By UN Environment
Sun-drenched Mauritius, with its breathtaking mountains, pristine beaches and turquoise waters, is a tourist paradise. Located at the tail of the Indian Ocean cyclone belt, the archipelago is also highly vulnerable to adverse impacts of climate change. So much so that the 2018 World Risk Report ranks it 16th among the highest disaster risk countries.
Tourism, which contributed about 24.3 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2018 up from 23.8 per cent the previous year, is increasingly being impacted by coral bleaching due to higher seawater temperatures and beach erosion. Some beaches shrank by more than 10 metres over the last decade.
The country’s vulnerability is due to a range of climatic, biological, geological and technological hazards. In recent years, the increasing frequency and intensity of cyclones, torrential rains and flash floods have also threatened people’s livelihoods in the islands. Read more>>
