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Sateeaved Seebaluck Permanent secretary, ministry of Environment
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Sateeaved Seebaluck Permanent secretary, ministry of Environment
<B>Mauritius is hosting the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) conference in January. One main aim is to address the Barbados Program of Action of 1994. Tell us more about this program.</B>
It started at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 with the Agenda 21 on sustainable development. The international community recognised that, because of their characteristics, such as remoteness from main markets, SIDS were vulnerable. The 1994 meeting addressed these issues and resulted in the Barbados program of sustainable development for SIDS. Some priorities were climate change, water resource management and sustainable tourism.
What preparations are being made by your ministry for the conference?</B>
The ministry chairs the technical committee for the preparation of the venue. This committee is composed of members from various ministries. Mauritius is part of the Atlantic/ IndianOcean/ Mediterranean/ South China Seas Aims Group and we’ve participated in two preparatory meetings in Cap Verde and Seychelles and in an inter-regional one in Nassau, where we came out with a common strategy paper. We have also submitted our national assessment report to the UN. This report evaluates our success in implementing the Barbados Program of Action, our constraints and future challenges. We are preparing a similar document to the one for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. It will be a critical analysis of what has been and what remains to be done. We believe this will trigger the minds of other SIDS. All in all, almost all the progress that has been achieved by SIDS has been through our own initiatives.
<B>How successful have we been?</B>
We are one of the few SIDS that has achieved a lot in terms of sustainable development. The investment program brought a master plan on sewerage, coastal preservation and biodiversity… Mauritius has experience in these issues and projects are ongoing. This doesn’t mean we’re already there. The island is small as is our human resource base.
<B>Are Mauritians becoming more aware of environmental issues?</B>
We have spent energy and resources on educating Mauritians about environmental issues but we have to persevere if we are to maintain awareness of various aspects, for example, through training programs for schoolteachers.
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