tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/mauritius-17371/articlesMauritius – The Conversation2024-01-24T16:47:17Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2209242024-01-24T16:47:17Z2024-01-24T16:47:17ZDebt, wage theft and coercion drive the global garment industry – the only answer is collective action<p>Major fashion brands including Barbour and PVH (the owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger) have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/jan/09/fashion-brands-workers-rights-transparentem-calvin-klein-hilfiger-barbour-compensate-garment-workers-mauritius">agreed</a> to pay over £400,000 in compensation to migrant workers in Mauritius. These workers from Bangladesh, India, China and Madagascar had been forced to pay illegal recruitment fees and, alongside other indicators of forced labour, were allegedly subject to deception and intimidation. </p>
<p>These are the findings from an investigation carried out between 2022 and 2023 by <a href="https://transparentem.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/I-Came-Here-with-So-Many-Dreams_Transparentem.pdf">Transparentem</a>, a US-based organisation that investigates workers’ rights. </p>
<p>Migrant workers across several Mauritian factories reported agreeing to pay fees ranging from a few hundred to several thousand US dollars to secure a good job. But, upon arrival, they discovered the job was poorly paid and expenses were higher than promised.</p>
<p>Exploitative practices like this are actually quite common. The Mauritius case is the latest example of the <a href="https://respect.international/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/The-Global-Business-of-Forced-Labour-Report-of-Findings-University-of-Sheffield-2018.pdf">use of forced labour</a> (the most commonly identified form of modern slavery) within company supply chains. But all garment workers – free and unfree – can experience unacceptable forms of exploitation that can only be countered through sustained labour organisation. </p>
<h2>The coloniality of our wardrobe</h2>
<p>In 2013, an eight-storey commercial building called <a href="https://cleanclothes.org/campaigns/past/rana-plaza">Rana Plaza</a> collapsed in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Over 1,100 people – mostly garment workers – lost their lives, leading to widespread protests and international scrutiny on working conditions in garment factories. </p>
<p>Since then, multiple reports have uncovered labour abuse in the garment sector, including several instances of forced labour. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rana-plaza-ten-years-after-the-bangladesh-factory-collapse-we-are-no-closer-to-fixing-modern-slavery-203774">Rana Plaza: ten years after the Bangladesh factory collapse, we are no closer to fixing modern slavery</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/19/world/asia/china-mask-forced-labor.html">investigation</a> found that Chinese companies were using Uyghurs to make personal protective equipment during the COVID pandemic through a contentious government-sponsored programme. The Uyghurs are a largely Muslim, persecuted ethnic minority primarily from the Xinjiang region of north-west China. </p>
<p>The global emergency that was caused by the pandemic is over – at least for now. But <a href="https://globallabourcolumn.org/2024/01/10/challenging-corporate-complicity-with-state-imposed-uyghur-forced-labour/">new evidence</a> suggests forced Uyghur labour remains present in 17 industries within China, including the garment industry.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570695/original/file-20240122-20-iekiz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A line of women dressed in blue working at sewing machines." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570695/original/file-20240122-20-iekiz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570695/original/file-20240122-20-iekiz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570695/original/file-20240122-20-iekiz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570695/original/file-20240122-20-iekiz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570695/original/file-20240122-20-iekiz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570695/original/file-20240122-20-iekiz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570695/original/file-20240122-20-iekiz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">April 2019: Uyghur women work in a cloth factory in Xinjiang, China.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/hotan-china-april-27-2019-uigur-1453598399">Azamat Imanaliev/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Third-party labour contractors are also prevalent in many global supply chains. Contractors recruit and supply local or international migrant labour, and garment factories rely on them to manage and control their workforce. </p>
<p>But contract labourers are <a href="https://glc.yale.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/labor_chain-_analysing_the_role_of_labor_contractors.pdf">vulnerable to abuse</a>. In the lower rungs of the supply chain (in informal workshops and homes), workers often work based on a system of <a href="https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/34268/1/The%20Oppressive%20Labour%20Conditions%20of%20the%20Working%20Poor%20in%20the%20Peripheral%20Segments%20of%20India%E2%80%99s%20.pdf">advanced payments</a>. </p>
<p>The labour contractor pays the worker an “advance”, which locks the worker into their employment. It prevents them from negotiating better salaries or working for others until the debt is repaid.</p>
<p>In India, there is evidence that this debt-based system is spreading to garment factories. In Bengaluru, for instance, women in garment factories work under <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308709392_In_debt_to_the_time-bank_the_manipulation_of_working_time_in_Indian_garment_factories_and_working_dead_horse">constant debt</a> to their employer. Missed daily targets, lost productivity or time off are turned into debt that workers must compensate through future labour.</p>
<p>Many forced labour practices have a long history, dating back to colonial relations. Both labour contracting and indebtedness characterised the <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/southasia/2019/10/18/jlf-2019-interview-sven-beckert-empire-of-cotton/">indenture labour system</a> that dominated the production of textiles for centuries. In <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20488049">19th-century India</a>, for example, indenture workers were managed by labour contractors who paid them advances.</p>
<p>Under this point of view, the contemporary garment supply chain is a modern avatar of the colonial labour plantation. </p>
<h2>Illegal terminations and wage theft</h2>
<p>Not every worker that stitches our clothing is forced to do so. In fact, the majority are not. But even workers that we would consider to be “free” – those who are not tied to an employer or labour contractor – can experience harsh forms of exploitation. </p>
<p>I recently wrote a <a href="https://www.ilo.org/newdelhi/whatwedo/publications/WCMS_884310/lang--en/index.htm">report</a> for the International Labour Organization (ILO) with labour activist and colleague Rakhi Sehgal that documents some of the industrial grievances garment workers filed individually or via unions in India. The report is based on a project that contributes to the ILO’s <a href="https://www.ilo.org/beirut/projects/WCMS_502329/lang--en/index.htm">Work in Freedom programme</a>. This programme aims to reduce vulnerability to forced labour in south Asia and the Middle East, particularly for women in the garment sector.</p>
<p>We analysed a total of 75 grievances across three of India’s export hubs – Gurugram, Bengaluru and Tiruppur – and found shocking patterns of labour abuse. </p>
<p>We discovered the widespread use of illegal terminations by employers, either through factory closures or relocation. We also found evidence of wage-theft. This usually involves not paying the worker’s final wages – a practice that <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/wp-content/uploads/sites/45/Tejani-and-Fukuda-Parr-2021-GVC-ILR.pdf">escalated</a> during the COVID pandemic. But it can also be the result of managerial tactics like imposing impossible targets or paying overtime rates that are lower than the legal threshold. </p>
<p>Our report also highlighted gender differences in labour abuse. Sexual harassment was consistently deployed as a tool to discipline women working on the assembly line. We found widespread evidence of sexual harassment in Bengaluru, but it was also present in garment factories <a href="https://feministlawarchives.pldindia.org/wp-content/uploads/recognising-women-workers-issues-at-work-in-india-poulomi-pal.pdf?">surrounding Delhi</a>.</p>
<h2>Social justice on the shopfloor</h2>
<p>Cases like the labour abuse in Mauritius are conspicuous and show new connections between modern slavery and migration. But these cases are enabled by centuries of colonial and neo-colonial organisation of production that has involved unacceptable forms of worker exploitation. </p>
<p>The analysis of the disputes in <a href="https://www.ilo.org/newdelhi/whatwedo/publications/WCMS_884310/lang--en/index.htm">our study</a> clearly suggests that social justice is only achievable through collective action. Most of the industrial grievances that were won by workers and their representatives were, unsurprisingly, collective grievances filed by unions. </p>
<p>In light of yet another sweatshop scandal, let us remember that upholding the freedom of association (the right to form and join trade unions) stands as the most effective means of fighting all forms of labour unfreedom – from Mauritius to India or Bangladesh.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220924/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alessandra Mezzadri has received research funding from ESRC-DfID, British Academy, UNU-WIDER, and the ILO. In the past, she has offered occasional consultancy services to organizations including DfID, ActionAid UK, and ILO-READ. All views expressed here are her own. </span></em></p>Garment workers around the world experience unacceptable forms of exploitation.Alessandra Mezzadri, Reader in Global Development and Political Economy, SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2204982024-01-16T14:14:16Z2024-01-16T14:14:16ZDangerous chemicals found in recycled plastics, making them unsafe for use – experts explain the hazards<p>Plastic pollution is a menace worldwide. Plastics are now <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abg5433">found</a> in every <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.1c04158">environment</a> on the planet, from the deepest seas to the atmosphere and human bodies. </p>
<p>Scientific evidence <a href="https://doi.org/10.5334/aogh.4056">describing harm</a> to the environment and humans is growing. Hence, the United Nations has <a href="https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/39812/OEWG_PP_1_INF_1_UNEA%20resolution.pdf">resolved</a> to <a href="https://enb.iisd.org/negotiations/international-legally-binding-instrument-plastics-pollution-including-marine#:%7E:text=The%20United%20Nations%20Environment%20Assembly,pollution%2C%20including%20in%20the%20marine">negotiate</a> a legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution. </p>
<p>Strategies to achieve this goal include provisions throughout the plastics lifespan: production, use, waste management and remediation. </p>
<p>In designing rules for managing plastic, it’s important to understand that plastic materials and waste streams are complex. Not all plastics are the same. And recycled plastics are not necessarily “better” – less harmful – than virgin plastics. If they contained harmful chemicals to begin with, recycling doesn’t make them less harmful. And sometimes they are contaminated by other substances.</p>
<p>We conducted a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352340923008090?via%3Dihub">study</a> identifying and measuring the concentration of contaminants in recycled pellets from 28 small-scale recycling facilities in the global south. Plastic waste is often exported from high income countries to less developed countries, with few to no requirements for reporting their makeup.</p>
<p>Our investigation covered facilities in Cameroon, Mauritius, Nigeria, Tanzania and Togo in Africa as well others in Asia, Europe and South America. </p>
<p>We found 191 pesticides, 107 pharmaceuticals and 81 industrial compounds among many others in the recycled plastic pellets. Many of these chemicals could be hazardous and make the plastics unsuitable for reuse.</p>
<p>This finding can inform regulations for recycled plastics. The chemical composition of the plastic should be checked before it is recycled. </p>
<h2>Chemicals used in production of plastics</h2>
<p>More than <a href="https://www.unep.org/resources/report/chemicals-plastics-technical-report">13,000 chemicals</a> are currently used in the production of plastic materials and products. They can include thousands of plastics additives – but also substances that are added unintentionally. Some unwanted chemicals form during the production or life of plastics. Thousands of these chemicals have dangerous properties. The health risks of some others are unknown. </p>
<p>Throughout the plastics value chain, during production, use, waste and recycling, other chemicals can contaminate the material too. The result may be recycled materials whose chemical composition is unknown. </p>
<p>Previous studies have reported the presence of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2017.10.014">plastics additives</a> in recycled materials. Among them were chemicals that are <a href="https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/chemicals-waste/what-we-do/emerging-issues/endocrine-disrupting-chemicals">known</a> to have <a href="https://www.epa.gov/endocrine-disruption/overview-endocrine-disruption">negative effects on health</a>. Examples include <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0055387">phthalates</a> (plastic softeners), bisphenols like <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0303720706002292">BPA</a>, and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969721044478?via%3Dihub">UV-stabilisers</a> used to protect plastics from sun damage and yellowing.</p>
<p>In our work, we established the presence of chemicals in recycled plastic that can cause harm to humans or other organisms. They include pesticides, pharmaceuticals and fragrances. Others are chemicals that result from burning natural materials, man-made organic chemicals used for industrial applications like paint, and ultraviolet filters.</p>
<p>We quantified a total of 491 different chemical substances. Some had specific uses and others formed from the breakdown of products.</p>
<p>Some national and regional policies <a href="https://www.basel.int/Implementation/Plasticwaste/Globalgovernance/tabid/8335/Default.aspx">regulate</a> the allowable concentration of hazardous chemicals in specific plastic products. But only 1% of plastics chemicals are subject to international regulation in existing multilateral environmental agreements. Policies don’t adequately address the issue of transparent reporting of chemicals in plastics across their value chain. Also, there are no laws to govern monitoring of chemicals in recycled materials. This is a <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adk9846">serious gap</a> in oversight. Stronger and more globally coordinated measures are necessary. </p>
<p>Our findings emphasise the importance of regulating mechanical recycling, as many of the substances measured were contaminants and not plastic additives. Many of the chemicals we identified may have contaminated the materials during use. For example, a jug used for storing pesticides will absorb some of the pesticides and will contaminate the recycling waste stream. Plastics in the environment are also known to absorb <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X11005960">organic pollutants</a>. </p>
<p>To assess the quality of recycled plastics, it’s crucial to know which chemicals are present and in what concentrations. This information can guide regulations about how recycled plastics may be used. It will also be valuable for plastics producers, waste management workers (including recyclers), consumers, and the scientific community.</p>
<h2>A path towards safer reuse of plastics</h2>
<p>To recycle more materials safely, several changes are necessary. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>increased transparency regarding the use of chemicals and their risks </p></li>
<li><p>chemical simplification of the plastics market, so that fewer and less toxic chemicals are permitted for use</p></li>
<li><p>improved waste management infrastructure with separated waste streams </p></li>
<li><p>improved recycling methods, including monitoring of hazardous chemicals.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Chemical simplification of plastic additives will promote sustainability, safety and regulatory compliance. It will help manufacturers to minimise the environmental impact and adverse health effects of complex chemical formulations. Simpler chemical structures also improve the recycling potential of plastics and make recycling more efficient and cost-effective.</p>
<p><a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.est.1c04903">Chemical simplification</a> can also reduce potential health risks in the disposal of plastic materials. </p>
<p>From a regulatory perspective, chemical simplification supports clearer and more enforceable safety guidelines.</p>
<p>It’s is a crucial step towards the sustainable production and use of plastics, as countries work towards a legal instrument to end pollution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220498/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bethanie Carney Almroth receives funding from the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development
FORMAS (grant number 2021-00913) and The Carl Tryggers Foundation (grant number 21:1234).
