..:: Mauritius Science Portal

As a Small Island Developing State (SIDS), Mauritius has to face a number of inherent constraints and challenges. It is ecologically fragile and particularly vulnerable to natural disasters and to impacts of climate change. Our challenge is to ensure that all efforts to enhance economic resilience takes into account environmental protection and that all decision-making pertaining to development integrates economic, social and environmental considerations.

A prerequisite for an active environmental policy is the integration of environmental responsibility at all levels. In order to meet the challenges, Mauritius needs an environmentally conscious society where each citizen has the responsibility and duty to protect the environment. Various programmes are oragnised to bring forward this agenda.

World Environment Day is celebrated on 5 th June as the worldwide flagship environmental event. The theme and slogan for the year 2008 was: “CO 2 – Kick the habit! Towards a low carbon economy”. This slogan focuses on the fact that our fast developing world is far too dependent on carbon-based energy. Human activities are largely responsible to the continuous built up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, thereby exacerbating the problem of climate change.

For the year 2008, celebration of World Environment Day was marked by a ‘Cyclo-Rally’ organised in collaboration with Ministry of Youth. The rally laid emphasis on the fact that motorised vehicles are the prime producers of greenhouse gases. Also, the Ministry of environment launched the Green School project in 10 pilot schools – 5 primary and 5 secondary schools.

The theme selected by the United Nations Environment Programme for World Environment Day 2009 is as follows: ‘Your Planet Needs You – Unite to Combat Climate Change’. This theme reflects the urgency for countries around the world to cut their emissions and work together to fight climate change by boosting renewable energy, promoting investments in green technologies, conserving the planet’s natural carbon sink and setting clear limits on emissions for industry and business. Also, the theme stresses on the need for collective action across all ranks and communities, bringing them together to make of this endeavour a success. For this occasion, the Ministry of Environment is proposing to host popular programmes that will bring together all stakeholders.

In 2008, the Clean Up the World activities were held around the island with the participation and collaboration of Local Authorities, Beach Authority, non-governmental organisations and volunteers. The Clean Up the World campaign took place during the week-end 19-21 September and the theme was: “Start Today, Save Tomorrow: Clean Up Our Climate”. Two main national events were held, namely the cleaning of Mon-Choisy public beach on the 20 th September and the cleaning and distribution of waste bins at Bois Cheri on the 21 st September 2008.

Clean Up the World is a community based environmental campaign that inspires and empowers communities from every corner of the globe to clean up, fix up and conserve their local environment. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in collaboration with Clean Up the World, brings businesses, community groups, schools and governments together in a range of activities and programs that positively improve local environments.

The National Women Council organised a training session for 45 women leaders from 4 th to 7 th November 2008 at the seat of National Women Empowerment Centre at Phoenix. The topics elaborated during the training session were ‘General Environmental issues’ and ‘Sustainable Lifestyles’. The participants were also apprised of the impacts of the use of plastic on our environment and they were also sensitized on the alternatives to plastic and the benefits thereof while discussing ‘Sustainable Lifestyles’.

At the end of the training session, each participant was given a ‘Training Kit’ with all resource materials and CD with clips on environmental issues to enable them to train other women at the Women Centres.

To sustain this effort, the Ministry of Environment will be undertaking a series of activities together with the National Women Council in the context of World Environment Day 2009.

SCP aims at fundamentally changing the way societies produce and consume, so as to promote social and economic development within the carrying capacity of ecosystems by improving efficiency and sustainability in the use of resources and production processes, and reducing resource degradation, pollution and waste. Basically, SCP works by delinking economic growth and environmental degradation.

The Ministry of Environment and National Development Unit, in collaboration with UNEP, has developed a National Programme for SCP for the period 2008-2013. This Programme targets resource use efficiency, and promotes education and outreach. The Programme comprises some 44 projects to be implemented by various ministries at a cost of around Rs 35 million. Cabinet has approved the programme in August 2008 and implementation has started. The Ministry of Environment and NDU would be coordinating the implementation of the National Programme and would be initiating projects under its responsibility such as on Education and Communication for Sustainable Lifestyles.

One of the components of this programme is the vulgarisation of the SCP concept among youth. In this context, the Ministry of Environment & NDU will be carrying out a training of trainers programme destined to youth leaders from different spheres of society. This training will be based on the YouthxChange (YXC) toolkit developed by UNEP/UNESCO in 2002. YXC offers an innovative and participatory approach to capture the interest of a young audience. Trainings usually focus on day-to-day activities relating to issues with which youth feel the closest (music, clothing, sense of identity, etc.).

The Junior Science Adventure (JSA) is a science project-based competition aimed at upper primary school pupils. The JSA was launched by the Rajiv Gandhi Science Centre in 2008 and the theme chosen for the first edition was “Me and my Environment”. The competition aimed at initiating young students to the investigation of contextual environmental problems encountered in their daily life. By proposing strategies to address such problems and implementing them, it is expected that pupils will develop positive attitudes and pro-social values.

The ability to develop an awareness of contextual science problems encountered by pupils in their everyday life.
The ability to devise strategies to deal with environment-related problems at school.
The ability to participate and contribute effectively to a team.
The ability to effectively communicate and present work.

Pupils, in teams of 3 to 6, observed the immediate environment at their school to identify an important problem that caused prejudice to the environment. Once a problem was identified, the whole team devised a strategy to deal with it. JSA 2008 was a resounding success both in terms of the participation rate and the enthusiasm shown by students. In all, 86 groups of students coming from 82 primary schools all around the island, successfully developed and implemented projects related to the preservation of our environment.

The Green School Project is one among the several initiatives that are being taken by the Government of Mauritius in the context of the “Maurice Ile Durable” project. The Green School project, a joint initiative of the Ministry of Environment and National Development Unit and the National Productivity and Competitiveness Council, provides a framework that will reflect both improvement in the physical environment of the school (for example, water and sanitation facilities, garbage management, green school campuses, energy conservation, etc.) and also in the attitudes and actions of all those who are part of the school education system – the students, the teachers, the parents, the administrative staff and the management.

Raise awareness on the impact of the school community’s activities on the environment.
Facilitate the conversion of schools to green schools
Bring together school management, teachers, educationists, students and the community at large on a common platform that could also facilitate participation and consensus in many other areas of governance of the Green School Project.
Create a success story cases for new schools and institutions to design and plan their establishments using a Green Productivity (GP) approach
Introduce a certification programme for Green Schools and recognise and reward through the establishment of a “Green School Award” the efforts that schools have taken to transform into Green Schools.
Develop in parallel, a practical and meaningful content based on GP (in theory and in practice) for the educational system and thus plant seeds for a more GP conscious professional community in the years to come. This will enable mainstreaming of environment into core business functions to achieve triple bottom line improvement in Mauritius