PORT LOUIS, Mauritius, Jan 29 (IPS) – Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, PhD, Former President of the Republic of MauritiusThe Republic of Mauritius, an island nation, skilled its newest flash floods for the reason that final dangerous one in 2013. These floods resulted within the lack of lives and hefty payments for automotive insurers with over 3000 automobiles have been broken.
Sadly, we’ll undergo extra climate-related traumas as a result of as an island nation we’re sorely ill-prepared and we appear to be blithely oblivious to local weather challenges particularly when one takes a have a look at our improvement trajectory.
There may be an pressing must consider resilience of our infrastructure; our adaptation technique, using applicable know-how to tell and educate our folks for higher consciousness and preparedness. After we have a look at latest tragedies, we can not and should not put every part on the again of a altering local weather, though I’m certain the temptation is nice to be able to absolve one in every of his/her tasks. Pressing measures should be put in place to counteract this new actuality and in addition handle our vulnerabilities.
There isn’t any doubt that we are going to expertise extra devastating cyclones and they’re going to take our economies again a number of a long time.
It’s the changing into more and more clear that the way in which we urbanise, the resilience of our infrastructures, how ‘inexperienced’ we hold our buildings and panorama will all underscore how nicely we adapt to a altering local weather.
Regionally and in lots of components of the world, there’s a excessive proclivity to chop down massive swath of forests, drain the ‘Ramsar-protected’ swamps that are the lungs the world; construct bungalows on sea fronts; sacrifice century-old bushes within the identify of ‘improvement’; century-old drains which have survived the take a look at of time, are actually more and more seeped in cement!
In lots of surrounding islands together with Mauritius, buildings are seen popping up on the slopes of mountains. There’s additionally large funding in infrastructure initiatives with no visibility on the ‘Setting Affect Assessments – EIA’ (absence of Freedom of Info Act in Mauritius prevents the general public from accessing to those crucial paperwork).
There’s additionally domestically, no visibility on the Flood-prone zones which indicate that folks will hold constructing in these areas with the surreal penalties we’ve seen final week in Port Louis – automobiles piling up, flooded cemeteries reaching folks’s houses, folks being carried away by the sheer power of the water.
It’s changing into abundantly clear that climate-related occasions will recur and we, because the human race, we’ve no alternative however to adapt to our new realities. Time and time once more, the rhetoric of ‘saving the planet’ is talked about. It needs to be introduced house to all of us that Nature has existed earlier than our look 200.000 years in the past and can do nicely after we’ve gone. So allow us to not be presumptuous to even assume that we are able to ‘tame’ or ‘save the planet’.. Our rhetoric should be couched in a the next language ‘how we save ourselves within the mild of the disaster we’ve unleashed’!.. That might be extra applicable and way more in line of this truism which is dealing with us.
A part of our adaptation realities demand a tradition of transparency, participatory-leadership, promote larger consciousness among the many common public on what’s at stake and extra importantly, there needs to be accountability from those that we vote to determine on our behalf. They can not out of the blue go mum when they’re questioned or move the buck to technical workers whose roles are, typically purely advisory, when issues begin going south. The non-public and materials loss for most of the people are just too painful to see when whole lifetime efforts and financial savings are washed away by the gushing waters.
I’m a resident of city referred to as Quatre Bornes and which obtained badly affected by the latest floods. I’m tempted to ask for this ‘confidential’ EIA report for the Quatre Bornes tram venture in order that we will be enlightened on the remedial actions going ahead?
Could also be those that have been on the helm in 2016 when the choice was taken to start out this mega venture can enlighten us ? No?
However that is the place “Actual politik” kicks in..
Those that have been vociferously in opposition to this venture throughout the electoral marketing campaign, once they have been within the Opposition (that was earlier than they switched facet and joined the successful celebration) are actually its biggest defenders.
A few of those that actioned the choices when in authorities are actually within the Opposition and are expressing outsized aspirations for increased posts ..hmm.. on the subsequent common elections??.
Actually?
Transparency, Justice and Accountability are the virtues that the general public calls for what we actually DONOT want are empty rhetoric and guarantees … The survival of our kids and grandchildren depends upon it and we’ve NO proper to sacrifice their future by means of our inaction.
IPS UN Bureau
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram
© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
World Points Information with Newsmaac