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eric Carmona Martinez received funding from Carl Trygger Foundation. </span></em></p>Recycled plastics are not safe if the chemicals used in creating them in the first place are harmful.Bethanie Carney Almroth, Associate Professor, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of GothenburgEric Carmona Martinez, Scientist, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2170672023-11-26T08:40:39Z2023-11-26T08:40:39ZClimate adaptation funds are not reaching frontline communities: what needs to be done about it<p>Communities around the world face <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en/our-mandate/climate/wmo-statement-state-of-global-climate/Africa-2022">increasingly severe</a> and <a href="https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/facts-about-climate-change-in-africa/">frequent impacts</a> from climate change. They are on the “frontlines” of droughts, flooding, desertification and sea level rise. </p>
<p>International climate finance is supposed to help. In the 2015 Paris Agreement, the world’s wealthiest countries pledged <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-glasgow-climate-pact/cop26-outcomes-finance-for-climate-adaptation#Developed-countries-have-pledged-USD-100-billion-a">US$50 billion annually</a> to support climate adaptation among those “particularly vulnerable” to climate change. Climate adaptation is the adjustments humans make to reduce exposure to climate risk. </p>
<p>Eight years later, it is clear that this money is failing to reach vulnerable “frontline communities”, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Recently, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Sudan and Niger have been among the <a href="https://www.germanwatch.org/sites/germanwatch.org/files/2021-01/cri-2021_table_10_most_affected_countries_in_2019.jpg">top ten most affected countries</a>.</p>
<p>The host country of the upcoming annual United Nations climate negotiations (COP28), the United Arab Emirates, has announced it is focused on “<a href="https://www.cop28.com/en/news/2023/10/cop28-presidency-co-hosts-global-dialogue-in-abu-dhabi-to-focus-on-accelerating-the-energy">fixing climate finance</a>”. </p>
<p>I am a researcher who has studied international climate finance for seven years, both at the annual COPs and through research in <a href="https://www.sei.org/about-sei/press-room/finance-for-climate-adaptation-fails-reach-most-vulnerable/">Madagascar</a>, Mauritius and <a href="https://www.sei.org/projects/equity-in-adaptation-finance/">Namibia</a>. My work explores how to make climate finance more equitable and accessible for vulnerable communities.</p>
<p>It’s my view that the countries that contribute the bulk of the funding for climate adaptation can ensure more money reaches those who need it most. To do that they must first understand why financing isn’t reaching frontline communities. Otherwise money will continue to fall well short of need.</p>
<h2>Why funding isn’t reaching vulnerable communities</h2>
<p>The clearest reason why adaptation finance does not reach these communities is that there is simply not enough of it. Wealthy countries have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/20/rich-countries-not-providing-poor-with-pledged-climate-finance-analysis-says">consistently failed</a> to deliver on the US$50 billion commitment. Every year the gap between needs and support grows. The latest <a href="https://www.unep.org/resources/adaptation-gap-report-2023">Adaptation Gap Report</a> estimates that international adaptation finance is 10-18 times below need.</p>
<p>Beyond this shortfall, the current structure of climate finance prevents frontline communities from accessing support. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378022000139">Studies show</a> that the poorest and most vulnerable countries receive less than their fair share of adaptation finance. Support for sub-Saharan African countries is <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-ways-in-which-finance-for-climate-adaptation-in-africa-falls-short-169280">as little as US$5 per person</a> per year. </p>
<p>Two key barriers explain this disconnect. The first is the overlap of climate vulnerability with conflict and political instability. <a href="https://www.icrc.org/sites/default/files/topic/file_plus_list/rain_turns_to_dust_climate_change_conflict.pdf#page=12">Twelve of the 20 countries</a> most vulnerable to climate change are also affected by conflict. Vulnerable countries are also prone to political turmoil, frequent changes in government, and high levels of government corruption.</p>
<p>UN climate funds and other major funders like the World Bank see these countries as less “ready” for adaptation projects. <a href="https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/169654">My research</a> has also found that wealthy countries worry their taxpayers’ money will be lost to corruption.</p>
<p>The second barrier is the finance application process. Proposals for UN climate funds, such as the <a href="https://www.wri.org/research/improving-access-green-climate-fund-how-fund-can-better-support-developing-country">Green Climate Fund</a>, can number hundreds of pages. Application requirements differ from fund to fund. It can take years to develop a proposal and to receive the money.</p>
<h2>Reaching frontline communities</h2>
<p>Even when vulnerable countries receive international support, further barriers can prevent it from reaching frontline communities. Currently, only <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-three-major-gaps-in-climate-adaptation-finance-for-developing-countries/">17% of adaptation finance has reached local levels</a>. My research in <a href="https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/169654">Madagascar and Mauritius</a> found both administrative and political barriers.</p>
<p>National governments consume resources administering grants, often hiring expensive foreign consultants to plan, implement and monitor projects. These costs eat into the money intended for local communities. The focus on large, individual projects tends to concentrate funding in one area, limiting how far benefits can reach.</p>
<p>Funds also require clear evidence of success. Governments might invest in projects they know will succeed rather than take innovative approaches or choose riskier areas. </p>
<p>National governments also make decisions for political reasons. They tend to distribute resources – including money for adaptation – based on what will help them stay in power. They are more likely to fund political supporters than opponents. Communities are often vulnerable precisely because they are politically marginalised.</p>
<p>Finally, studies show that adaptation finance, like development funding, can be lost to corruption and mismanagement. Wealthy and powerful elites can <a href="https://theecologist.org/2021/jan/22/adaptation-funds-increase-climate-vulnerability">“capture” the benefits</a> of internationally financed projects, such as a <a href="https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000050">disproportionate share of rice seeds</a> for a project to build the resilience of agriculture in Madagascar.</p>
<h2>How to fix it</h2>
<p>It is not too late to change how adaptation finance flows to ensure more of it reaches vulnerable communities. The first step is to increase funding for adaptation. Support for adaptation <a href="https://www.unep.org/resources/adaptation-gap-report-2023">actually declined in 2021</a>, the most recent year for which we have data. Wealthy countries must meet the commitments they made in the Paris Agreement.</p>
<p>The second step is for UN funds, the World Bank and wealthy countries to dedicate a greater proportion of funding to the most vulnerable countries. They must do so regardless of whether these countries are affected by conflict, instability and corruption.</p>
<p>For UN funds this can be accomplished by simplifying and standardising application procedures. Funds can also dedicate more resources to help countries prepare proposals. They should focus less on demanding clear results and more on supporting adaptation that aligns with national and local priorities.</p>
<p>Wealthy countries that contribute to climate funds need to give up some power over the money. They will have to accept imperfect governance and that some funding will be lost to mismanagement and corruption. They have tolerated such trade-offs before, such as during the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/07/corruption-covid-19-how-to-fight-back/">COVID pandemic</a>, when urgency outweighed concerns over waste and fraud.</p>
<p>But funders should also push for increased transparency around projects. They can encourage scrutiny by local civil society groups, for example, by publishing project information in local languages.</p>
<p>The third step is to experiment. For example, the Green Climate Fund is currently experimenting with <a href="https://www.greenclimate.fund/project/fp024">“decentralised” adaptation finance</a> in Namibia. Rather than a single large project, the Namibian government broke the funds into 31 small grants for community-based organisations. Together with the University of Namibia, we are <a href="https://www.sei.org/projects/equity-in-adaptation-finance/">examining whether and how</a> this approach helps more funding reach frontline communities. Early results are encouraging.</p>
<p>Fixing climate finance is not simple, but it is urgent. Failing to do so means leaving the most vulnerable alone to face the increasing threats of climate change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217067/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine Browne has received funding from the US Department of Education (Fulbright-Hayes Doctoral Dissertation Abroad fellowship), US State Department (Fulbright Fellowship), the University of Michigan, and Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (FORMAS).</span></em></p>Getting climate funds to frontline communities may require rich countries and the UN easing control over how the money is spent.Katherine Browne, Research Fellow, Stockholm Environment InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2152702023-10-12T13:31:06Z2023-10-12T13:31:06ZMauritius is the latest nation to decriminalise same-sex relations in a divided continent<p>The Mauritius Supreme Court has <a href="https://www.humandignitytrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Judgment-AH-SEEK-.pdf">declared</a> unconstitutional a law that criminalises consensual same-sex acts between adult men. The decision boosts the trend in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region towards decriminalisation. Now, a slight majority – nine out of 16 member states – do not prohibit gay and lesbian sexual relations. </p>
<p>I have researched and taught human rights law in Africa, including the rights of sexual minorities, for over three decades, and closely follow the work of the <a href="https://achpr.au.int/">African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights</a>. </p>
<p>The African Commission, as the continent’s human rights custodian, should lend its unequivocal support to the decriminalisation trend. This is particularly significant as attempts are made to further criminalise and stigmatise sexual minorities in parts of Africa.</p>
<p>The commission has not yet expressed its view on the decision. Its <a href="https://achpr.au.int/en/events/2023-10-20/77os-public">77th ordinary session</a>, starting on 20 October 2023 in Arusha, Tanzania, is an opportunity to do so. It should build on its 2014 <a href="https://achpr.au.int/en/adopted-resolutions/275-resolution-protection-against-violence-and-other-human-rights-violations">guidance</a> to African states on eradicating violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity. </p>
<h2>Mauritius court ruling</h2>
<p>The Mauritian Supreme Court <a href="https://www.humandignitytrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Judgment-AH-SEEK-.pdf">found</a> that section 250 of the <a href="https://sherloc.unodc.org/cld/uploads/res/document/mus/criminal-code_html/Mauritius_Criminal_Code.pdf">1838 Mauritius Criminal Code</a>, which criminalises anal sex between two consenting adult men, violates the <a href="https://cdn.accf-francophonie.org/2019/03/maurice-constitution2016.pdf">1968 Mauritius constitution</a>. </p>
<p>The litigant, Ah Seek, a gay Mauritian man and board member of the Mauritian NGO <a href="https://www.actogether.mu/fr/trouver-une-ong/collectif-arc-en-ciel">Collectif-Arc-en-Ciel</a>, invoked a number of constitutional grounds. However, the court based its decision on the most directly relevant ground: the right not to be discriminated against.</p>
<p>In addressing two issues that could militate against a finding in Ah Seek’s favour, the court relied on the approach of other courts in the SADC region. The 2021 <a href="https://www.humandignitytrust.org/wp-content/uploads/resources/2021.11.29-AG-Botswana-v-Motshidiemang.pdf">judgment</a> by Botswana’s Court of Appeal was particularly relevant. This judgment held that the constitutionally protected ground of “sex” in the Botswana constitution encompassed “sexual orientation”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/botswana-court-ruling-is-a-ray-of-hope-for-lgbt-people-across-africa-118713">Botswana court ruling is a ray of hope for LGBT people across Africa</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The first issue was the contention that Mauritius’ constitution does not explicitly prohibit discrimination based on “sexual orientation”. The relevant provision (<a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Mauritius_2016">section 16</a>) forbids discrimination on the basis of seven specified grounds, including sex. </p>
<p>The Mauritian court concluded that the word “sex” in section 16 of the constitution includes “sexual orientation”. </p>
<p>The court also emphasised the country’s international human rights commitments. It said that, as a state party to the <a href="https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=IV-4&chapter=4&clang=_en">International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights</a>, Mauritius was expected to interpret its constitution in line with this <a href="https://juris.ohchr.org/casedetails/702/en-US">treaty</a>. </p>
<p>The second issue was whether the rarity of prosecutions removed the need for the court to decide. Referring to a <a href="https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZACC/1998/15.html">judgment</a> by the South African Constitutional Court, the Mauritius court held that the mere threat of arrest, prosecution and conviction</p>
<blockquote>
<p>hangs like the sword of Damocles over the heads of homosexual men.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The court therefore concluded that the constitution protected everyone from discrimination based on their sexual orientation, whatever it might be. </p>
<p>When it was given an opportunity to show any legitimate purpose for this form of discrimination, the state merely made reference to same-sex relations as a “highly sensitive issue” due to the “delicate socio-cultural and religious fabric of Mauritian society”. Rejecting these as justifications for discrimination, the court underlined that Mauritius was a secular state. </p>
<h2>Regional trend</h2>
<p>Greater societal acceptance of homosexuality can be both a catalyst for and a consequence of decriminalisation of same-sex relationships. </p>
<p>In a recent survey by the independent African surveys network <a href="https://www.afrobarometer.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/AD639-Uganda-a-continental-extreme-in-rejection-of-people-in-same-sex-relationships-Afrobarometer-9may23-.pdf">Afrobarometer</a>, Mauritius featured prominently as a country in which tolerance (towards an LGBT person as neighbour) had increased from 2014 to 2022. </p>
<p>Nine of the 11 African countries with an above-average tolerance percentage towards LGBT persons were from the SADC. All of these 11 states, except Eswatini, have decriminalised “sodomy laws”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lgbtiq-migrants-and-asylum-seekers-in-south-africa-major-new-study-identifies-a-diverse-wide-spread-community-199227">LGBTIQ+ migrants and asylum seekers in South Africa: major new study identifies a diverse, wide-spread community</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The conditions for decriminalisation seem to be converging in Eswatini. Its population displays a relatively high level of acceptance (of 42%) in the survey. Also, its Supreme Court has <a href="https://eswatinilii.org/akn/sz/judgment/szsc/2023/23/eng@2023-06-16/source.pdf">signalled</a> some openness to uphold LGBT persons’ rights. </p>
<p>Besides Eswatini, other SADC member states that still retain “sodomy” laws are Comoros, Malawi, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. With the exception of the Comoros, the laws of these states are relics from British colonial times, when “sodomy” laws were imposed as part of a colonial “civilising” mission. The Mauritius Supreme Court <a href="https://www.humandignitytrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Judgment-AH-SEEK-.pdf">noted</a> that, as a colonial import, section 250 did not reflect Mauritian values and was not the “expression of domestic democratic will”. </p>
<p>Today, just over half of the SADC states do not criminalise same-sex relationships between consenting adults. The Democratic Republic of Congo never legislated on this matter. In <a href="https://media.lesotholii.org/files/legislation/akn-ls-act-2012-6-eng-2012-03-09.pdf">Lesotho</a> (2012), the <a href="http://www.seychellesnewsagency.com/articles/5198/Seychelles+parliament+passes+bill+to+decriminalize+sodomy">Seychelles</a> (2016), <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2015-06-29-mozambique-scraps-colonial-era-homosexuality-and-abortion-bans/">Mozambique</a> (2015) and <a href="https://africlaw.com/2021/03/05/decriminalisation-of-consensual-same-sex-acts-in-angola-and-the-progress-of-lgbti-human-rights-in-lusophone-africa/">Angola</a> (2019), the legislature in the last decade or so adopted a new version of the penal code. These offences, stemming from the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2008/12/17/alien-legacy/origins-sodomy-laws-british-colonialism">English common law</a> or the <a href="https://www.ahry.up.ac.za/garrido-r#pgfId-1119589">1886 Portuguese Penal Code</a>, were omitted. In Madagascar, the <a href="http://www.vertic.org/media/National%20Legislation/Madagascar/MG_Code_Penal.pdf">penal code</a> criminalises consensual same-sex acts only with a person under 21 years old. </p>
<p>Still, the situation remains in flux. In <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/jul/14/religious-groups-march-in-malawi-before-court-case-on-lgbtq-rights">Malawi</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonblade.com/2023/03/13/namibian-supreme-court-hears-three-lgbtq-rights-cases/">Namibia</a>, litigation on related penal code provisions is pending. In Malawi, then President Joyce Banda in 2012 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/may/18/malawi-president-vows-legalise-homosexuality">committed to repealing these laws</a>. There was also a moratorium on arrests and prosecutions between 2012 and 2016, and a <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/10/26/let-posterity-judge/violence-and-discrimination-against-lgbt-people-malawi">court-ordered review</a> of the constitutionality of “sodomy laws”. </p>
<p>In Namibia, the Supreme Court <a href="https://namiblii.org/akn/na/judgment/nasc/2023/14/eng@2023-05-16">decided in 2023</a> that Namibia must recognise same-sex marriages validly concluded outside the country.</p>
<h2>Diverging trend</h2>
<p>In the rest of Africa, the position of sexual minorities is much more precarious. Thirty-one (almost 58%) of countries still <a href="https://76crimes.com/76-countries-where-homosexuality-is-illegal/">criminalise consensual same-sex acts between adults</a>. The trend is towards more restrictive laws and harsher punishment.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>In Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni has <a href="https://www.parliament.go.ug/news/6737/president-assents-anti-homosexuality-act">signed into law</a> the <a href="https://www.parliament.go.ug/sites/default/files/The%20Anti-Homosexuality%20Act%2C%202023.pdf">Anti-Homosexuality Act</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>In Ghana, the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill is <a href="https://www.parliament.gh/epanel/docs/bills/Promotion%20of%20Proper%20Human%20Sexual%20Rights%20and%20Ghanaian%20Family%20Values%20Bill,%202021.pdf#viewer.action=download">being considered</a>. </p></li>
