Republic of Mauritius- Fight against climate change EU:a privileged partner of Mauritius

In his opening address, Minister Ramano highlighted that Mauritius, due to its geographical position and topography, is among the most vulnerable countries in the Indian Ocean. “This vulnerability means that we must be aware of the situation and be proactive in our willingness to collaborate with the EU and the friendly countries that support us,” he stated. In addition, he pointed out that this Dialogue underlines the whole cross-cutting issue that environment and climate change represent, which is shown by the participation of representatives from several ministries.

Moreover, the Environment Minister underscored that Government has the responsibility to come forward with the Nationally Determined Contributions to showcase all actions taken in terms of mitigation of the effects of climate change on the Mauritian territory. He also dwelt on several projects being implemented by Government concerning environment protection and climate change, before recalling that the EU has been assisting Mauritius in the implementation of environmental projects since the 1980s.

For his part, Mr Degert emphasised that this High-Level Policy Dialogue is timely and highly strategic because the world is facing a climatic and environmental emergency. As such, the EU, he says, is also willing to share its experience, its regulatory frameworks, technical solutions and financial support with Mauritius in areas related to climate change, namely biodiversity and the circular economy. He added that the EU and Mauritius have the motivation and common interest to bring, at regional and international levels, the issue of the fight against climate change, which is seen as an emergency for humanity.

The High-Level Policy Dialogue on Climate Change aims to further strengthen the Mauritius-EU partnership and to respect the commitments of the Paris Agreement ratified by Mauritius in 2016. EU representatives in Mauritius, the Ministry of the Environment, Solid Waste Management and Climate Change, the Ministry of Agro-industry and Food Security, as well as the Ministry of Housing and Land Use Planning, among others, are participating in the Dialogue. It also provides an opportunity to take stock of the progress on the implementation of measures outlined in the Joint Monitoring Framework (JMF). It is recalled that the JMF comprises of targets, indicators, on-going key projects/programmes, and also of proposed project activities to be supported by the EU and its Member States.