Boris Johnson did nothing to protect “the most important biodiversity hotspot on the planet,” while foreign secretary, according to the United Nations patron for the oceans.

Lewis Pugh, who in his role raises awareness about the state of the world’s oceans, has worked with three of the rivals in the Tory leadership race – Michael Gove as environment secretary and both Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson as foreign secretaries – but highlighted Johnson’s lack of action.

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get Boris to protect Georgia and the Sandwich Islands. Just one signature and he could have created a protected area over a million square kilometres, but he didn’t do it,” he said.

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The British overseas territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is home to one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world. It featured in David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II, when albatross chicks are seen eating plastic.

Throughout Johnson’s time as foreign secretary, there was mounting pressure for him to make the territory a fully protected marine area, with cross-party support from 285 MPs to do so. The protection of the area was finally announced in December 2018.

Johnson has tried to present himself as a modern green candidate with an impressive record on climate issues as London mayor. During his leadership launch on Wednesday, Johnson congratulated the UK for being “world leaders in clean power and environmental protection”.

But Pugh said he was angered to see a column in the Daily Telegraph by Johnson calling for the area to be protected shortly after he’d left office.

“He was foreign secretary for a two year period. He had every opportunity to do that while he was in power,” said Pugh.

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Pugh swam in the South Georgian waters – which are under British jurisdiction – to highlight the importance of making it a fully protected marine area. But he was frustrated to find that even this wasn’t enough to get Johnson on side.

He said: “I went to the extent of even swimming down there, in the dangerous waters, to try to get him to understand how important it was and he still wouldn’t meet me.”

Rising sea-levels and the destruction of underwater habitats are key concerns in the fight against the climate crisis, with over 90% of the the heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions absorbed by the seas.

Pugh did, however, have kind words for Gove, who he worked with during his stint as environment secretary. “Michael is exceptional. You go to a meeting with him and he just listens. He writes loads of notes and you see loads of emails the next day. He’s really good at detail.”