<li><p>In Kenya, the anti-gay <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2023/09/20/kenyas-anti-gay-bill-proposes-50-year-jail-term//">Family Protection Bill</a> carries a 50-year jail term. But the Supreme Court decided in February 2023 to allow the NGO National Gay and Lesbian Rights Commission <a href="https://www.humandignitytrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/SC-Application-No.-E011-of-2023-George-Kaluma-v.-NGO-Others.pdf?pdf=George-Kaluma">to be registered</a>. </p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/being-queer-in-africa-the-state-of-lgbtiq-rights-across-the-continent-205306">Being queer in Africa: the state of LGBTIQ+ rights across the continent</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These laws were initiated as private members bills. They are driven by individuals rather than any political party’s agenda, and bolstered by an anti-LGBT solidarity <a href="https://glaad.org/rachel-maddow-traces-anti-lgbtq-legislation-uganda-activists-arizona/">conference</a> of African parliamentarians. </p>
<h2>African Commission’s role</h2>
<p>Against this background of opposing forces and divergent trends, the role of the African Commission is all the more important. The commission itself has sent mixed signals. It <a href="https://achpr.au.int/en/adopted-resolutions/resolution-promotion-and-protection-rights-intersex-persons">affirmed</a> the right to dignity and bodily integrity of sexual and gender minorities. But it also <a href="https://theconversation.com/lgbtq-rights-african-union-watchdog-goes-back-on-its-own-word-197555">refused</a> to grant observer status to NGOs working to promote these rights.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215270/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frans Viljoen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The trend towards decriminalising same sex relations in the SADC region contrasts with moves towards harsher punishment in other parts of Africa.Frans Viljoen, Director and Professor of International Human Rights Law, Centre for Human Rights, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2147892023-10-10T14:53:07Z2023-10-10T14:53:07ZMauritius sea sponge produces chemicals that can kill liver cancer cells – findings are a positive first step<p>For thousands of years, medicines have been developed from natural sources – mostly from plants. In recent decades, though, drug hunters have been looking at the immense diversity of marine organisms as potential sources of new medicines. </p>
<p>Marine sponges have garnered particular <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/27/5/1539">attention</a>. They are considered champion producers of molecules (known as “natural products”). They produce these because they use toxic compounds to deter predators, communicate with their neighbours, or prevent algae and bacteria from growing on them.</p>
<p>Marine sponges are a remarkably diverse group of animals, with <a href="http://www.marinespecies.org/porifera">over 9,000 species</a>. They come in a wide array of shapes, sizes and colours, ranging from small, inconspicuous forms to large and vibrant reef-building varieties. They look like a sedentary blob of porous tissue on the seafloor, which gives them their name. </p>
<p>As some of the most primitive animals on the planet, they lack complex organs and tissues. Without physical and mechanical features to flee (fins, legs), attack (spines), and protect themselves (shells), they have evolved to survive by producing chemical compounds. Some of these compounds have been found to possess valuable properties against <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5666418/">cancer</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10143917/">microbial infections</a>. </p>
<p>Interest in these properties started in the early 1950s after the discovery of two new natural products from the Caribbean sponge species <em>Tectitethya crypta</em>. The products were later approved for use as drugs against <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/can-sponges-cure-cancer.html">leukemia</a> and <a href="https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/invertebrates/sea-sponge-hiv-medicine">HIV</a>. </p>
<p>Discoveries like this have raised substantial interest in therapeutic applications of sponge-derived chemicals. </p>
<p>This is where my home country, Mauritius, has huge potential. <a href="https://www.mdgdb.com/index.html">Mauritius</a> has an <a href="https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/0f93750f-8150-4d13-ab42-099f8605d7d5">array of sponge species</a>, offering the opportunity to discover bioactive agents. </p>
<p>I obtained my PhD in the field of applied marine biochemistry at the University of Mauritius. As part of my studies I worked with my research supervisors Ranjeet Bhagooli, Theeshan Bahorun, Vidushi Neergheen and late Alexander Kagansky to study the anticancer potential of the sponge <em><a href="https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=166805">Neopetrosia exigua</a></em> from Mauritius waters. </p>
<p>We have <a href="https://sajs.co.za/article/view/13745">just published a paper</a> which shows, for the first time, that chemicals produced by <em>N. exigua</em> have the capacity to selectively kill liver cancer cells, with minimal harm to normal cells. Based on our findings about its pharmacological properties we suggest that the Mauritian sponge <em>N. exigua</em> has potential to be developed into a less toxic therapeutic candidate against liver cancer. </p>
<p>Our study is the first stage of the biodiscovery process. There are numerous steps which can take around 15 to 20 years from discovery of active compounds to use as medicines in humans.</p>
<h2>Studying how a sponge kills cancer cells</h2>
<p>Before our study, <em>Neopetrosia</em> species were already known to be a rich source of bioactive novel compounds, yet studies showing how they killed cancer cells were limited.</p>
<p>For our study, the first step was to collect a sample of <em>N. exigua</em> sponge from the Mauritian coral reefs by snorkelling and scuba diving. What could be better for a passionate lover of the sea than to have one of the world’s most pristine marine ecosystems as her working environment?</p>
<p>Once we had our sample, the sponge was carefully processed in the laboratory to obtain different extracts containing distinct natural products. These extracts were tested at the University of Edinburgh for their toxic effects against a panel of human cancer cell lines. Cell lines are groups of cells derived from living organisms that can keep growing and dividing in the lab. Scientists use them to learn about how cells work, test new medicines, and figure out how diseases function. </p>
<p>We also assessed the effects of the sponge extracts on non-cancerous cells to see how toxic they were to normal cells. This is particularly interesting since some anticancer treatments induce DNA damage indiscriminately, killing both normal and cancer cells. Cancer patients on those treatments may suffer from adverse side effects including nausea, anaemia, fatigue, hair loss and infections. </p>
<p>We found that one particular extract had the ability to selectively kill liver cancer cells at very low doses while displaying very low toxicity towards normal cells. </p>
<p>We also observed how the extract did this: <em>N. exigua</em> constituents activated various proteins that led to the breakdown of the liver cancer cells through a programmed cell death process called <a href="https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/apoptosis">apoptosis</a>. This process helps maintain the overall health and balance of an organism by getting rid of unwanted or potentially harmful cells. When apoptosis malfunctions, these harmful cells can continue to grow and divide, potentially forming a tumour.</p>
<h2>Biodiscovery process</h2>
<p>To validate the extract’s potential use, the next step will be to isolate and identify the natural products accountable for its anticancer activity using advanced analytical techniques such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/chromatography">chromatography</a> and mass <a href="https://www.atascientific.com.au/spectrometry/">spectrometry</a>.</p>
<p>This will set the stage for future evaluations in suitable experimental animal models to probe its efficacy and toxicity. If this step is successful, the tests proceed with humans in clinical trials. </p>
<p>Scientific data about the pharmacological properties of Mauritian marine organisms could create opportunities to promote marine biodiscovery research and sustainable use of the ocean resources in Mauritius. It will also add another reason to conserve the country’s marine biodiversity. </p>
<p>The marine sponge <em>Neopetrosia exigua</em> is highly distributed in the Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean (Caribbean Sea) and Pacific Ocean. However, its population density has significantly declined over the last few years in Mauritius due to a continued rise in ocean temperatures.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214789/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rima Beesoo received funding from the Mauritius Research and Innovation Council, L'Oréal-UNESCO Foundation and Merck Foundation.
Previous Affiliation during the course of this research study: University of Mauritius</span></em></p>A marine sponge from Mauritius has shown potential as the source of compounds that kill liver cancer cells.Rima Beesoo, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2050432023-06-06T14:42:15Z2023-06-06T14:42:15ZChina’s population grew older and richer: policy lessons for some African countries<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525330/original/file-20230510-29-bufye3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">China's population peaked, and is now falling.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tang Ke/VCG via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For decades China was the world’s most populous country. But that’s changed. Its population <a href="https://theconversation.com/chinas-population-has-peaked-and-is-now-falling-opportunities-and-risks-for-africa-204004">has peaked</a>, and is now falling. </p>
<p>The country has achieved high levels of <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/china/overview">economic growth</a> for four decades, <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/china/overview">reducing poverty and raising per capita</a> incomes. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv5cgbnk">Between 1978 and 2018 China’s economy grew by an average of 9.8 per cent per annum. </a> Today it is the <a href="https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPD@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD">second biggest</a> economy in the world after the US.</p>
<p>China’s demographic profile has played a key role in its development. A <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN?locations=CN">high number of births</a> in the 1950s and 1960s, alongside gains in public health and basic education, meant that, from the 1970s, there was a boom in China’s working age population size and share. This is estimated to have contributed <a href="https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/events/pdf/expert/9/wang.pdf#page=6">some 15%</a> of China’s growth over the period 1980 to 2000.</p>
<p>China capitalised on its demographic profile through <a href="https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/29458/1/book%285%29.pdf#page=33">policies</a> which captured that working-age population. </p>
<p>I’ve been <a href="https://saiia.org.za/people/lauren-johnston/">studying</a> the political economy of demographic change in China, and Africa-China relations, for two decades. Most recently, I wrote <a href="https://saiia.org.za/research/chinas-demographic-peak-lessons-and-prospects-for-africa/">a paper</a> on China’s demographic peak. </p>
<p>Part of the paper unpacks lessons Africa can take from China’s <a href="https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/222235">development strategy</a>, even though China is very different from African nations in many respects. </p>
<p>African countries differ among themselves in demographic profile too. So I have created two broad categories – those with a high percentage of young people, and those with a sizeable proportion of working age people – and set out policies they could focus on now.</p>
<h2>China’s adjustments</h2>
<p>China was concerned that <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/43/article/805759/summary">its population would first become “old”</a> before it became per capita economically rich. As early as the 1980s – when China was still young and poor – the fear was that this would hamper long-run development. </p>
<p>To avoid this, it adjusted its development policy direction. </p>
<p>I have <a href="https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/222235">looked at a number of aspects of how this unfolded</a>, and for example the unique circumstance in China around the implementation of a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-34667551">One Child Policy</a>. Here, however, I simplify the overall Chinese approach to economic demography and development over time into two simplified aspects that are relevant to policy makers and development practitioners in the context of African development.</p>
<p>First, China captured the potential of the low-wage demographic dividend of its “young” and “poor” working-age population of the late 1970s. Second, it prepared to sustain the economy and hundreds of millions of elders from the 2020s especially. </p>
<p>Following that baby boom in the 1950s and 1960s, between the mid-1970s and 2010 China’s working-age population share (as measured by people aged 15-65) would increase from <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.1564.TO.ZS?locations=CN">55% to 73% of the total population</a>. </p>
<p>Capturing the productivity potential of their working-lifetime helped drive reforms that opened up China’s economy from late 1978. A major aspect of opening up to trade and foreign direct investment was a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2760362?casa_token=Q5pbg3krExEAAAAA%3A6_HIdJAOq527gasysOv7kaNmXjEM4R63SeLbDUzxknv0S4Woxl3sVzx-e12x_W1eHXagQeZW2q9odLAsAwmW4X5RtAJul_zYotllxORialZV0YN1sgs&seq=3">coastal development strategy</a>. Special economic zones were set up to attract foreign investment. </p>
<p>In addition, in the 1990s it <a href="https://www.chinaeducenter.com/en/cedu/ceduproject211.php">expanded and upgraded</a> its university sector. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2021/12/22/structural-reforms-can-ease-china-s-transition-to-high-quality-growth-report">During this period China also made policy reforms</a> that would ultimately support new sources of growth for later when China’s frontier economic regions would need to be driven by quality instead of quantity of labour. These <a href="https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/760726/eawp-043-high-quality-growth-financial-reform-prc.pdf">included</a> manufacturing and services with higher added value, including pension and wealth management. These are sectors that China is promoting today, with mixed success. </p>
<p>In parallel, from the 1980s and in the 1990s China incrementally set up the <a href="https://saiia.org.za/research/chinas-demographic-peak-lessons-and-prospects-for-africa/">basic architecture of an aged care policy and legislative framework</a>. Policymakers began to build a national pension and healthcare system, more intensively from the 2000s. It started preparing to <a href="https://www.prb.org/resources/health-care-challenges-for-developing-countries-with-aging-populations/">shift</a> from a high case load of infectious illness towards a greater load of chronic illness as the population aged. And it prepared to offer a very basic level of health insurance to even the poorest and most remote. </p>
<p>Since the 2010s <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cscript/fmch/2013/00000001/00000002/art00007">care for the aged</a> has received even more attention.</p>
<p>By the time China’s working-age population peaked in 2010, <a href="https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/849946/eawp-054-long-term-growth-prospects-prc.pdf">the basics were in place</a> for the hundreds of millions expected to become pensioners over the 2010s, 2020s and 2030s. To prevent them from falling back into poverty in older age, China has set up basic income and health insurance. </p>
<h2>Lessons for Africa</h2>
<p>China’s One Child policy certainly had a lot to do with its approach to development. But the approach is relevant to all countries, including those in Africa where life expectancy is increasing. This typically means the population share of elders is rising. </p>
<p>African countries cover a broad spread of the demographic spectrum. For example, <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.65UP.TO?locations=MU">Mauritius is already considered to be “ageing”</a>, as measured by the <a href="https://ieg.worldbankgroup.org/sites/default/files/Data/reports/ap_agingcountries.pdf">standard metric</a>: more than 7% of citizens are aged 65 and over. </p>
<p>By contrast, Niger is the world’s “youngest” country. Just <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.65UP.TO.ZS?locations=NE">over 2%</a> of its population are 65 and over. Many countries, however, face a near or medium-term future where they have a high population share of working-age citizens <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cscript/fmch/2013/00000001/00000002/art00007">who will want jobs, food and lifetime opportunity</a>. This is thanks to rising life expectancy in most countries increasing the number of older people, and falling birth rates concurrently reducing the population share of younger citizens. </p>
<p>So what should countries be doing?</p>
<p>“Young” countries need to invest more in basic healthcare, especially maternal health. Basic healthcare <a href="https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/education-key-reducing-child-mortality-link-between-maternal-health-and-education">ultimately reduces</a> the fertility rate as confidence grows in the survival of each child. </p>
<p>They also need to invest in education, particularly primary school for all children. </p>
<p>A handful of African countries are in the <a href="https://arabstates.unfpa.org/en/topics/demographic-dividend-6">demographic dividend window</a> – they have a favourable share of working-age citizens. These include <a href="https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/african-development/article-abstract/22/2/249/293261/Getting-Old-Before-Getting-Rich-and-Africa-Of-What">Morocco and South Africa</a>. Their task should be to focus on job creation and a business environment that will attract labour-intensive investment. This will help maximise jobs. </p>
<p>At the same time, it’s important to elevate productivity per worker and adapt to new technological frontiers. That will result in a cluster of well-trained graduates, in areas of science and technology especially. </p>
<p>They also need to prepare the economy and society to carry an elevated share of elders in the later middle-income phase of development. </p>
<p>Both <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00148-018-0690-3">China</a> and <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2016/12/31/Pension-Reforms-in-Mauritius-Fair-and-Fast-Balancing-Social-Protection-and-Fiscal-43012">Mauritius</a> are already struggling to formulate a sustainable basic elder pension system.</p>
<h2>Getting old before rich is now more common</h2>
<p>China’s economic demography - getting old before getting rich - is now relatively mainstream.</p>
<p>In this century, improvements in public health, access to family planning technologies, and the education of girls, among other factors, means that many developing countries are now experiencing falling mortality and a total fertility rate at lower per capita incomes. </p>
<p>This has led to many countries getting older without getting rich, presenting the threat of many <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-8462.12325?casa_token=tk5pUEJKGwAAAAAA%3A--bbVyRITuSIIzA50-3168B3FKbPiKNcV3rFMWe8yBvmzGpo81fe_vqjInvDVNqSXHpNnNOBdbYz_Xs">poor elders and stagnating national economic prospects</a>. </p>
<p>And this is why it is important to advance economic development policies in step with demographic change. This is what China did when it was still poor and young. </p>
<p>By learning from China’s experiences and creating clear policies, African countries can grasp their economic and demographic potential.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205043/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauren Johnston does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>African countries can learn from China about how to design policies that anticipate major demographic changes in their societies.Lauren Johnston, Senior Researcher, South African Institute of International Affairs and Associate Professor at the China Studies Centre, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2003712023-02-21T11:56:45Z2023-02-21T11:56:45ZCyclones in southern Africa: five essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511392/original/file-20230221-18-r3odu7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The fishing village of Mahebourg, Mauritius, is among the places in the path of cyclone Freddy.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Laura Morosoli/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Tropical cyclone Freddy was, on 21 February 2023, bearing down on Mauritius and Madagascar. Mauritius grounded flights and, news agency Reuters <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-02-20-mauritius-halts-flights-madagascar-braces-for-floods-as-cyclone-freddy-nears/">reported</a>, emergency teams in four regions of Madagascar were braced for “heavy rains, floods and landslides”.</em></p>
