[Blog] Mauritius needs long-term plans, essential for its security

Action is needed as from now 2025 up to 2029 and, if need be, extended for full completion up to 2035 (during this and the next 5-year mandate).

We produce only 30% of the food we eat. We import 70% including all rice and flour, poor Mauritius!

We produce only 17.6% of energy we use from renewables (from sun, wind, hydro, biomass). We massively use the non-renewable resources, charcoal and petrol, which we import, the price of which will continue to rise until they suddenly become unavailable on the world market to little Mauritius. The present situation makes Mauritius dependent on exporters and makes the population vulnerable for the supply of the key product of food and energy.

This is a call to our new, responsible, and proactive government to launch serious long-term plans and actions for Mauritius food, energy and water security, all essential for life! Specifically, this is an appeal to the PM and VPM, to the Minister in charge of energy (Hon P. Assisvaden) and the one in charge of agriculture and food security (Hon A. Boolell). Already we are implementing several small projects such as saving energy, producing your own food, etc.

1.    Energy security must be achieved through the vast replacement of petrol vehicles by electric ones, the electric metro covering the entire island and a major shift to renewables (sun, wind, hydro, biomass) for electricity production. (At present, see Le Défi Quotidien of 4.2.25: 82.4% énergies fossiles (importée : charbon et pétrole) contre seulement 17.6% renouvelable). The main equipment needed to produce electricity from the sun are solar panels, 100% of which we at present import. Studies have revealed that our situation with regards to wind and to sunshine is excellent, making it certain to achieve up to 100% renewables in a few years. There is also the huge benefit that, once installed and working, energy from sun and wind is free!!!
As well as infrastructural changes, making it possible for people to work, study, take recreation, etc., close to where they live, hence for all to go to school or to work on foot or at best by cycle.

The future of harvesting solar energy. Solar energy harvesting technology is increasingly utilized as an alternative to electricity generated by fossil fuel. While various methods of solar energy harvesting exist, they all fundamentally use the sun to perform work in a specifically desired way, thus eliminating the need for fossil fuel use altogether. The combined results of renewable energy production from sun, wind, hydro and biomass is the only future for the world and of course for us. We cannot miss that bus! Take the example of Denmark, which on some months satisfied 100% of all its energy requirements from wind and sun, with so much excess that energy is exported to Germany!

2.    Food security through self-sufficiency (now standing at 70% imports and only 30% locally produced)
At a time when entire sections of the planet are suffering from the extremes of climate change (roasting under extreme heat, freezing cold, intense hurricanes, floods and droughts, sea-level rise, etc.), under such a planetary emergency, each country, big or small, must play its part in combating climate change. 

The new government has stated very early its intention to do so. At present this remains a declaration of intention, with only a few actions started, such as the produce your own food project, Plan d’Urgence pour les Planteurs, etc. Apart from self-sufficiency in energy, achieving food security is an essential aim. Without it, if and when some basic products become rare, unavailable on the world market, cargo costs too high, our population could starve like the people of Gaza. The plan, of course, will include changes in diet to consume what we can produce and stock.

3.    Water is life. Fresh water from nature (i.e., the rain cycle) is essential for all humans, animals and plants. We need to improve and efficiently manage water resources and water distribution and use. Water from nature in the form of rain, via rivers and reservoirs, via underground water, individually harvested by each family, via modern technologies such as cloud-seeding and seawater evaporation using massive solar and wind power. Already we are planning for reducing waste of water in distribution by a vast programme to replace leaking pipes.

Budget implications: A substantial sum of money will ideally be put in every year’s budget from now (2025-26 budget) to 2035, to achieve these long-term goals. For this budget, we propose Rs 300 million for the energy security goal under the Ministry of Energy and Public Utilities; Rs 200 million under the Ministry of Agroindustry for food security through self-sufficiency; and Rs 100 million for fresh water management under the Ministry of Environment or that of National Infrastructure, since achieving that security will likely include building new reservoirs and new technical solutions.

Knowing our combativity and initiative, we surely will gradually achieve this self-sufficiency in basics (rice and flour, grains and chicken & meat or replacement crops, energy, and fresh water, without forgetting medical supplies, and basic equipment, either locally manufactured or imported from reliable suppliers and transportation regionally and nationally, within our region and the rest of the planet. As well as communications with each other, with and from government, with our Indian Ocean and African neighbours and with the rest of the world.

Dr Michael Atchia

(Ex Programme Director, UNEP; Ex President, Mauritius Academy of Science & Technology; D.Sc. University of Salford, Manchester, UK; co-author of Environmental Management, John Wiley, 1995)
mklatchia@intnet.mu

22nd March 2025