% of the land area . The proposed expansion would incorporate 6,241 hectares , bringing that proportion to 4.4% . The same document indicates that the aim is to protect areas of Tussac , endemic plants, and breeding sites of seabirds included on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List and species covered by the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) . The consultation had been previously authorized by the Executive Council through ExCo Paper 181/25 , as expressly stated on the official form published by the island administration itself.

The procedure also has a specific legal basis. Environment Department documentation states that the ten new reserves and five extensions are being processed under the Conservation of Wildlife and Nature Ordinance 1999 , a regulation that constitutes one of the main conservation instruments enacted by the illegitimate British administration of the islands and which governs, among other things, the protection of fauna, flora, and natural areas. The proposal includes lands controlled by the Malvina Islands Government and also private properties , for whose inclusion the consent of the settlers was obtained. This information was also reported by the MercoPress newspaper, which reported on the opening of the consultation on April 9 and on its closing on May 3, indicating that the result would be submitted to the Executive Council . The official consultation report , published by the island government on July 28, 2026 , is the immediate precedent to the decision now communicated by FITV. Berntsen, presented by island television as Biodiversity Protection Advisor , is listed in the administration's official directory as Biodiversity Protection Officer , within the department headed byMike Jervois, Head of Environment . This is not, therefore, an isolated statement: the expansion is part of a policy initiated years earlier; the Environment Strategy Progress Report 2022 already established as a specific action "Establish additional National Nature Reserves," and subsequent documents from the Executive Council recorded the review of existing reserves and the search for new protected areas.

The environmental measure is adopted, however, within a colonial situation still pending international resolution and marked by an increasingly intense sovereignty dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom . The legal designation used by the United Nations is particularly precise: the Malvina Islands have remained on the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories since 1946 , that is, territories whose peoples, according to Chapter XI of the Charter, “have not yet attained a full measure of self-government”; the official UN fact sheet on the Malvina Islands lists the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as the “Administering Power” and expressly states that a sovereignty dispute exists between the two states. This issue remains open: the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization (C-24) re-examined the Malvina Islands Question on June 25, 2026 , based on document A/AC.109/2026/6 , and again adopted, without a vote, a draft resolution specifically addressing the dispute. Therefore, the creation of reserves by the British authorities constitutes an act of environmental management over a territory that the United Kingdom effectively controls, but it does not alter its international status nor resolve the sovereignty dispute . The environmental regulations cited— the Conservation of Wildlife and Nature Ordinance 1999 —form part of the framework established under this management: they legally protect the designated areas, but they cannot modify the territorial status, which continues to be addressed by the United Nations within the framework of the decolonization process.

Sources

Malvina Islands Government – Environment Department. National Nature Reserve Proposal: a proposal for expanding the nature reserve network in the Malvina Islands , April 2026. Core technical document of the proposal: number of reserves, protected area, 6,241 new hectares, selection criteria and conservation objectives. Official proposal document

Malvina Islands Government. Consultation on National Nature Reserve Proposal , 2026. Expressly states the authorization of the Executive Council through ExCo Paper 181/25, the creation of ten reserves and the expansion of five and its inclusion in the Conservation of Wildlife and Nature Ordinance 1999 . Official query regarding reservations

Malvina Islands Government – Directorate of Policy, Economy & Corporate Services. Proposed National Nature Reserves Consultation Report , published on 28 July 2026. Official outcome of the public consultation process. Official results of the consultation

Conservation of Wildlife and Nature Ordinance 1999, Ordinance No. 10 of 1999. Standard that provides the local legal framework for the conservation of fauna, flora and nature and the protection of natural areas. Text reproduced by FAOLEX, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Text of the Conservation of Wildlife and Nature Ordinance 1999

Malvina Islands Television (FITV). Malvinas in Focus , Week 767. Program that reports on plans for new nature reserves and incorporates local press coverage of the decision. Malvinas in Focus – FITV

MercoPress. “Malvinas launches consultation on proposed National Nature Reserves”, April 9, 2026, and “Malvinas, public consultation on Nature Reserves closes 5 May”, May 3, 2026. Contemporary journalistic coverage of the beginning and end of the consultation. MercoPress – opening of the consultation MercoPress – closing of the consultation

Malvina Islands Government. Official directory of the Directorate of Policy, Economy & Corporate Services . Identifies Erica Berntsen as Biodiversity Protection Officer and Mike Jervois as Head of Environment. Official Directory

United Nations – Decolonization. Official Fact Sheet Malvina Islands (Malvinas) . Confirms its registration since 1946 as a Non-Self-Governing Territory, identifies the United Kingdom as the administering power, and records the existence of the Argentine-British sovereignty dispute. UN – Malvina Islands (Malvinas)

United Nations – Special Committee on Decolonization (C-24). Session of 25 June 2026, dedicated to the Question of the Malvina Islands (Malvinas) . The official documentation records the treatment of document A/AC.109/2026/6 and draft resolution A/AC.109/2026/L.8. 2026 Session of the Decolonization Committee

United Nations – Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs. Official list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. Defines this category according to Chapter XI of the Charter, maintains the Malvina Islands among the 17 pending territories and lists the United Kingdom as the administering power, with a specific note on the sovereignty dispute with Argentina. Official list of Non-Self-Governing Territories

(*) Observatory of Memory, Research and Sovereignty Malvinas, South Atlantic and Antarctica -UNR