Action plan 2021 – 2022
Political dialogue and civil society advocacy for sustainable coastal development.
Our project for the period 2021 – 2022 is to set up our program Enn Vizion Pu Nu Lakot (A – common – vision for our coast); a dual purpose program.
A consultation component in order to collect the ideas and opinions of the most concerned citizens, in particular the inhabitants of coastal villages. To enable these stakeholders to formulate their sustainable development needs and aspirations for the coastal zone through community consultations, focus groups of special interest, interviews, etc.
Will emanate from this exercise, a multimedia report establishing the main sustainability issues of the coastal zones as well as the perspectives of multiple, non-governmental stakeholders, small and larger structures, as well as scientists, with the aim of identifying recurring obstacles to sustainable development of the coastal zone. This first part of the program will end with the official presentation and sharing of this multimedia report in a national workshop, to the public, media, universities, businesses and government.
The second component is to sensitize and educate these same coastal communities, the general public and decision-makers on the main essential aspects of coastal commons and their preservation. We will do this through making contents with scientific foundations accessible to the general public, disseminated through social networks, as well as community meetings.
In parallel, advocate for alternative development models so that the coastal zone management moves away from current unsustainable models. Present, through social networks and traditional media, management models in force abroad that can be sources of inspiration. Use our network of scientists and experts in sustainable development to launch preliminary studies to the attention and interest of:
– local businesses in the coastal zone in order to encourage and gear them to preserve coastal ecosystems (sustainable and ethical tourism, energy, food).
– coastal villages, so as to initiate a thinking process as well as ground-works, to allow collection of data in order to make these villages “Climate-Smart Villages” in terms of resilience in the face of the impacts of natural disasters of change climatic (floods, erosion, etc.).
We have a team ready to get started: animators experienced in “grass-roots consultations”, multimedia producers for the dissemination of content accessible to the general public, a team of scientists and experts on the sustainable management of coastal areas. Of course, all of this requires a fair period of preparation time, in particular gathering the necessary means, including financing, for the implementation of this project.
It is also about being able to contribute and influence development strategies that are being reviewed / built at the moment. Indeed, the Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning is currently reviewing the National Development Strategy (NDS) which is the national framework for land use planning. We are looking at a planning for the next 20 years. Simultaneously, the Ministry of the Environment is revising the Environmental Protection Act (EPA).
We hope that this program will lead to:
1. Improved public access and a more equitable enjoyment of the coast by encouraging public and private decision-makers to create new coastal public spaces (only 15% of the total length of the coastline of Mauritius is currently reserved for public).
2. Ensure better conservation of coastal ecosystems by recommending the establishment of coastal public geoparks on “geometric unbuilt steps”, particularly in the south and south-east, in order to diversify the offer of coastal public spaces that are currently limited to public beaches. (Coastal public geoparks will be assets both for the general population and more specifically for local coastal communities as well as for tourism).
3. Support with greater interest for scientific works, with the aim of preserving the coastal zone. A necessary measure, given the growing negative impacts of climate change. To do so, we wish to commission studies on ecosystems, disseminate them to the public and decision-makers, boost regular dialogues between science, businesses, communities and government.