The development of our southern coastline is beginning to take shape, thanks to the hard work of NGOs such as mru2025, scientific studies and the passion of the people of the sea – local residents, fishermen, or even hiking guides, who live here every day and know the true value of this land, thatno monetary unit can measure. Everyone agrees on the urgent need to protect this treasure, the last of its kind. Dominique Bellier
Last December, the “Sentier du Littoral mauricien “ project was the subject of a major workshop initiated by mru2025 and supported by the IOC’s RECOS program, which strengthened reflection and dialogue with all stakeholders, and augured an edifying sharing of experience with France’s Conservatoire du Littoral, present on La Réunion.
Carina Gounden and Yan Hookoomsing from mru2025 brought together all the relevant players around the same table, from the public and private sectors, civil society, the Ministries of Land and Housing, the Environment and Agriculture, scientists and local residents alike.
A consensus was reached on its exceptional assets, with sites bearing witness to the island’s geological and cultural history, as well as a landscape quality and diversity unique to Mauritius, which includes dunes, cliffs and creeks, meadows, a wild and fish-filled coastline, and a magnificent hiking trail from Cambuse to Gris-Gris! These treasures absolutely must be preserved from appetites that, elsewhere, have shown themselves to be limitless and shameless.
If we protect – and in some cases re-establish – access to the sea along this entire stretch, if we really respect the geometric pitch and reconstitute forests as in Virginia, this wild south would become an example of good intelligence between man and nature.
