Don’t hold your breath for climate action...

...because you might be left fighting for sheer life as your lungs gasp for fresh air. 

Having reported at the start of this year that one of the most crucial takeaways from 2019 is the fight against climate change to prevent tragic instances such as the forest fires in South West Australia, I am left feeling the heat in my own backyard - the paradise island of Mauritius.

It has been barely four days since Mauritius announced just this Thursday that oil was leaking from Japanese bulk carrier Wakashio that had run aground in its southeast on 25th July, en route from Brazil to China. But it seems a lifetime ago as the mind grapples with the implications of an ecological disaster that has no parallel in the island’s history. 

What is even more worrying is that this is no isolated incident. Last week alone, Beirut has lost lives and taken the environmental movement by storm as the risks of handling unsafe cargo in its port became too tragically apparent. In the same breath, an abandoned oil tanker off the coast of Yemen continues to pose a major ecological threat to the entire Red Sea, another marine ecosystem of historic importance.

What went wrong in Mauritius?

Built in 2007 by Universal Shipbuilding in Kawasaki, Japan, the Wakashio is a 203,130 deadweight tonnes bulk carrier measuring 300 meters in length. While managed by Okiyo Maritime / Nagashiki Shipping of Japan, it is registered in Panama for commercial convenience.

Given that the ship had no payload at the time, it appears hard to believe but is unfortunately only too true that the extent of damage it has wreaked is not only historically unprecedented but also potentially irreparable. 

The bulk carrier, which is believed to have been carrying 4,000 tonnes of fuel oil, began to breach on Day 12 of being run aground, releasing some of the bunker fuel. 

Indeed, what makes matters worse is that the grounding happened not in the commercial harbour area of Port Louis but at an ecological heartland of Pointe d'Esny, which is listed under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, and near the marine park of Blue Bay, also a Ramsar Site of International Importance - which is best expressed as Mauritius’ answer to the Great Barrier Reef down under. 

Mauritius’ Prime Minister, Pravind Jugnauth, declared a “state of environmental emergency” on 7 August, after the ship began spilling oil, and on the same day, he appealed to the French President for help, noting that Mauritius does not have ‘the skills and expertise to refloat stranded ships’, adding that Wakashio ‘represents a danger’ for the country and its tourism sector, already hard hit by the coronavirus crisis.

Divers come to the rescue as the oil spill threatens the marine biodiversity of the pristine island nation

What has been done so far?

The ship’s owner, Nagashiki Shipping, said in a statement that ‘Oil prevention measures are in place and an oil boom has been deployed around the vessel,’ adding that it ‘takes its environmental responsibilities extremely seriously and will take every effort with partner agencies and contractors to protect the marine environment and prevent further pollution’.

In the meantime, Mauritians from all parts of the island have come together in a heart-warming display of solidarity. Particularly commendable are the efforts of the Mauritian Wildlife Federation (MWF), which galvanised all staff to assist with rescuing the wealth of biodiversity on the tiny coral island of Ile aux Aigrettes. An internationally important conservation site that was declared a Nature Reserve in 1965, some species of birds as well as small land animals are unique to the tiny but crucial protected ecosystem that is believed to be a pristine preservation ground for certain endangered creatures not even found on mainland Mauritius. MWF staff immediately evacuated visitors and then got to work with remove critically endangered plants to be taken care of on the mainland, along with a limited number of bird species such as the Olive White-eye and Mauritius Fody as well as land mammals such as Aldabra tortoises. Their boat also helped to lay booms to protect Ile aux Aigrettes and the mangroves on the mainland in the Ramsar site, besides deploying absorbent pads which they noted ‘had been provided a week ago to absorb oil products, not water’ – in an effort to put all their might behind the noble cause. The National Parks and Conservation Service along with some animal welfare organisations and the MWF also organised themselves to deal with any seabirds or turtles affected by oil.

International organisations have also mobilised their staff to deal with an ecological disaster that is unparalled in the island’s history. The United Nations (UN), under the leadership of the UN Resident Coordinator and with the support of the UNEP/OCHA Joint Environment Unit, is availing oil spill expertise and coordination capacity. UN entities that are resident in Mauritius are working closely with the Government to support the immediate response, including technical support on issues related to environment, oil spill and impact assessment by UNDP, support from UNESCO Oceanographic institute, public health support by WHO, working populations at-risk by IOM and forensic investigation plus legal support from UNODC.