<p><em>A day earlier the Mauritius Meteorological Services <a href="http://metservice.intnet.mu/current-cyclone.php">issued</a> a Class 3 cyclone warning, saying estimated gusts in the centre of Cyclone Freddy could reach around 280 kilometres an hour.</em></p>
<p><em>Both island nations are located in the Indian Ocean and are no strangers to tropical cyclones. But, as the global climate shifts, such storms will become ever more common, endangering millions of people in Madagascar, Mauritius and other countries in the southern African region like Mozambique and Malawi.</em> </p>
<p><em>The Conversation Africa has published a number of articles explaining the science of tropical cyclones and the role climate change is playing in their increasing frequency and force. Here are five essential reads.</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Warming oceans</h2>
<p>Tropical cyclones are huge. They can span more than 1,000km in diameter and they draw their energy from the ocean heat – ocean surface temperatures of at least 26⁰C are required for tropical cyclones to form. Over the past 30 years, as the world’s oceans have become warmer, the locations of where tropical cyclones form and intensify have been shifting.</p>
<p>Climate scientists Micheal Pillay and Jennifer Fitchett unpacked these shifts.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tropical-cyclones-in-the-south-west-indian-ocean-new-insights-125579">Tropical cyclones in the South West Indian Ocean: new insights</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Devastation</h2>
<p>The most damaging tropical cyclones of the past few years were tropical cyclones Idai and Kenneth, which hit Mozambique especially hard in March and April of 2019. Idai alone killed more than 1,500 people in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. In an article first published in 2019 soon after the devastation and updated in 2022 as more powerful storms battered Mozambique, Professor Fitchett explained why tropical cyclones from the Indian Ocean were becoming ever more powerful.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-indian-ocean-is-spawning-strong-and-deadly-tropical-cyclones-116559">Why the Indian Ocean is spawning strong and deadly tropical cyclones</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Countries must pull together</h2>
<p>In the wake of tropical storms Idai and Kenneth, researcher Chris Changwe Nshimbi argued that the Southern African Development Community had once again proved that it wasn’t ready to deal with environmental disasters as a collective. He traced the reasons for these shortcomings and suggested ways forward – more critical than ever as tropical storms and other climate-related crises hammer southern Africa.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/southern-african-countries-wont-manage-disasters-unless-they-work-together-114541">Southern African countries won't manage disasters unless they work together</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>More to come</h2>
<p>Nshimbi is right: there is far more to come. Professor Fitchett – who has dedicated much of her research to the phenomenon – explained what drives extreme weather events.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/southern-africa-must-brace-itself-for-more-tropical-cyclones-in-future-103641">Southern Africa must brace itself for more tropical cyclones in future</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The bigger picture</h2>
<p>Tropical cyclones are only one part of the African continent’s climate crisis. Meteorologist Victor Ongoma explained what climate change experts were predicting for the continent and how different regions would be affected.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/insights-for-african-countries-from-the-latest-climate-change-projections-165944">Insights for African countries from the latest climate change projections</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200371/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Tropical cyclones are becoming more frequent in the Indian Ocean. Here’s why and what that means.Natasha Joseph, Commissioning EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1942772023-01-27T10:25:31Z2023-01-27T10:25:31ZArtificial intelligence in South Africa comes with special dilemmas – plus the usual risks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503376/original/file-20230106-13-750vf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">3rdtimeluckystudio/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When people think about artificial intelligence (AI), they may have visions of the future. But AI is already here. At its base, it is the recreation of aspects of human intelligence in computerised form. Like human intelligence, it has wide application. </p>
<p>Voice-operated personal assistants like <a href="https://theconversation.com/artificial-intelligence-has-a-gender-bias-problem-just-ask-siri-123937">Siri</a>, self-driving cars, and <a href="https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/">text</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/text-to-image-ai-powerful-easy-to-use-technology-for-making-art-and-fakes-195517">image</a> generators all use AI. It also curates our social media feeds. It helps companies to detect <a href="https://researchberg.com/index.php/rrst/article/view/37">fraud</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43681-022-00166-4">hire employees</a>. It’s used to manage <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652621041251">livestock</a>, <a href="https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AE571">enhance crop yields</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-40850-3_2">aid medical diagnoses</a>.</p>
<p>Alongside its growing power and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-14108-y">its potential</a>, AI raises <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-022-05060-x">moral and ethical questions</a>. The technology has already been at the centre of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-facebook-influence-us-election">multiple scandals</a>: the <a href="https://theconversation.com/artificial-intelligence-carries-a-huge-upside-but-potential-harms-need-to-be-managed-173073">infringement of laws and rights</a>, as well as <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/machine-bias-risk-assessments-in-criminal-sentencing">racial</a> and <a href="https://ainowinstitute.org/AI_Now_2018_Report.pdf">gender</a> discrimination. In short, it comes with a litany of ethical risks and dilemmas.</p>
<p>But what exactly are these risks? And how do they differ among countries? To find out, <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4240356">I undertook</a> a thematic review of literature from wealthier countries to identify six high-level, universal ethical risk themes. I then interviewed experts involved in or associated with the AI industry in South Africa and assessed how their perceptions of AI risk differed from or resonated with those themes.</p>
<p>The findings reflect marked similarities in AI risks between the global north and South Africa as an example of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/developing-countries-are-being-left-behind-in-the-ai-race-and-thats-a-problem-for-all-of-us-180218">global south nation</a>. But there were some important differences. These reflect South Africa’s <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/03/09/new-world-bank-report-assesses-sources-of-inequality-in-five-countries-in-southern-africa#:%7E:text=South%20Africa%2C%20the%20largest%20country,World%20Bank%27s%20global%20poverty%20database.">unequal society</a> and the fact that it is on the periphery of AI development, utilisation and regulation.</p>
<p>Other developing countries that share similar features – a vast <a href="https://mg.co.za/opinion/2022-11-10-south-africa-must-bridge-digital-divide-to-best-benefit-from-4ir/">digital divide</a>, high <a href="https://time.com/6087699/south-africa-wealth-gap-unchanged-since-apartheid/">inequality</a> and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-29/south-africa-jobless-rate-drops-to-third-highest-in-the-world?leadSource=uverify%20wall">unemployment</a> and <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2019/03/01/Struggling-to-Make-the-Grade-A-Review-of-the-Causes-and-Consequences-of-the-Weak-Outcomes-of-46644">low quality</a> education – likely have a similar risk profile to South Africa. </p>
<p>Knowing what ethical risks may play out at a country level is important because it can help policymakers and organisations to adjust their risk management policies and practices accordingly.</p>
<h2>Universal themes</h2>
<p>The six universal ethical risk themes I drew from reviewing global north literature were: </p>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>Accountability</strong>: It is unclear who is accountable for the outputs of AI models and systems.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Bias</strong>: Shortcomings of algorithms, data or both entrench bias.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Transparency</strong>: AI systems operate as a “black box”. Developers and end users have a limited ability to understand or verify the output.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Autonomy</strong>: Humans lose the power to make their own decisions.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Socio-economic risks</strong>: AI may result in job losses and worsen inequality.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Maleficence</strong>: It could be used by criminals, terrorists and repressive state machinery.</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-a-world-first-south-africa-grants-patent-to-an-artificial-intelligence-system-165623">In a world first, South Africa grants patent to an artificial intelligence system</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Then I interviewed 16 experts involved in or associated with South Africa’s AI industry. They included academics, researchers, designers of AI-related products, and people who straddled the categories. For the most part, the six themes I’d already identified resonated with them. </p>
<h2>South African concerns</h2>
<p>But the participants also identified five ethical risks that reflected South Africa’s country-level features. These were:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>Foreign data and models</strong>: Parachuting data and AI models in from elsewhere.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Data limitations</strong>: Scarcity of data sets that represent, reflect local conditions.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Exacerbating inequality</strong>: AI could deepen and entrench existing socio-economic inequalities.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Uninformed stakeholders</strong>: Most of the public and policymakers have only a crude understanding of AI.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Absence of policy and regulation</strong>: There are currently no specific legal requirements or overarching government positions on AI in South Africa.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>What it all means</h2>
<p>So, what do these findings tell us?</p>
<p>Firstly, the universal risks are mostly technical. They are linked to the features of AI and have technical solutions. For instance, bias can be <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44206-022-00017-z">mitigated</a> by more accurate models and comprehensive data sets. </p>
<p>Most of the South African-specific risks are more socio-technical, manifesting the country’s environment. An absence of policy and regulation, for example, is not an inherent feature of AI. It is a symptom of the country being on the periphery of technology development and related policy formulation. </p>
<p>South African organisations and policymakers should therefore not just focus on technical solutions but also closely consider AI’s socio-economic dimensions.</p>
<p>Secondly, the <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2022-01/Global-opinions-and-expectations-about-AI-2022.pdf">low levels of awareness</a> among the population suggest there is little pressure on South African organisations to demonstrate a commitment to ethical AI. In contrast, organisations in the global north have to show cognisance of AI ethics, because their <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43681-021-00068-x">stakeholders</a> are more attuned to their rights vis-à-vis digital products and services.</p>
<p>Finally, whereas the <a href="https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/614b70a71b9f71c9c240c7a7/62fbe1c37eff7d304f0803ac_Brussels_Effect_GovAI.pdf">EU</a>, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-sets-out-proposals-for-new-ai-rulebook-to-unleash-innovation-and-boost-public-trust-in-the-technology">UK</a> and <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/ai-bill-of-rights/what-is-the-blueprint-for-an-ai-bill-of-rights/">US</a> have nascent rules and regulations around AI, South Africa has no regulation and <a href="https://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/28134/thesis_jogi_aa.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">limited laws</a> relevant to AI. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/artificial-intelligence-carries-a-huge-upside-but-potential-harms-need-to-be-managed-173073">Artificial intelligence carries a huge upside. But potential harms need to be managed</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The South African government has also <a href="https://www.orfonline.org/research/g20-ai-national-strategies-global-ambitions/">failed</a> to give much recognition to AI’s broader impact and ethical implications. This differs even from <a href="https://www.orfonline.org/research/g20-ai-national-strategies-global-ambitions/">other emerging markets</a> such as Brazil, <a href="https://ai.altadvisory.africa/wp-content/uploads/AI-Governance-in-Africa-2022.pdf">Egypt</a>, India and <a href="https://ai.altadvisory.africa/wp-content/uploads/AI-Governance-in-Africa-2022.pdf">Mauritius</a>, which have national policies and strategies that encourage the responsible use of AI.</p>
<h2>Moving forward</h2>
<p>AI may, for now, seem far removed from South Africa’s prevailing socio-economic challenges. But it will become pervasive in the coming years. South African organisations and policymakers should proactively govern AI ethics risks. </p>
<p>This starts with acknowledging that AI presents threats <a href="https://theconversation.com/defining-whats-ethical-in-artificial-intelligence-needs-input-from-africans-171837">that are distinct from those in the global north</a>, and that need to be managed. Governing boards should add AI ethics to their agendas, and policymakers and members of governing boards should become educated on the technology. </p>
<p>Additionally, AI ethics risks should be added to corporate and government risk management strategies – similar to <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/272d85c3-en/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/272d85c3-en">climate change</a>, which received scant attention 15 or 20 years ago but now features prominently. </p>
<p>Perhaps most importantly, the government should build on the recent <a href="https://www.uj.ac.za/news/south-africas-new-national-artificial-intelligence-institute-can-help-transform-our-economy/">launch</a> of the Artificial Intelligence Institute of South Africa, and introduce a tailored national strategy and appropriate regulation to ensure the ethical use of AI.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194277/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emile Ormond does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Artificial Intelligence comes with a litany of ethical risks and dilemmas. Some are universal, but some are unique to particular countries, like South Africa.Emile Ormond, PhD on AI Ethics, Governance, University of South AfricaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1972152023-01-09T17:10:21Z2023-01-09T17:10:21ZInvasive rats are changing fish behaviour on coral reefs – new study<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503231/original/file-20230105-1808-63w6g0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C0%2C4866%2C2744&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Invasive rats can fundamentally alter the functioning of surrounding marine ecosystems.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/funny-image-three-positions-running-rat-48864871">Bluerain/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Coral reefs are degrading rapidly to the extent that their marine inhabitants must either adapt or die. For many animals, including reef fish, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0314-7">behaviour</a> is one of the first responses to changes in environmental conditions.</p>
<p>Behavioural changes may be critical for predicting the future survival of many animal species. This is encouraging marine scientists to study how, why or when these changes happen. </p>
<p>Much of the existing research into the impact of environmental change on reef fish species tends to focus on increasing sea temperatures and ocean acidification. But some coral reef ecosystems are also threatened by one, more surprising source. An invasive species – the black rat – has overrun many islands in the <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chagos_map.PNG">Chagos Archipelago</a>, a remote group of small islands in the Indian Ocean. The rats are altering the functioning of surrounding marine ecosystems. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-022-01931-8">Recent research</a> that we co-authored alongside colleagues from Lakehead University in Canada revealed that these rats are affecting the territorial behaviour of fish by reducing the flow of nutrients from bird droppings into the ocean. </p>
<p>We focused on the <a href="https://seaunseen.com/jewel-damselfish/">jewel damselfish</a>, a small fish that aggressively defends patches of edible algae it cultivates through a process known as “farming”. Our research surveyed coral reefs both around islands with high seabird densities and without rats, and islands with low seabird densities and many rats. Jewel damselfish in the seas surrounding rat-infested islands were less aggressive and defended larger territories than those surrounding rat-free islands. </p>
<h2>Invasive rats</h2>
<p>The rats, many of which arrived on the Chagos Archipelago on ships in the 18th century, prey on small seabirds and their eggs. This has decimated seabird populations on these islands. Seabird densities are up to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0202-3">760 times smaller</a> on rat-infested islands than on islands without rats. </p>
<p>But seabirds are a key component of the nutrient cycle. They feed in the ocean and return to the islands to roost and breed where they deposit large quantities of droppings. Their droppings, which are rich in nutrients, are then washed into the sea and onto nearby coral reefs. </p>
<p>By supplementing coral reefs with additional natural nutrients, seabirds are able to fertilise these ecosystems. Rat predation has disrupted this cycle and removed the nutrients provided by seabirds to coral ecosystems. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A bird in flight against the backdrop of the ocean." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503224/original/file-20230105-18-vbjshz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503224/original/file-20230105-18-vbjshz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503224/original/file-20230105-18-vbjshz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503224/original/file-20230105-18-vbjshz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503224/original/file-20230105-18-vbjshz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503224/original/file-20230105-18-vbjshz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503224/original/file-20230105-18-vbjshz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brown booby, a seabird species found in the Chagos.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/full-stretch-flight-juvenile-brown-bobby-1311357596">sushil20087817/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Aggressive economics</h2>
<p>We found that algae in jewel damselfish territories next to rat-free islands were richer in nutrients than in territories next to rat-infested islands. However, the total amount of algae within the territories was unaffected. </p>
<p>This means that the quality, but not the quantity, of the food resources available to the jewel damselfish is higher in the waters surrounding rat-free islands. The fish in these territories get “more for their money” when foraging. The quality of nutrients means that fish are able to find all the food they need in smaller territories than fish around rat-infested islands. </p>
