Saying YES to coal and NO to Greenpeace

Our leaders recently denied a request for Greenpeace’s vessel – the Rainbow Warrior -  to access Port Louis harbour during its tour of the Indian Ocean. Are they justified? Let us examine the objections reported to have come from Government House to find out.

Vincent Pellegrin interviews Dr Mu

1. Tell me about your experience, from early beginnings up to now, in an Environmental Non-Governmental Organization (ENGO).

The NGO I work for is actually a charity that a friend and I founded at the end of 2008. Its goals include promoting human rights as well as protecting the environment, expressed as environmental stewardship and social justice. The two are fundamentally linked since the poor destroy the environment out of need and the rich destroy it out of greed. Moreover, the UN Human Rights Council has long been seeking to establish the human right to enjoy a healthy environment. My experience to date has been an exploration of what this actually means in the Mauritian context.

A Hidden Message from the Governor of the Bank of Mauritius?

[Extract of his speech at the annual dinner for economic actors - see last sentence]

Now let me turn to our economic prospects and our high aspirations.

We are living in troubled and testing times. Several questions arise. Will we be agile enough to meet the severe tests ahead? What kind of growth should we seek? Should it not be more inclusive? And more equitable? We are trying hard to move into niche markets but is this enough? What else must we do to escape the middle-income trap, to be amongst the best small economies, not just in Africa, but in the wider world where our main competitors are to be found?

We have seen the likes of Malta, Singapore, Hong Kong, Ireland and others raising the bar to achieve GDP per capita, adjusted for purchasing power, more than twice the levels we have achieved despite our continued economic growth. Can we make the breakthrough? Are we prepared to do what it takes to do so?

Re-Branding Maurice Ile Durable

OPEN LETTER TO THE MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Dear Mr Virahsawmy

This is the first time I have written to you but I sense a connection because of our common Dravidian heritage. Unlike your namesake who I consider a traitor to both the Dravidian and African communities.

Anyway, I am a bit concerned about the status of the “Maurice Ile Durable” project or rather “Maurice Iles Durables” as I and the whole island of Rodrigues prefer to write. So I have had an idea. Think back to when your esteemed colleague Xavier Luc Picard, now Captain of INS Enterprise Mauritius was Minister for “Giving Away Islet Nature Reserves to his Friends and Agents of the Prime Minister”. Following his amazingly successful re-branding of our island from “The Model for Heaven” to “Mauritius – c’est un plaisir” (infinitely better than my own suggestions of “The Divine Island” and “The Island of Eden”), I humbly suggest you do the same thing with MID. I think it is possible with just a minor change in the last word. Permit me to offer some suggestions.

But first let us reflect on some notable MID events of last week.

The Island of Eden

Dear Mr President

Imagine a charity from Mauritius being awarded the Nobel Peace prize. Imagine you being the Patron of that charity and receiving one of the most prestigious awards ever made in the history of mankind? Ludicrous? YES! And yet while it is extremely unlikely, it is just possible…

You see an international news organisation that publishes reader-sourced news has just published this joke story which we released to promote our Divine Island:

Honda’s stepping stones to sustainability

Quite intriguingly, Honda chose the redundant sugar factory –  l’Aventure du Sucre – as the venue to launch three hybrid cars in Mauritius. This excellent museum portrays, in graphic detail, the inhuman exploitation of good people of colour by the “then” racist Franco-Mauritian elite. We attended to publicly ridicule the hybrid green-wash propaganda but were pleasantly surprised…

First, because our sparring partner from Yale, and arch supporter of the hybrid deception, Vedant Seeam was guest of honour. Second, because Mr Yoshiaki Nakamura had the perfect repost to our katana-like critique. In his presentation, the President of Honda Motor Southern Africa declared that Honda is committed to an avergage 50% reduction in CO2 emissions from its vehicles by 2020. How on earth did he expect hybrids to achieve that? we asked. He replied that hybrids are but a stepping stone to fossil-fuel free transport, whether it be all electric or hydrogen. Respect sir!

Bagatelle – a thing of little importance

But not according to Prime Minister Ramgoolam. To him, the new commercial centre represents another reason for holiday-makers to visit our shores: shopping tourism. We do not share his optimism.

So who will come shopping here? Wealthy Europeans? Why should they when they can have a much greater choice and better prices at Dubai airport, transit hub for Emirates? Travellers not only enjoy one of the world’s top ten airlines (far surpassing Air Mauritius which doesn’t even provide first class seats), they also benefit from being picked up closer to home from regional airports. What about the nouveau riche from South East Asia? Well, they are spoilt for choice with 2 duty free shopping islands in Malaysia (not to mention its world class shopping centres in Kuala Lumpur) and the superb Singapore airport right on their doorstep.

So, globally speaking, Bagatelle is a thing of little importance. Except for Mauritians, to whom it represents another step closer to European living standards. As long as you have a car. However, the MID working groups, criticised the development of out-of-town shopping centres as contradictory to the principles of sustainability for the following reasons:

Sh*tting on our own doorstep

Obviously sh*tting on our own doorstep is something that we tend not to do. But that doesn’t stop us endlessly dumping our crap into our oceans.

In the Caribbean, researchers have finally proven that a disease that has wiped out nearly 90% of crucial elk horn coral is caused by sewage leaking from septic tanks. While in Mauritius, a visiting specialist has sounded the alarm that we are pumping carcinogens into the Balaclava marine park.

Human Excrement to Blame for Coral Decline

Turtle Bay favoriserait le développement de cancers

 

Feedback on MID reports

To the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development.

We are delighted to provide feedback on the reports of the Working Groups for the MID policy development and indeed privileged to be part of the one on energy. Overall, we are happy with much of the work done so far and the comments below focus on exceptions to this. We also attempt to address some of the important issues we feel are missing from the reports and try to synthesise conflicting recommendations. After suggesting improvements to the MID process, we will turn to the security of the economy, nutrition, electricity and transport and then land use conflicts and nutrient recycling. Finally, we comment on individual recommendations that we consider notable.

MID team confronts oil scarcity

During the last 7 days, a new stage of the Maurice Ile(s) Durable(s) policy process has got under way. The working groups for the 5 focal areas (energy, environment, employment, education and equity) have had their first of four sessions. We are participating in the one on energy which covers demand (transport, industry, homes, lifestyles, etc) as well as supply (moving away from fossil fuels). We will provide you with progress reports and ask you to share your views so that we can feed them back to the working group. This is a national experiment in participatory democracy and your voices count.

One important issue that was raised (quite vocally by one participant) is the scarcity of oil. It was pointed out that although our government acknowledges this reality, few strategies are being put in place to deal with it.