Volunteers put together rows upon rows of absorbent tubes at museum site L’aventure du Sucre in Beau Plan which doubled up as a rescue centre over the weekend

To supplement the more formal and organised efforts of local and international organisations, civil society organisations and individual volunteers across the island have sprung into action. Social media sites popular in Mauritius as well as local Facebook groups are rife with images posted online that show volunteers collecting straw from fields and filling sacks to make barriers.Volunteering efforts have also come in the form of supporters making their own absorbent tubes with women's tights and hair to add to the clean-up exercise, with some residents canvassing local hairdressers to contribute leftover tresses, while others have been cleaning up the island’s beaches at considerable risk to their own health and safety. 

However, even as local conglomerates such as CIEL, environmental NGOs such as Eco Sud and museum sites such as L’aventure du Sucre in Beau Plan have organised superhuman efforts over the weekend to help build the boom which is even now being put in place to prevent the oil from spreading, all attempts to stabilise the vessel and pump up the oil have failed so far due to bad weather conditions.

Unfortunately, before an effective shoreline clean-up exercise can be carried out, the oil needs to be contained and as much removed mechanically as possible, which is specialist work. Help is being brought in from abroad to supplement the equipment that already exists in Mauritius – indeed the military from the island’s neighbouring French territory of Reunion have already joined the support operations in full swing locally. It may be noted that an order from the government asking people to leave the clean-up to local authorities was issued on Saturday, as it was stated that the oil fumes are highly toxic and pose a danger to health – but civil society efforts have continued unabated nonetheless, showing a heightened sense of responsibility to the natural ecosystem that constitutes the bulk of the island’s territory. Indeed, the tiny land mass all of 2,040 square kilometres (790 sq mi) is surrounded by a vast maritime zone of 2.3 million square kilometers and an additional sea area of 396 000 square kilometers co managed with Seychelles. 

Volunteer covered with black sludge amid the oil spill clean up operation in Mauritius' Pointe d'Esny

Too little, too late?

In the meantime, a press conference held by Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth late last evening noted that two tanks remained in the ship and bad weather might not permit them to be extracted at the time of speaking.

As the government flounders to explain what went wrong and why no action was taken sooner especially considering the sensitive positioning of the stranded ship amid the Pointe d'Esny protected wetlands, the environment ministry has reportedly said that attempts to stabilise the vessel and to pump out the oil have failed due to rough seas.

"This is the first time that we are faced with a catastrophe of this kind, and we are insufficiently equipped to handle this problem," Fishing Minister Sudheer Maudhoo said.

Meanwhile, the offer by the French to step into the breach and bring its expertise to the rescue of the island nation, given the close historical ties and the EU economy’s own leading position on climate action as captured by the Paris climate agreement, is being lauded across international media and local news outlets alike.

"When biodiversity is in peril, there is urgency to act," French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted on Saturday, following this tweet up with a touching personal message to both the Mauritian Prime Minister and the island people: "France is there. Alongside the people of Mauritius. You can count on our support dear Jugnauth."

Following this offer of help, France has sent a military aircraft with pollution control equipment from its nearby island of Réunion. Yesterday, Japan announced it would dispatch a six-member team to assist the French efforts.

What next? 

Fields upon fields of absorbent tubes are put together by indefatigable volunteers in an attempt to save their island’s precious ecosystem under local chants of 'Sov Nou Lagon' (meaning Save our lagoon in the local language of Creole), before being loaded on the Mauritius' Special Mobile Force vehicle (bel0w) for transportation to the incident site at Mahebourg.

For now, of the 4,000 tonnes on the ship, it is reported that at least 1,000 has made its way into the pristine waters, weaving an insidious black serpentine path through the beautiful blue and green the Mauritian seas are otherwise famous for.  Ecologists fear the ship could break up, which would cause an even greater leak and damage the island's coastline. Mauritius does not depend on its seas only for precious sea food but crucially, also for tourism which constitutes around 8.6% of the GDP on its own, and upto double digits if indirect GDP impact is taken into account through ancillary expenditure by tourists. With Covid-19 already having caused a huge setback to tourism in the island economy, where borders have been closed since 19th March and are expected to stay closed at least till the end of this month, a whopping 60,000 job losses are expected across the economy, the CNBC quotes the Finance Minister as saying earlier this year.

While the French Military is putting its might behind the exercise to clean the seas and stem the damage from the vessel’s precarious position at present, it is clear that this assault on nature raises more questions than the Mauritian authorities, or the ship owners, are prepared to answer.

As I look at my three-year-old son who is learning the alphabet in a local school with each letter mapped to a different sea creature, every one of them found to a greater or lesser extent in the abundant waters that lovingly encircle the island of his birth - his latest triumph of ‘U’ for ‘Urchin’ echoes uneasily in my head and leaves a sore sting behind, much like the notoriously prickled creature itself. 

Will he grow up in a world where these sea animals are creatures of lore, much like the famous Dodo bird of Mauritius that lends its story to cautionary tales of animal extinction, or will we wake up to the haunting cry for climate action before it is too late?