<p>But this carries behavioural consequences. We found that jewel damselfish in reefs surrounding rat-free islands were five times more likely to be more aggressive and 70 times more likely to hold smaller territories than those next to rat-infested islands.</p>
<p>The additional nutrients from seabird droppings in seas around islands with large seabird populations raise the quality of jewel damselfish territories and make them worth defending. The quality of nutrients in these locations means that the nutritional benefits of defending a territory are higher than the energy costs expended by aggressively defending them. </p>
<p>This is not the case for jewel damselfish in seas around rat-infested islands. The disruption to the nutrient cycle here results in lower quality territories that are less worth defending. </p>
<h2>Small fish, big impact</h2>
<p>By disrupting the nutrient cycle, invasive rats have directly reduced the aggressive tendencies of damselfish. But this behavioural change may alter the wider coral ecosystem. </p>
<p>The social organisation of <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/facts/blue-tang">blue tangs</a>, a fish native to coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific, can be influenced by the territoriality of farming damselfish. Tangs tend to form schools in areas of the reef with high densities of territorial damselfish. This is likely because it allows “safety in numbers” when accessing defended algae and increases competition for algal food resources. But <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-004-2861-1">research</a> has found that where damselfish densities are low, tangs rarely form schools. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A school of blue fish swimming through a coral reef." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503247/original/file-20230105-18-yexznc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503247/original/file-20230105-18-yexznc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503247/original/file-20230105-18-yexznc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503247/original/file-20230105-18-yexznc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503247/original/file-20230105-18-yexznc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503247/original/file-20230105-18-yexznc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503247/original/file-20230105-18-yexznc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Invasive rats may indirectly affect the social organisation of some species.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/school-blue-tang-136660415">Isabelle Kuehn/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Algal productivity (grams of biomass per square metre) can also be affected by territorial damselfish. Algae within farming damselfish territories can, for example, be <a href="https://www.int-res.com/articles/meps/40/m040p041.pdf">up to 3.4 times</a> more productive than algae growing outside of the territories.</p>
<p>Territorial damselfish can also impact the density of coral within an area and therefore the structure of a reef. In Kenya, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-014-1229-z">research</a> has shown that the density of juvenile coral is lower inside farming damselfish territories than that in non-defended areas. Invasive rats may therefore affect coral replenishment and the functioning of the wider ecosystem.</p>
<p>By establishing the link between fish behaviour and the seabird nutrient cycle, our study highlights the potential for rat eradication to restore territorial fish behaviour. Measures to eradicate invasive rats from tropical islands have slowly been introduced across the Indian Ocean over the past 16 years. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.104">Evidence</a> suggests that these measures have contributed to the return of seabird nutrients to tropical islands and coral reefs. </p>
<p>Animal behaviour is an important but understudied aspect of biological research into ecological responses to environmental change and should be a focal point for future studies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197215/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Keith receives funding from NERC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>This research was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (Rachel L. Gunn, grant number NE/L002604/1), with Rachel L. Gunns studentship through the Envision Doctoral Training Partnership.</span></em></p>Rats are disrupting the flow of nutrients towards the sea on many tropical islands – this has consequences for fish behaviour and the wider ecosystem.Sally Keith, Senior Lecturer, Lancaster UniversityRachel Gunn, Postdoctoral researcher in the Animal Evolutionary Ecology, University of TübingenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1954622022-12-21T05:30:14Z2022-12-21T05:30:14ZCOVID hit companies hard. Why some kept their sustainability commitments, and others didn’t<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500979/original/file-20221214-2736-8n79l4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Covid-19 has had profound implications for the “<a href="https://journals.aom.org/doi/10.5465/amp.2019.0053">role of business in society</a>”. One of them is the pandemic’s effect on companies’ sustainability strategies. These are efforts to avoid companies’ harmful impacts on the environment and communities, and to enhance the positive impacts. </p>
<p>The pandemic may cause companies to cut costs and restrict their sustainability strategies. Alternatively, the crisis may focus managers’ attention on the dependence of their business on broader <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-will-have-long-term-implications-for-business-leaders-here-are-the-top-five-135064">social systems</a>. And it may bring about a willingness to collaborate to address shared problems. </p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00076503221134100">We explored this issue</a> by studying how 25 companies responded to the pandemic in four African countries: Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, and South Africa. We discovered that crises could either restrict or strengthen companies’ sustainability efforts. Their reactions depended on how different contingent factors interacted with each other. </p>
<p>Our findings have practical relevance for managers, investors, policy-makers, and initiatives such as the <a href="https://www.unglobalcompact.org">United Nations Global Compact</a>. The Global Compact enrols companies to support the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">Sustainable Development Goals</a>. </p>
<p>It is useful to recognise when and why some companies restrict their sustainability efforts in response to a crisis. This can help design support measures to avoid such restriction going too far. It is also useful to know why other companies actually strengthen their sustainability efforts in a crisis. </p>
<h2>Innovation or rigidity</h2>
<p>There is long-standing interest in whether crises and threats constrain or enable organisational change and innovation. Some have <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Behavioral+Theory+of+the+Firm%2C+2nd+Edition-p-9780631174516">argued</a> that crises lead to innovation. That’s because they motivate managers to address problems, take risks, and learn. </p>
<p>In contrast, others have argued that a crisis will lead to a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2392337?origin=crossref">rigid organisational response</a>. Managers restrict information processing, emphasise control, and conserve resources. Such constricting responses have been highlighted by studies of companies’ sustainability responses to crises such as the 2008 <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024630114000545?via%3Dihub">financial crisis</a>. </p>
<p>A great deal of research has tried to identify the factors that influence whether organisations innovate or become more rigid in a crisis. For example, an innovation response is probably more likely when the crisis is not too severe, or if the organisation has some resource <a href="https://journals.aom.org/doi/10.5465/annals.2015.0134">slack</a>. </p>
<p>However, the literature is inconclusive, especially for a crisis as multifaceted as Covid-19. We argue that this is partly because the contingent factors interact with each other. These interactions need to be better understood. </p>
<h2>A configurational approach</h2>
<p>To study the interaction effects between different factors that shape organisational crisis responses, we used <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520280038/the-comparative-method">Qualitative Comparative Analysis</a>. This allows us to systematically compare our case study companies using both qualitative and quantitative data. </p>
<p>Our analysis helped us identify five configurations. Two of them contribute to companies strengthening their sustainability efforts in response to the crisis. Three of them give rise to restricting responses. </p>
<p><strong>Strengthening responses</strong> </p>
<p>We identified two explanations for strengthening responses. “Building on strengths” characterised those companies that had a strong sustainability commitment before the crisis. They also had some resource slack. </p>
<p>These companies were able to use their strengths to expand their sustainability efforts. These strengths included well-supported sustainability managers with skills and diverse relationships that could be used during the crisis. </p>
<p>But we also found some companies adopted a strengthening approach even though they did not have a mature sustainability strategy. They were motivated by a lack of governance stability and effectiveness in their national context. This was worsened by the crisis. We called this “governance gap-filling”. </p>
<p>In some cases, companies tried to fill governance gaps because of humanitarian concerns. In others, companies’ own operations were constrained by such gaps. For example, the benefits of solar power were shown during the crisis for one of our case study companies, because the Nigerian state struggled to ensure reliable power or security for diesel refuelling teams. </p>
<p><strong>Restricting responses</strong> </p>
<p>We identified three explanations for “restricting” responses. The “hard hit” explanation applied to companies that were directly and severely affected by the crisis, and did not have resource slack to cushion the blow. This included companies especially in the travel and tourism sectors. </p>
<p>“Low-road business-as-usual” dynamics applied to companies that had low sustainability maturity and also limited resource slack. They had little motivation or ability to expand or even maintain their sustainability commitments. </p>
<p>Finally, “bunkering down” explains how some companies restricted their sustainability efforts because they saw in the crisis an increase in unpredictability in their operating context. This occurred in those countries where the governance context had been deteriorating. So, declining governance quality combined with the crisis to motivate managers to restrict their sustainability efforts. </p>
<h2>Contributions and implications</h2>
<p>Our analysis extends understanding of organisational responses to crises in three ways. First, we show the benefits of considering contingent factors together - not independently of each other. </p>
<p>Second, we highlight the role of governance context in organisational crisis responses. This includes the stability and effectiveness of governance at one point in time. It also considers changes in governance quality over time. </p>
<p>And third, our findings show how prior sustainability investments allow companies to “build on strengths” when responding to a crisis. This creates benefits for the companies as well as stakeholders – at a time when they need them most. This should provide further incentive for managers, investors and others to motivate for sustainability investments when times are good.</p>
<p><em>Three additional authors contributed to this article: Neeveditah Pariag-Maraye, a lecturer in Accounting & Finance at the University of Mauritius; Alecia Sewlal, master’s candidate in Inclusive Innovation at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business; and Jenny Soderbergh, an MPhil graduate at the UCT Graduate School of Business. This research was made possible by a grant from a consortium including Sistema B, B Lab, B Academics, Academia B, and the International Development Research Center (IDRC), as part of the funding program on “The Role of Business in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in the Global South”.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195462/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ralph Hamann receives funding from the Embedding Project, a not-for-profit organisation that works with member companies to create publicly available tools for managers seeking to integrate sustainability in companies' strategies and operations (<a href="https://www.embeddingproject.org">https://www.embeddingproject.org</a>). Some of the companies included in this study's sample are Embedding Project members.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kenneth Amaeshi has received grants from the Tony Elumelu Foundation and the Scottish Government. He's also the president of the Sustainability Professional Institute of Nigeria, an industry association, as well as the Chief Economic Adviser to the Imo State Government, Nigeria - a part-time and pro bono position.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Judy N. Muthuri does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It is useful to recognise why companies either restrict or strengthen their sustainability efforts in response to a crisis.Ralph Hamann, Professor, University of Cape TownJudy N. Muthuri, Professor of Sustainable Business and Development, University of NottinghamKenneth Amaeshi, Professor of Business and Sustainable Development, The University of EdinburghLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1958302022-12-05T14:01:27Z2022-12-05T14:01:27ZWhy Britain should immediately withdraw from Mauritius’ Chagos Islands<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498697/original/file-20221202-12-ij0794.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Demonstrators from the Chagos Islands protest for Britain to end its "illegal occupation".
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by JEAN MARC POCHE/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Britain is on the cusp of decolonising Mauritius – again. The first attempt at decolonisation took place in 1968 but went unfulfilled when London kept hold of an island group that had long been regarded as Mauritian territory: the Chagos Archipelago.</p>
<p>In recent years, the international community has handed down a clear and consistent view that Britain’s occupation of the Chagos Islands is <a href="https://theconversation.com/britains-ownership-of-the-chagos-islands-has-no-basis-mauritius-is-right-to-claim-them-177461">illegal</a>. Now, London and Port Louis are engaged in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/03/uk-agrees-to-negotiate-with-mauritius-over-handover-of-chagos-islands">talks</a> over the future of the islands – the final act, perhaps, in the decolonisation of Mauritius.</p>
<p>Britain’s foreign secretary, James Cleverly, <a href="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2022-11-03/hcws354">has suggested</a> that an agreement on the status of the Chagos Archipelago will come “by early next year”. </p>
<p>But what might a settlement look like?</p>
<p>The answer depends almost entirely on what can be agreed about the future of Diego Garcia, the largest island of the Chagos group. It’s the site of a critical US military base that Britain has dutifully hosted for the past 50 years.</p>
<h2>The American elephant</h2>
<p>It is hard to overstate the legal and political pressure that Britain faces to withdraw from the Chagos Islands. No fewer than <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/22/uk-suffers-crushing-defeat-un-vote-chagos-islands">116 national governments</a>, the <a href="https://press.un.org/en/2019/ga12146.doc.htm">UN General Assembly</a>, the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-mauritius/african-union-urges-britain-to-cede-chagos-islands-end-colonial-rule-idUSKBN1XW1GG">African Union</a> and the <a href="https://www.ejiltalk.org/icj-delivers-chagos-advisory-opinion-uk-loses-badly/">International Court of Justice</a> have called upon Britain to cease its occupation of the islands. The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/28/un-court-rejects-uk-claim-to-chagos-islands-in-favour-of-mauritius">settled opinion</a> of the international community is that Diego Garcia and the rest of the Chagos Archipelago belong to Mauritius, not the United Kingdom. This is not much of a grey area.</p>
<p>But complying with international law is a voluntary act. </p>
<p>For a long time, Britain’s policy was that the Chagos Islands would be returned to Mauritius when they were <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/questions-on-the-british-indian-ocean-territory-have-long-been-a-bilateral-matter-between-the-uk-and-mauritius#:%7E:text=When%20we%20no%20longer%20need,needed%20them%20for%20defence%20purposes.">no longer needed</a> “for defence purposes”. In his written statement to announce talks with Port Louis, Cleverly appeared to reaffirm this commitment by insisting that “any agreement between our two countries will ensure the continued effective operation” of the base on Diego Garcia.</p>
<p>The elephant in the room is that Britain does not now need – and, in fact, has never truly depended upon – the Chagos Archipelago for military purposes. Only a handful of British military personnel cycle through Diego Garcia. What, then, is London waiting for?</p>
<p>In reality, it is US forces that use the island of Diego Garcia as a logistics hub and staging post for military actions across the Indo-Pacific. As they negotiate with Mauritius, British leaders are therefore mostly interested in securing guarantees that America’s military interests will not be harmed by a transfer of authority to Port Louis. </p>
<p>This is what will shape negotiations over the territory’s future.</p>
<h2>Difficult talks ahead</h2>
<p>Four scenarios stand out as realistic.</p>
<p>First, Britain could relinquish its claim to the Chagos Archipelago without delay, and with few or no strings attached. This would be the “cleanest” way to uphold London’s obligations to Mauritius under international law. It would then be up to Port Louis and Washington to decide upon the future of the base on Diego Garcia.</p>
<p>Second, London could suggest a <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/finding-compromise-chagos-islands-saga">staged approach</a> to decolonisation. The opening phase would see Britain return the so-called “Outer” Chagos Islands to Mauritius – that is, the 57 islands of the archipelago that have never been used for military purposes, which are scattered around 100 miles north and west of Diego Garcia. But in exchange, Port Louis would grant London temporary sovereignty over Diego Garcia (a rump British Indian Ocean Territory) so that the base there could continue its operations uninterrupted for a specified amount of time.</p>
<p>Another variant of this option would be for Britain to acknowledge Mauritian sovereignty over the entire Chagos Archipelago – including Diego Garcia – but negotiate to access rights for itself and the United States.</p>
<p>Finally, talks could break down altogether. This is a real possibility. Decision-makers in London are unlikely to agree to anything that Washington cannot support.</p>
<h2>The case for full decolonisation</h2>
<p>Strictly bilateral talks might not be the best way to resolve the Chagos dispute. The United States must be engaged in the process, too.</p>
<p>Indeed, finding a long-term agreement between Washington and Port Louis is complicated by Britain’s persistent attempts to serve as an intermediary. Colonialism and illegality are hard to accommodate in diplomatic accords, after all.</p>
<p>Britain ought to announce the full and unconditional decolonisation of the territory as a backdrop to Mauritius and the United States discussing the issues that concern the two of them: basing rights, a status of forces agreement, and support for a resettled Chagossian community, to name three.</p>
<p>America’s military is hosted by a diverse cast of national governments on every continent. Dealing with Mauritius should be no more difficult than negotiating with Australia, Poland, Saudi Arabia, or South Korea.</p>
