Taking steps for 'blue-green' eco transition: Mauritius Prez

Mauritius President Ameenah Gurib- Fakim today said initiatives are on for a "blue-green economy transition" in her island nation as she expressed hope on finding ways to boost collaboration with India, especially to cope with climate change risks.
"Mauritius is beginning to take the first steps toward a blue-green economy transition, a strategy that targets resource efficiency and clean technology, which is carbon neutral and socially inclusive," she said.
She said it would provide a healthy environment and help conserve resources, while integrating traditional knowledge and giving priority to the island community and culture that would build their resilience to the impact of climate change.

The "blue economy" encompasses integration of ocean-based economic development guided by social inclusion and environmental sustainability.
Noting that Mauritius shared a special relationship with India, she also hoped there could be more ways of looking at partnership and collaboration, especially to cope with climate change risks.
In her Millenium lecture at the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation here on "Challenges and Opportunities for Mauritius through the lens of a Changing Climate," Ameenah - a scientist and the first woman president of Mauritius - said her country was highly vulnerable to adverse effects of climate change.

"Mauritius is 14th on the list of countries at high risk of suffering an extreme climatic event," she said, adding that for the world's 52 Small Island Developing States (SIDS), climate change-induced sea level rise could force people to migrate in the years to come.

The Mauritius President said climate change threats facing many SIDS are by and large not of their own making. Their total combined annual carbon dioxide output accounts for less than one per cent of global emissions.
"SIDS are suffering and will suffer disproportionately from acts of environmental negligence of which we are collectively guilty," she said
Against such a background, Mauritius has begun to take steps for a economy transition, she added.
Increased acidity of ocean, another aspect of climate change, would inevitably lead to gradual destruction of the coral reef and coral bleaching, she said, adding it would "imperil our tourism revenues and impact the lives of poor people who depend on tourism dollars for their sustenance".

She added that Mauritius has started a "large-scale programme of transplantation, based on the success stories of States like Seychelles". Similarly, beaches in her nation are being 'rehabilitated', especially those which are more vulnerable.
She said her government recognised that many policies of the past had left the country ill-prepared to respond to the impact of climate change. It was this awareness that was motivating her country to make sustainable economic growth the cornerstone of our sustainable development paradigm."
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She said: "In the villages in Uttar Pradesh, where my forebears lived, I learned of my ancestors and the life of my grandfather, the dreams of my father, the bonds of family and culture that connect us all as Indians and Mauritians."

Referring to the climate talks in Marrakech (Conference of Parties-CoP22), she hoped it would lay the groundwork for collective actions that could keep warming below the accepted 2C mark.
Stating that SIDS are mostly developing nations, she said they are technologically and economically challenged. Hence to be sustainable, climate change diplomacy must address the technological, financial and policy needs of SIDS in pragmatic ways, she said.