<p>Either way, London has no constructive role to play in these discussions, which concern the territory’s future rather than its past.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195830/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Harris does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As they negotiate with Mauritius, British leaders are mostly interested in securing guarantees that America’s military interests will not be harmed by a transfer of authority to Port Louis.Peter Harris, Associate Professor of Political Science, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1906782022-09-20T13:09:02Z2022-09-20T13:09:02ZSouth Africa is surrounded by sea but doesn’t have a plan to protect it: three steps to get one<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484551/original/file-20220914-13-kerp1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kalk Bay, Western Cape, South Africa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa is surrounded by 2,798km of coastline. Yet, oddly, the country doesn’t have a coherent maritime strategy underpinned by a related national strategy to safeguard its maritime interests.</p>
<p>This omission was underscored again recently by an evolving <a href="https://www.westerncape.gov.za/assets/departments/economic-development-tourism/draft_discussion_document_towards_an_oceans_economy_master_plan__0.pdf">master plan for South Africa’s oceans</a>. The document is significant as it puts the importance of South Africa’s oceans into sharper focus. But this shouldn’t obscure the fact that government’s commitment to comprehensively harness the ocean to help arrest economic decline has been disappointing.</p>
<p>The document also underscores the absence of a coherent and comprehensive policy. In countries where this has been done well – such as <a href="https://www.transport.govt.nz/area-of-interest/resilience-and-security/maritime-security-strategy/#:%7E:text=The%20Maritime%20Security%20Strategy%20ensures%20New%20Zealand%20has,more%20efficient%20and%20effective%20maritime%20security%20sector%20that%3A%20%22%22">New Zealand</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/ghana-has-developed-a-maritime-policy-here-is-what-it-means-188381">Ghana</a> – policies have been developed that encompass the economic value of a country’s oceans, as well as the vulnerability they present from a security point of view.</p>
<p>There are solutions. </p>
<p>A three step process would put South Africa’s maritime security house in order. The first would be to create a well-designed government-led process that includes a high-office body and core stakeholders. This would lead directly into the second step – the mapping of the country’s national maritime interests as well as the threats it faces. The third step would be creation of an integrated national maritime strategy.</p>
<p>The growing trend internationally is for countries to be explicit about their maritime interests and back this with dedicated institutional commitments to promote, develop and defend them if required. It’s time South Africa followed suit.</p>
<h2>What’s missing</h2>
<p>Some efforts have been made at getting a policy framework in place. The most recent is the <a href="http://www.governmentpublications.lib.uct.ac.za/news/framework-document-south-africa%E2%80%99s-national-interest-and-its-advancement-global-environment">Draft Framework on South Africa’s National Interest</a>.</p>
<p>The evolving master plan and <a href="https://www.operationphakisa.gov.za/Pages/Home.aspx">Operation Phakisa</a> – launched by the country’s presidency in July 2014 to hasten solutions to “critical development issues” – stress the critical importance of the oceans economy to South Africa’s overall economic interests. </p>
<p>The master plan also outlines good statistics on the potential contribution the oceans economy holds for the country.</p>
<p>But neither of these adds up to an integrated and credible maritime security plan for the country. The overall picture is one of working in silos, seemingly without coordination.</p>
<p>A recent communiqué from the <a href="https://www.sadc.int/speeches-communiques">Southern African Development Community Heads of State meeting</a> in the DR Congo noted that maritime security of Southern Africa is not what it should be and that a regional maritime strategy must be implemented. </p>
<p>There are examples South Africa could learn form. There are sound strategies on maritime security emerging among Gulf of Guinea countries, <a href="https://www.kenyanews.go.ke/govt-develops-comprehensive-maritime-security-strategy/">Kenya</a> in the Horn region, and the emphasis by <a href="https://www.defenceweb.co.za/featured/maritime-security-the-seychelles-way/#:%7E:text=The%20Seychelles%20has%20committed%20to%20protecting%20up%20to,and%20preserve%20economic%20opportunities%20in%20tourism%20and%20fishing">Seychelles</a> on security to harness the economic potential of its maritime territories.</p>
<p>Countries like <a href="https://www.defenceweb.co.za/sea/sea-sea/ghana-has-developed-a-maritime-policy-here-is-what-it-means/">Ghana</a>, <a href="https://www.defenceweb.co.za/featured/nigeria-launches-deep-blue-maritime-security-project/">Nigeria</a>, Kenya, Seychelles and Mauritius have made strides.</p>
<p>Beyond Africa, the UK recently launched its <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-maritime-security-strategy">national maritime security strategy</a>. For its part, China has turned its attention to the importance of the oceans <a href="https://www.stripes.com/theaters/africa/2021-12-06/china-military-guinea-djibouti-africom-3875711.html">in pursuit of its national interests</a>. This ambition features alongside the <a href="https://www.sipri.org/publications/2019/sipri-background-papers/foreign-military-presence-horn-africa-region">military buildup in the western Indian Ocean</a> with a focus on the Horn region and southern strands to Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and Maldives.</p>
<p>The naval profile unfolds alongside a much larger oceans agenda made up of security, safety, climate change, functional connectivity, and a thriving blue economy.</p>
<h2>Prioritising South Africa’s maritime interests</h2>
<p>A first step is to appoint a high-level entity to oversee maritime affairs in South Africa. A Department of Maritime Affairs is an attractive idea. But a powerful steering committee reporting to the presidency is probably a more attainable start. </p>
<p>This practice is growing. <a href="https://www.transport.govt.nz/area-of-interest/resilience-and-security/maritime-security-strategy/#:%7E:text=The%20Maritime%20Security%20Strategy%20ensures%20New%20Zealand%20has,more%20efficient%20and%20effective%20maritime%20security%20sector%20that%3A">New Zealand</a> and Ghana have taken this approach. </p>
<p>Next there needs to be a detailed mapping of interests on existing and new domains. An example is the security of underwater cable infrastructure – locally and regionally. </p>
<p>The maritime domain has essentially become too important to leave within a vague and broad set of statements like South Africa’s <a href="http://www.governmentpublications.lib.uct.ac.za/news/framework-document-south-africa%E2%80%99s-national-interest-and-its-advancement-global-environment">recent framework document</a>. Clearly articulated national interests with a maritime underpinning should inform an integrated national maritime security strategy. </p>
<p>In my view this is imperative for three reasons.</p>
<p>First, existing plans and documents are too vague about a credible security foundation for South Africa’s dependence on, and use of, the oceans. This leaves too much room for ambiguity about what must be secured.</p>
<p>Second, the absence of a strategy inherently forfeits the value in planning for shifts in maritime interests as well as the dynamic modern strategic maritime environment.</p>
<p>A third aspect stems from the value of a maritime security strategy to inform collaboration with regional and international partners (other African countries). Having a maritime strategy presents opportunities for maritime diplomacy – whether coercive, cooperative or more persuasive in kind.</p>
<p>South Africa is also very explicit in its foreign policy about commitment to the Southern African Development Community and Africa. The African Union’s <a href="https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fau.int%2Fweb%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fdocuments%2F30928-doc-2050_aim_strategy_eng.doc">AIMS-2050</a> and <a href="https://au.int/en/treaties/african-charter-maritime-security-and-safety-and-development-africa-lome-charter">Lomé Charter</a> as well as <a href="https://au.int/en/agenda2063">Agenda 2063</a> alongside the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">UN Sustainable Development Goals</a> have explicit maritime objectives that call for cooperation. Collectively, these framework documents guide and expect South Africa to be in step with its own strategies.</p>
<p>The question is: what does South Africa bring to the maritime table?</p>
<p>Not a great deal, is the answer. This means it can’t support and cooperate with higher order African maritime architectures. It seemingly remains up to academia, NGOs, individual state departments and agencies to play many of the constructive maritime roles on the international stage.</p>
<p>South Africa comes across as being out of touch with maritime security developments on the continent and beyond. There is no doubt that encouraging work is being done on South Africa’s ocean landscapes. This work unfortunately stems more from collections of actors in national departments, agencies, NGOs, and academia shining the light on the country’s critical maritime interests. </p>
<p>But this hasn’t been translated into a coherent strategy. The ultimate responsibility rests with the higher echelons of government. It is national government that must orchestrate the opportunities, actors and beneficiaries that will give expression to Operation Phakisa’s extensive oceans agenda.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190678/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Francois Vreÿ receives funding from Stellenbosch University. He is affiliated with Stellenbosch University. </span></em></p>The trend globally is for countries to be explicit about their maritime interests, underpinned by a sound security strategy.Francois Vreÿ, Research Coordinator, Security Institute for Governance and Leadership in Africa, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1844662022-06-06T15:07:04Z2022-06-06T15:07:04ZQueen Elizabeth II: a reign that saw the end of the British empire in Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467177/original/file-20220606-22-vdmb9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Queen Elizabeth II waves from the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Platinum Jubilee Pageant.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Jackson/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the UK the Queen’s official title is: <a href="https://royalcentral.co.uk/uk/what-are-elizabeth-iis-titles-172181/">Elizabeth the Second</a>, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.</p>
<p>There has been a lot of political and social change during her <a href="https://theconversation.com/taking-a-look-back-at-the-evolution-of-sport-during-queen-elizabeths-platinum-jubilee-184119">70 years on the throne</a>. None less than in what was once her African empire. </p>
<p>Famously, she was in Kenya (then pronounced by the British as “Keenya”), at the luxury Tree Tops game lodge, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-16904171">when her father died in 1952</a>. She returned hastily to Britain to accede to the throne <a href="https://theconversation.com/taking-a-look-back-at-the-evolution-of-sport-during-queen-elizabeths-platinum-jubilee-184119">that year</a>.</p>
<p>This was her second trip to Africa. She had accompanied her parents to South Africa <a href="https://britishheritage.com/the-royal-family-in-south-africa#:%7E:text=In%201947%20the%20Royal%20Family,Swaziland%2C%20Basutoland%20and%20the%20Bechuanaland">in 1947</a>, the monarchy’s “last hurrah” in the country before the <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/national-party-np">National Party</a>, which formalised apartheid, displaced General Jan Smuts’ United Party the following year. </p>
<p>At its height, the British Empire extended over something like a third of the world, but was already in recession when the Queen came to the throne. India had been the “Jewel in the Crown”, but had proceeded to a violently partitioned independence involving the creation of predominantly Muslim Pakistan <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Independence-Day-Indian-holiday">in 1947</a>. Burma (now Myanmar) went <a href="https://www.au.edu/news/myanmar-national-day.html">in 1948</a>. There were still other territories in Asia, notably Malaya, odd outposts in Latin America and various islands in Oceania. And there was still Africa. </p>
<p>There Britain’s territories included:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>four territories in west Africa</p></li>
<li><p>four in east Africa (inclusive of Zanzibar, then still separate from Tanganyika), </p></li>
<li><p>the two Rhodesias (Zambia and Zimbabwe) and Nyasaland (Malawi)</p></li>
<li><p>the three High Commission Territories in southern Africa (Bechuanaland, Basutoland and Swaziland), </p></li>
<li><p>the island of Mauritius, and </p></li>
<li><p>the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/British-Empire/Dominance-and-dominions">Dominion of South Africa</a>.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>All are now independent, and have become republics, although all (Zimbabwe being the exception) belong to what used to be known as – but is no longer known as – the “British” <a href="https://thecommonwealth.org/our-member-countries">Commonwealth</a>.</p>
<p>It was not realised at the time, nor intended, that the Empire would begin to dissolve as fast as it did after the Queen had come to the throne. However, by the early 1970s a bulk of the Empire had gone. </p>
<p>Britain effectively scuttled in the face of early nationalist stirrings (Ghana); the expense in blood, money and prestige of confronting armed struggle and violence (Malaya and Kenya); the increasing cost of demands for “development” in the colonies; the foreign policy disaster of Suez; and London’s developing sense that it should reorient its trade to a uniting Europe. </p>
<p>In fact, the decolonisation process had started half-a-century before. Ironically, it was South Africa which provided the constitutional precedent for the decolonisation process which was to take place so rapidly during the reign of Elizabeth II.</p>
<h2>The story of the dominions</h2>
<p>The rot (if that is the right word) started at the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10314616608595335?journalCode=rahs18">1911 Imperial Conference </a>, the first of several meetings of the British Prime Minister and his counterparts in the four <a href="https://www.britannica.com/summary/Decline-of-the-British-Empire">“dominions”</a> (Australia, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand). These were all countries of white settlement, territories to which Britain had exported population since the end of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Napoleonic-Wars">Napoleonic wars</a>. </p>
<p>Some went as “explorers”, more as traders, and some (notoriously to Australia) were <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/australia-day">dispatched as convicts</a>. The majority went to make a new life, many escaping hunger and misery at home.</p>
<p>Fearful of a repeat of the loss of their American empire, the British governments of the day conceded “self-government” to British settlers, albeit in fits and starts. An early marker was laid down with by the <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/legislativescrutiny/parliament-and-empire/collections1/parliament-and-canada/british-north-america-act-1867/">North America Act of 1867</a> which created confederation in Canada. </p>
<p>As dominions, such settler states enjoyed “self-government” over their internal affairs. But, they lacked total independence as Britain continued to control their foreign affairs, and notably, the right to take them into a war. </p>
<p>South Africa had become a “dominion” at <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/union-south-africa-1910">Union in 1910</a>, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-Botha">Prime Minister Louis Botha</a> attended the imperial conference of the following year. In response to the growing assertiveness of the four dominions, the British government made a significant concession. </p>
<p>It retained the right to declare that the dominions would join it in declaring war against an enemy state. But it conceded that they would have the right to decide their level of support for the war effort. The British were wholly confident that Australia, Canada and New Zealand would display their loyalty for “the mother country” in any European conflict. </p>
<p>However, a question hung over South Africa. Its government headed by Botha and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jan-Smuts">Jan Smuts</a>, two former Boer generals who had recently been fighting against the British. This was answered in 1914. When it came to the crunch, Botha and Smuts <a href="https://en.unesco.org/courier/news-views-online/first-world-war-and-its-consequences-africa">threw South African troops into the First World War</a> without any hesitation. </p>
<p>They subsequently took to the field in uniform to crush an Afrikaner Nationalist rebellion against fighting “Britain’s war”. Yet when the war was over, a Nationalist government led by another former Boer general,<a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/james-barry-munnik-hertzog"> Barry Hertzog</a>, led the way in securing a further concession from the British at the <a href="https://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/imperial-conference">Imperial Conference in 1926</a>. </p>
<p>This time round, the dominions gained the right to run their own foreign policies, to have separate diplomatic representation in countries around the world, and importantly, to decide for themselves whether to side with Britain in the event of another war. </p>
<p>All this was confirmed by the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1931/4/pdfs/ukpga_19310004_en.pdf">Statute of Westminster of 1931</a>. Come 1939, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/South-Africa/World-War-II">Smuts won a critical vote</a> in the Union Parliament to lead South Africa into the Second World War against Nationalist opposition. But, they took their revenge by defeating him <a href="https://theconversation.com/remembering-south-africas-catastrophe-the-1948-poll-that-heralded-apartheid-96928">in the 1948 election</a>. </p>
<p>Although Nationalist desire for South Africa to cut ties with Britain and become a republic ran deep, caution initially prevailed, and formally, the Queen remained head of state, represented by a governor-general as her viceroy. But when faced with hostility to apartheid by African states, Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/south-africa-withdraws-commonwealth">led South Africa out of the Commonwealth</a>. </p>
<p>By 1961 it was also <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/union-south-africa-movement-towards-republic">a republic</a>.</p>
<h2>Decolonisation</h2>
<p>This began with the Gold Coast, which achieved “self-government” in 1951 before moving rapidly to independence as Ghana <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/gold-coast-ghana-gains-independence">in 1957</a>. Government was now firmly in African hands. But, the imperial legacy remained in the form of a governor-general, who represented the Queen as the country’s formal head of state and sovereign. But this was not to last long. </p>
<p>The time of the Great White Queen sitting at the heart of Empire had long gone, and Ghana transitioned to the status of a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Ghana/Independence">republic in 1960</a> with <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/nkrumah-kwame">Kwame Nkrumah</a> becoming its first president and head of state. Albeit with local variations, this was the route followed in virtually every other British African territory over the course of following two decades.</p>
<p>By the late 1970s, every formerly British African state, bar <a href="https://thecommonwealth.org/our-member-countries/lesotho">Lesotho</a> and Swaziland (now <a href="https://thecommonwealth.org/our-member-countries/kingdom-eswatini">Eswatini</a>) whose own monarchs replaced the Queen as head of state, had become a republic. </p>
<p>The exception which proved the rule was Rhodesia. White Rhodesians, a tiny proportion of the territory’s population, had obtained self-government <a href="https://www.eisa.org/wep/zimoverview2.htm">in 1923</a>, yet Britain had retained nominal sovereignty. As one African government after another swept to freedom, the Rhodesians wanted to follow suit to retain white rule, but fearing African reaction, Britain had declined to grant full independence unless an incoming government had a democratic mandate. </p>
<p>Ian Smith’s Rhodesian Front party rebelled and unilaterally declared independence <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Zimbabwe/Rhodesia-and-the-UDI">in 1965</a> and although the white settlers famously thought themselves more British than the British themselves, declared in 1970 that they no longer recognised the Queen as head of state and declared Rhodesia a republic. This never gained international recognition, and a conservative politician, <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137318299_7">Christopher Soames</a> returned briefly as governor and the Queen’s representative in 1980. </p>
<p>The last British governor in Africa, he waved goodbye when Rhodesia transitioned to independence as the Republic of Zimbabwe <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Zimbabwe">in 1980</a>.</p>
<h2>Looking to the future</h2>
<p>Britain’s relationships with its former African colonies are now those of trade, aid and diplomacy. The Queen herself remains highly respected, and acknowledged as head of the Commonwealth. Yet once she has gone, and that cannot be long, even that status for the British monarch may go. </p>
<p>At that moment, the rout of the British monarchy in Africa will be complete.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184466/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roger Southall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The decolonisation process was to take place rapidly during the reign of Elizabeth II.Roger Southall, Professor of Sociology, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1795212022-05-13T12:28:33Z2022-05-13T12:28:33ZPink pigeons in Mauritius made a remarkable comeback from near-extinction – but are still losing genetic diversity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463004/original/file-20220513-22-vbp5yp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel Danckwerts / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Back in the 1980s there were just ten or so pink pigeons left in the wild. Known to scientists as <em>Nesoenas mayeri</em>, the species is found only on Mauritius, the Indian Ocean island that was once home to the dodo. Like the dodo, the pink pigeon made an easy target for cats, rats and other predators introduced by humans, who also chopped down almost all of their native forest. Unlike the dodo, however, the pink pigeon has since made a <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-genetic-rescue-mission-could-save-the-pink-pigeon-in-mauritius-75085">remarkable recovery</a>.</p>
<p>Fortunately, the <a href="https://www.mauritian-wildlife.org/projects">Mauritian Wildlife Foundation</a> had already taken 12 birds from the wild in the 1970s and 80s to establish a captive population. The offspring of these birds were then released during the 1990s and early 2000s and there are now at least 400 living in the wild. The species has even been officially <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/search?query=pink%2520pigeon&searchType=species">down-listed twice</a>, from “critically endangered” to “vulnerable”.</p>
<p>However, such a severe population bottleneck can lead to significant “genomic erosion”, where a species becomes less genetically healthy as so many animals are closely related. To examine the exact impact, we worked with a team of scientists to sequence the DNA of 175 birds sampled between 1993 to 2010 during the period of population recovery. Our results are now published in the journal <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.13918">Conservation Biology</a>. Disappointingly, we found that the species continued to lose genetic diversity even as overall numbers increased during the successful conservation rescue programme. We speculated that the bottleneck must have changed something in the pink pigeon’s DNA.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463009/original/file-20220513-26-u7x23k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two pigeons in a nest" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463009/original/file-20220513-26-u7x23k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463009/original/file-20220513-26-u7x23k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463009/original/file-20220513-26-u7x23k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463009/original/file-20220513-26-u7x23k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463009/original/file-20220513-26-u7x23k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463009/original/file-20220513-26-u7x23k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463009/original/file-20220513-26-u7x23k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Today pink pigeons are mostly found in one small forest in south western Mauritius.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Carl Jones</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To understand what caused this continued genetic erosion, we looked at data on 1,112 pink pigeons in European and US zoos. This data had been collected over four decades, and included each bird’s level of reproductive success and longevity together with levels of inbreeding calculated using pedigrees. Based on the relationship between these factors, we found the species carried a worryingly high “genetic load”. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41576-022-00448-x">genetic load</a> basically consists of many recessive harmful mutations that have the potential to reduce an animal’s ability to reproduce. This could be seen, for example, in a reduced number of eggs that hatch, or the number of young that successfully fledge the nest. Before the pink pigeon bottleneck, the effects of these mutations were masked since there were plenty of healthy genetic variants around to offset the harmful ones. However, small populations are much more vulnerable to random fluctuations in genetic composition, making it possible for the harmful mutations to have an effect.</p>
<p>Inbreeding can also cause such mutations to become more harmful, if the offspring of two related individuals inherit the same harmful mutation. When that happens, the healthy genetic variant no longer masks the harmful <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41576-022-00448-x">effect of the mutation</a> and the individual may fail to hatch or fledge the nest. We believe that this caused the continued genetic erosion of the pink pigeon in the wild. </p>
<p>Ultimately, all 480 or so free-living birds are somewhat related to the ten that managed to survive in the wild in the 1980s, and to the 12 that were used to establish the captive-bred population. This has resulted in slow, prolonged inbreeding. In turn, this meant the pigeons had less success hatching eggs and fledging, and didn’t live as long. </p>
<p>Since only the fittest pigeons were likely to hatch, fledge and reproduce, there were fewer birds effectively contributing to the next generation (and genetic variation was lost), even as their overall numbers increased. Consequently, the population continued to lose genetic variation despite growing in size.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463007/original/file-20220513-18-8rsw6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Dots and lines" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463007/original/file-20220513-18-8rsw6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463007/original/file-20220513-18-8rsw6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463007/original/file-20220513-18-8rsw6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463007/original/file-20220513-18-8rsw6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463007/original/file-20220513-18-8rsw6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463007/original/file-20220513-18-8rsw6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463007/original/file-20220513-18-8rsw6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pedigree of the captive pink pigeon population managed by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sam Speak and Harriet Whitford (pink pigeon studbook holder, Jersey Zoo)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What we have learned from this study is that in order for the pink pigeon to avoid extinction, we will need to reintroduce the offspring of birds bred in <a href="https://www.durrell.org/wildlife/">Jersey Zoo</a> and other EU zoos. These pink pigeons harbour genetic diversity that has since been lost from Mauritius, and reintroducing them would reduce the level of relatedness on the island. </p>
<p>Our study also shows that conservation can’t simply stop after a population seems to have recovered in numbers. We believe that genomic analyses are needed to truly evaluate the conservation needs of a species and its recovery potential. This cannot only be done by analysing population numbers. The data generated by the <a href="https://www.earthbiogenome.org/">Earth Biogenome Project</a> is going to be instrumental in identifying species most at risk of extinction. The project aims to sequence two million or so species in the next ten years. This data will not only help in our assessment of biodiversity, but must also be used to guide future conservation actions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179521/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cock Van Oosterhout receives funding from the Royal Society International Collaboration Awards (ICA\R1\201194), and the Earth and Life Systems Alliance (ELSA) at the Norwich Research Park (NRP). Cock Van Oosterhout is affiliated to the Conservation Genetics Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jim Groombridge does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The birds only live on one island and are all very closely-related.Cock Van Oosterhout, Professor of Evolutionary Genetics, University of East AngliaJim Groombridge, Professor of Biodiversity Conservation, University of KentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1776362022-02-24T15:12:20Z2022-02-24T15:12:20ZHow the US and UK worked together to recolonise the Chagos Islands and evict Chagossians<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447796/original/file-20220222-19-sc19ct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Citizens of the Indian Ocean island of Chagos at the High Court in London.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stefan Rousseau/PA Images via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On 15 February 2022 the Mauritian flag <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60378487">was raised</a> on two Indian Ocean atolls, Peros Banos and Salomon, both belonging to the Chagos archipelago. This was the first time that Mauritius’ flag was raised in the Chagos Islands, even though there is <a href="https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/the-chagos-islanders-and-international-law/ch4-the-1965-lancaster-house-agreement-and-international-law">clear evidence</a> that these 60 islands form part of its sovereign territory. </p>
<p>Currently, the UK maintains control over the archipelago. The whole of Mauritius used to be a British colony, the Chagos islands were detached in 1965, from the Crown Colony prior to granting Mauritius independence. A new colonial territory was created – effectively recolonising the archipelago – under the name ‘British Indian Ocean Territory’ (BIOT). </p>
<p>The largest and most heavily populated island in the archipelago is Diego Garcia. This island was <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/psp.1754">home to the majority of the nearly 2,000 exiled Chagossians</a> who are prohibited from returning. Today, this island is home to a <a href="https://www.navifor.usff.navy.mil/ncts-diegogarcia/">US Naval Communication Station</a> with a few thousand US troops and international support staff. </p>
<p>I’ve <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10612-021-09570-4">carried out research</a> on the recolonisation of the Chagos Archipelago, the forced eviction of the Chagossians, and the role of both the UK and US governments in this. </p>
<p>Despite the archipelago’s name – which indicates it is a British colony – the forcible eviction of the Chagossians was set in motion in the US. As part of the <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781627791694/basenation">US strategy to expand its military bases around the world</a>, Diego Garcia was <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Diego_Garcia/pfxK0J40ab0C?hl=en&gbpv=0">identified</a> in 1958, as an ideal location for a future military base by a US naval officer. </p>
<p>The island was considered particularly desirable both because of its location in the Indian Ocean and its <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691149837/island-of-shame">small population that could easily be removed</a>. Bases are a critical element of the US hegemon, <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374172145/howtohideanempire">a hidden empire</a>, which benefits US defense and intelligence interests. The base in Diego Garcia has been a vital location for manoeuvres across the Indian Ocean, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.0020-7985.2004.00291.x">including enabling the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq</a>. </p>
<p>The removal of the local population would ensure that there would be <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/united-states-overseas-basing-an-anatomy-of-the-dilemma/oclc/492037352">no political calls for sovereignty</a> or <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/military-power-and-popular-protest/9780813530918">social movements</a> that could curtail military operations. In 1960, the process of acquiring the islands began with <a href="https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v21">a secret conversation</a> between the US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and the British Minister of Defense Peter Thorneycroft.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2000/413.html">communication</a> between British government officials:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the primary objective in acquiring these islands…was to ensure that Her Majesty’s Government had full title to, and control over, these islands so that they could be used for the construction of defense facilities without hindrance or political agitation and so that when a particular island would be needed for the construction of British or United States defense facilities Britain or the United States should be able to clear it of its current population. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Americans in particular <a href="https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=2850&context=gc_etds">attached great importance</a> to the freedom of manoeuvre that comes from operating on an depopulated island.</p>
<h2>Circumventing laws</h2>
<p>The 1960 conversations resulted in the UK detaching the Chagos Islands from Mauritius for the purpose of recolonisation. This separation from Mauritius was unlawful and went against a UN <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/Independence.aspx#:%7E:text=General%20Assembly%20resolution%201514%20(XV)%20of%2014%20December%201960&text=The%20subjection%20of%20peoples%20to,world%20peace%20and%20co%2Doperation">resolution</a> and the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/chapter-11">UN charter</a>.</p>
<p>In order to circumvent international law, the British Parliament, and the US Congress, the British Indian Ocean Territory was created using an <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/site-information/glossary/orders-in-council/">Order in Council</a>. This uses Royal Prerogative, a discretionary power to implement actions without parliamentary authority. </p>
<p>In 1965, in what became known as the <a href="https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/the-chagos-islanders-and-international-law/ch4-the-1965-lancaster-house-agreement-and-international-law">Lancaster House Agreement,</a> Mauritius was granted independence on the condition that it relinquish the Chagos Islands to Britain. </p>
<p>The following year, the US drafted an agreement for the lease of the islands from the UK. The agreement took the form of an <a href="https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20603/volume-603-I-8737-English.pdf">Exchange of Notes,</a> where the Chagos Islands were leased to the US for an initial 50-year term with <a href="https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20603/volume-603-I-8737-English.pdf">an option</a> for a 20-year extension. This option was exercised in 2016, extending occupation to 2036. </p>
<p>Notably, the two countries avoided using a treaty for this purpose, bypassing the need for domestic legislative approval in both countries.</p>
<p>Having secured ownership, the relocation of the indigenous people that lived there commenced. </p>
<h2>Forced evictions</h2>
<p>Chagossians, who were forcibly evicted from Diego Garcia, are <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Indian_Ocean_Perspectives_on_a_Strat/y4QRAAAAYAAJ?hl=en">prohibited</a> from seeking employment on the US Naval Base. Chagossians can’t even visit the island of Diego Garcia. </p>
<p>The forced eviction of the Chagossians, who it is estimated had a population of nearly 2000, occurred in four stages between 1967 and 1973. </p>
<p>The first stage was the <a href="https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/227-f-supp-2d-603849646">prevention</a> of re-entry of Chagossians who left Diego Garcia for medical or tourist purposes in 1967. This was done without any notice.</p>
<p>The second stage was the implementation of <a href="https://www.internationalcrimesdatabase.org/Case/871/Bancoult-v-McNamara/">import restrictions</a> that created scarcity and made remaining on the island difficult. </p>
<p>The third stage involved threats and coercion. This took two forms. First, in poisoning, shooting, gassing, and burning all pet dogs on the island. Second, in demolishing the homes of Chagossians. These actions were <a href="https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2003/2222.html">ordered by</a> the British Commissioner of the British Indian Ocean Territory, Sir Bruce Greatbatch. The orders were carried out with the assistance of the US Naval Construction Battalions. </p>
<p>The depopulation was finalised with the <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmfaff/memo/147/ucm5402.htm">1971 Immigration Ordinance No.1</a>. It prohibited Chagossians from entering or remaining on the islands.</p>
<p>The exiled Chagossians were mostly left homeless and destitute in the Mauritius, some were sent to Seychelles. They were left to live in dilapidated shacks in slums, without support or employment opportunities. Although some <a href="https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2003/2222.html">meager compensation</a> was handed down, this came years after lengthy court battles and amounted to about £1000 (about US$1300) per person, although not all received this sum. The resulting insecurity and trauma has had <a href="http://www.chagosislandersmovement.com/">a profound impact</a> on those directly affected and on subsequent generations of Chagossians. </p>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p>On the request of the UN General Assembly, the <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/public/files/case-related/169/169-20190225-01-00-EN.pdf">International Court of Justice, on 25th February, 2019,</a> deemed the detachment of the Chagos Islands from Mauritius and their incorporation into a new colony unlawful. The UN General Assembly passed <a href="https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3806313?ln=en">Resolution 73/295</a> on 22nd May, 2019 obligating the UK to withdraw its colonial administration within six months. </p>
<p>These decisions demonstrate that international attention is on the UK to relinquish its unlawful colonial hold on the archipelago. What is missing is an acknowledgement of the enduring role of the US in these international crimes. Beyond holding the US responsible for its role in depopulating the islands, it is clear that without the participation of the US, the harm caused, especially to the Chagossian people, will not be repaired. </p>
<p><a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/Interview/Mauritius-makes-play-for-future-with-US-base-on-Diego-Garcia">Mauritius has already offered the US a 99-year lease of Diego Garcia</a> in an effort to shore up US support for its efforts around the return of the Chagos Islands. It’s still not clear whether the US will allow the Chagossian people, that it insisted be removed, to return.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177636/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anamika Twyman-Ghoshal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Attention is on the UK to relinquish its hold on the islands. What’s missing is an acknowledgment of the enduring role of the US in this international crime.Anamika Twyman-Ghoshal, Senior Lecturer, University of GloucestershireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1765692022-02-22T14:11:23Z2022-02-22T14:11:23ZThe macaque monkeys of Mauritius: an invasive alien species, and a major export for research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444780/original/file-20220207-17-1eqqbum.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Macaques are regarded as alien species in Mauritius. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fabian Faber/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Macaque monkeys live as both captive and wild animals on the island of Mauritius. The wild population number is estimated at <a href="https://doi.org/10.1159/000156234">between 25,000 and 35,000</a> animals, it’s uncertain how many exist in captivity, but the figure is in the tens of thousands. The reason for a high captive number is that Mauritius is one of the world’s largest exporters of monkeys for the global research industry – primarily, to the US and Europe. <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=fa4e56d8-3755-40cc-8f69-4a2a19a39972&subId=408086">Up to 10,000</a> primates are exported by Mauritius each year. Ecologist Vincent Florens provides insights into how the animals first came to Mauritius and how their presence has affected the island’s natural environment.</em></p>
<h2>How long has Mauritius been involved?</h2>
<p>The macaques originally came from Southeast Asia and were introduced almost certainly as pets to Mauritius by the Dutch <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0053001">around</a> 1602. </p>
<p>In 1985, a private company, Bioculture, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK221770/">started to breed</a> the macaques for research. The government didn’t object. Macaques are closely related to humans and can help to provide data into medical issues. For instance, experimental trials in macaques <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jmp.12555#:%7E:text=Experimental%20trials%20in%20macaques%20have,influenza%2C%20smallpox%2C%20and%20hepatitis.">have led researchers</a> to understand the efficacy of novel drugs and vaccines against several infectious diseases, such as AIDS, influenza, smallpox, and hepatitis.</p>
<p>Macaques were first exported from Mauritius for research <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK221770/">in 1985</a>. Initially feral animals had to be caught to supply research. These were typically caught in the islands’ forested areas, in the national parks, nature reserves, on mountains and in woods along rivers. </p>
<p>Today they are both caught from the wild and bred in captivity for research. <a href="https://www.traveldailynews.com/post/animal-protection-groups-outraged-as-mauritius-government-gives-permission-for-capture-of-wild-monkeys">In 2020</a>, 10,827 macaques were exported from the country. </p>
<p>Wild macaques are needed to support captive breeding, an intake of at least a few thousand females each year. This is to preclude problems of genetic inbreeding that may happen in captive populations. And because captive bred animals’ breeding capacity tends to drop, and other issues like ageing of breeding animals.</p>
<h2>How does the trade affect their numbers?**</h2>
<p>The intensity of trapping feral animals may vary through time depending on the needs of the breeding programs. In times of low to no trapping the feral macaque population generally grows gradually, something I’ve observed when carrying out <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=nDUJisIAAAAJ&hl=en">research</a> on vegetation dynamics in Mauritius over about 20 years. There are more frequent calls and sightings of animals during visits to forested areas, and also by the sizes of the groups seen.</p>
<p>Conversely, there have been times of intensive trapping, like when several companies were given permits to operate several years back. This led to a very marked drop in encounters where macaques were previously abundant. </p>
<h2>What impact do macaques have on the natural environment?</h2>
<p>To appreciate the impact of macaques on Mauritius’ natural environment, one must first remember that they were introduced by humans to the island. Macaques are not part of the natural environment of Mauritius, they are like rats in that respect. </p>
<p>The macaque is what is termed an ‘alien species’ in Mauritius. This means that the many native, and often unique, animals and plants of Mauritius – which occur in one of the world’s <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/35002501">biodiversity hotspots</a> – had no previous exposure to animals like macaques. This means the plants and animals that lived there, the endemic species, have developed no evolutionary feature that would protect them from the alien monkeys. </p>
<p>Mauritius already has one of the highest <a href="https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/RL-2000-001.pdf">extinction rates</a> of endemic species worldwide. They are among the most threatened worldwide. For example, last year, the Botanical Gardens Conservation International ranked Mauritius as the <a href="https://mauritiushindinews.com/hindi-newspaper-in-mauritius/endemic-trees-mauritius-is-a-very-bad-student-scope/#:%7E:text=The%20new%20report%20State%20of,real%20observation%20is%20even%20worse.">second worst </a> country worldwide in terms of proportion of tree species threatened with extinction. Massive deforestation <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892914000411">is the most direct and immediate driver of biodiversity loss</a>, removing 95.6% of the original native ecosystem. </p>
<p>Macaques have, and continue to, play a pivotal role in this situation. They are formidable predators capable of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-919X.1997.tb08861.x">raiding bird</a> nests to eat <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22696373/93557909">eggs</a> and <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22690392/179390191">chicks</a>. Macaques also chew on the soft heart of many plants like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11257-8_29-1">orchids</a>, especially the larger species, killing them. Today orchids are the plant family that have sustained the highest <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11257-8_29-1">extinction rate</a> – 20 of the 91 known species appear to have gone extinct since 1769 in Mauritius. Many of the macaque-vulnerable orchids now cling to survival in tiny numbers in places like steep cliffs, which are least accessible to macaques. </p>
<p>Macaques destroy the fruits of many native trees before they mature. This kills the seeds within, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/252932550_Current_decline_of_the_''Dodo_Tree''_a_case_of_broken-down_interactions_with_extinct_species_or_the_result_of_new_interactions_with_alien_invaders">like those</a> of the ‘Dodo-tree’ and many ebony species. This has made forests less hospitable for native frugivores such as the endangered flying fox. </p>
<p>Macaques also destroy flowers of many species, breaking branches, and chewing on seedlings. Their activities deprive native fauna of their natural foods, which in turn contribute to their further decline. For example, macaques <a href="https://www.academia.edu/14254707/Current_decline_of_the_Dodo_Tree_a_case_of_broken-down_interactions_with_extinct_species_or_the_result_of_new_interactions_with_alien_invaders">have destroyed</a> about 95% of fruits of certain endemic trees before the Mascarene endemic flying fox has a chance to feed on these fruits. This in turn pushes the flying fox to seek food elsewhere, including on commercial trees in gardens and orchards. Sadly, this resulted in the government of Mauritius taking action against flying foxes – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/530033a">killing them</a> by the thousands. This has worsened the conservation status of the flying fox to <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/18743/86475525">Endangered</a> on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.</p>
<h2>How can they be better managed?</h2>
<p>Feral macaques in Mauritius are a formidably harmful invasive alien species, destructive to many animal and plant species which are heading towards extinction in part because of the macaques. </p>
<p>The ideal management in such a situation is eradication, just like goats and rabbits were eradicated from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-3207(86)90086-8">Round Island</a> in the 1970s and 1980s. This saved its highly threatened flora and fauna from extinction. </p>
<p>However, macaque eradication may be difficult in Mauritius’ remaining forests, which are sizeable, covering 80 km2. It may be more feasible in the short run to eradicate them from isolated pockets of habitats or to control their numbers to far below what they are now. </p>
<p>This may be done through intensive trapping or construction of macaque proof fencing, particularly in and around the most biodiversity important areas respectively. </p>
<p>Each of the monkeys that are exported annually for research is subjected to a US$125 levy that contributes to raising funds for biodiversity conservation. However, more species will continue to go extinct if the level of conservation management is not seriously increased to face the threats, including those posed by the macaques.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176569/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vincent Florens does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Macaques are an alien species - and the endemic plants and animals of the island haven’t adapted to protect themselves against these monkeys.Vincent Florens, Associate Professor, Department of Biosciences at Faculty of Science, University of MauritiusLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1773812022-02-21T17:52:22Z2022-02-21T17:52:22ZChagos Islands: Mauritius’s latest challenge to UK shows row over sovereignty will not go away<p>A superyacht hired by Mauritius recently <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/08/mauritian-ship-takes-scientific-team-to-contested-chagos-islands">set out</a> to conduct a scientific survey of the Blenheim reef, 230km off the coast of Diego Garcia in the <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/debate/chagos-question">Chagos archipelago</a>. A group of Chagossians accompanied the scientists in what <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/mauritius-sets-sail-chagos">has been hailed</a> as an “historic” event by Mauritian prime minister Pravind Jugnauth. </p>
<p>This trip was controversial not only <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2022-02-14/chagos-islanders-living-in-sussex-criticise-problematic-flag-raising">among Chagossians</a> but also because the international legal status of the islands has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-mauritius-and-the-uk-are-still-sparring-over-decolonisation-40911">in contention</a> for the past 60 years. The visit took in the outer atolls of Peros Banhos and the Salomon, the last to be inhabited by Chagossians before the British government removed them in the 1960s to establish an American military base in the archipelago. </p>
<p>This was the first time Chagossians were visiting their homeland without UK support. The Mauritian flag was raised by Mauritian officials on both atolls and on Blenheim reef. At stake is the issue of Mauritian sovereignty.</p>
<h2>British involvement</h2>
<p>The Chagos archipelago is a collection of seven coral atolls made up of over 60 islands in the Indian Ocean, about 500km south of the Maldives, midway between Tanzania and Indonesia. <a href="https://doi.org/10.4000/oceanindien.2003">In the late 18th century</a> French planters established coconut plantations and brought in enslaved people, initially from Senegal, and later labourers from Madagascar, Mozambique and India to work on these plantations. </p>
<p>Today many of those identifying as Chagossians are the descendants of these enslaved and indentured labourers. Some research refers to them as the islands’ <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20179938?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">indigenous people</a>. </p>
<p>These issues are significant because of the historical and contemporary relationship of the UK, US and Mauritius with the islands. The Chagos islands, which were dependencies of Mauritius, came under British sovereignty in 1814, having formerly been part of the French empire. </p>
<p>Internationally, the islands were largely neglected until the cold war. In the 1960s the US and the UK jointly identified Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands, as an ideal location for a military base in the Indian Ocean. Consequently, in 1965, the UK government <a href="https://ukhumanrightsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/sand-gcybilj2-copy.pdf">detached</a> the Chagos islands from Mauritius and from Seychelles. </p>
<p>While some islands were already uninhabited, between 1967 and 1973 the remaining population, around 1,500 inhabitants, was <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/debate/chagos-question">removed and relocated</a>. Some were resettled in Mauritius, some in Seychelles and some in the UK. Laws were subsequently passed by the UK government to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10854681.2021.1888514">prevent people resettling</a> to the islands. </p>
<p>Britain created a new colony from islands formerly part of Seychelles and Mauritius (the former were returned to Seychelles on its independence in 1976)- the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). In 1966 the UK and US concluded the agreement to establish a joint military facility on the BIOT island of Diego Garcia. The agreement was to last for 50 years with an option of a 20-year rollover which was triggered in 2016. The agreement now lasts to 2036.</p>
<h2>Contemporary litigation</h2>
<p>Considerable litigation has been brought before the UK courts and the European Court of Human Rights by Chagossian Oliver Bancoult and as a group action by the Chagos Islanders regarding <a href="https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004204416/Bej.9789004202603.i-293_013.xml">the right to return</a> to the islands. In recent years there have been three important decisions.</p>
<p>In 2010, the UK established a no-fishing protected area around the Chagos archipelago. Mauritius claimed this infringed Mauritian fishing rights and instituted proceedings against the UK under <a href="https://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/unclos_e.pdf">international law</a>. </p>
<p>In March 2015, the tribunal established under international law, to which the matter had been referred for <a href="https://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/annex8.htm">arbitration</a>, ruled in favour of Mauritius. It held that the UK had breached its obligations under international law and, in particular, the fishing rights of <a href="https://www.pcacases.com/pcadocs/MU-UK%2020150318%20Award.pdf">Mauritius</a>.</p>
<p>Since Mauritian independence in 1968, consecutive governments have challenged the detachment of the Chagos islands, claiming they are part of Mauritius. In 2019, the International Court of Justice published an <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/en/case/169">Advisory Opinion</a> in response to a request from the United National General Assembly on behalf of Mauritius, stating that decolonisation had <a href="https://www.ejiltalk.org/mauritius-v-uk-chagos-marine-protected-area-unlawful">not been lawfully carried out</a>. </p>
<p>In particular, it said that detaching the Chagos archipelago from Mauritius was not based on the free and genuine will of the people. Consequently, the UK’s continuing administration of the Chagos archipelago was unlawful.</p>
<p>The United Nations <a href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2019/ga12146.doc.htm">accepted this Advisory Opinion</a> in a resolution that ordered the UK to withdraw from the archipelago within a period of six months. Almost four years on, the UK <a href="https://theconversation.com/chagos-islands-uk-refusal-to-return-archipelago-to-mauritius-show-the-limits-of-international-law-127650">has still not done so</a>. Instead the British government continues to hold that neither the International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion nor the UN resolution have any legally binding effect. </p>
<p>The UK has consistently indicated that it will cede the islands to Mauritius once they are no longer required for defence purposes. The UK has made a number of financial payments to Chagossians and is currently delivering about £40 million in support to <a href="https://www.chagossupport.org.uk/post/2017/03/02/british-government-comment-on-40m-support-package-for-chagossians">improve the livelihoods</a> of those in Seychelles, Mauritius and UK</p>
<p>Mauritius has said that the recent visit was not intended as a hostile act towards the UK. Nor was it an overture to resettlement. Nevertheless, it is a clear indication that Mauritius is not going to let the dispute of sovereignty disappear any time soon.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177381/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sue Farran does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By raising the Mauritian flag on the Chagos Islands, the east African nation has reasserted – if only symbolically – its claim to sovereignty.Sue Farran, Reader of Law, Newcastle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1774612022-02-20T05:54:30Z2022-02-20T05:54:30ZBritain’s ownership of the Chagos islands has no basis, Mauritius is right to claim them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447247/original/file-20220218-21-2b0pr5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Chagos Islands, situated in the Indian Ocean, halfway between Africa and Indonesia. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The decolonisation of Mauritius was never fully completed. This is because, in 1965, the British government put islands belonging to Mauritius into a <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/thechagosarchipelagofacts/home/creation-of-biot">new colonial jurisdiction</a>, the British Indian Ocean Territory, which still exists today. It is long past time for this colonial-era wrongdoing to be made right, and for Mauritius to be made whole.</p>
<p>The islands in question are the Chagos group in the central Indian Ocean. In the early 1960s, British and American diplomats <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691149837/island-of-shame">conspired</a> to establish a military base on Diego Garcia, the largest atoll of the Chagos Archipelago.</p>
<p>The island was attractive for a number of reasons: it boasted a natural harbour, was big enough to host a sizeable military presence (including a large airstrip), and was situated roughly equidistant between East Africa and Southeast Asia.</p>
<p>In short, Diego Garcia was the perfect place from which to guard against the expansion of Soviet naval power and political influence in the emerging Third World. But as the Mauritius-born scholar Jean Houbert <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/160607?seq=10#metadata_info_tab_contents">later wrote</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>There were two problems, however: the Chagos belonged to Mauritius, and they were inhabited.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Conceived in illegality</h2>
<p>Determined not to let these obstacles prevent the construction of a military base on Diego Garcia, officials in London resorted to sheer illegality.</p>
<p>First, Britain dismembered the colony of Mauritius by making the Chagos Islands part of the new colony of British Indian Ocean Territory in November 1965, an entity that would remain firmly under the control of London.</p>
<p>Next, British agents forcibly <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/psp.1754">depopulated</a> the entire Chagos group between 1965 and 1973. The point was to establish that the archipelago lacked a permanent civilian population, and so could be governed as nothing other than a militarised site.</p>
<p>Port Louis and other African capitals have long alleged that the detachment of Chagos from Mauritius was a violation of prevailing rules on decolonisation. In 2019, the International Court of Justice agreed with this view in a scathing <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/public/files/case-related/169/169-20190225-ADV-01-00-EN.pdf">advisory opinion</a>. So have <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/chagos-boundary-dispute-tips-over-sovereignty-ruling">other</a> international courts, as well as the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/22/uk-suffers-crushing-defeat-un-vote-chagos-islands">UN General Assembly</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447248/original/file-20220218-25-nfsz24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447248/original/file-20220218-25-nfsz24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447248/original/file-20220218-25-nfsz24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447248/original/file-20220218-25-nfsz24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447248/original/file-20220218-25-nfsz24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447248/original/file-20220218-25-nfsz24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447248/original/file-20220218-25-nfsz24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chagossian demonstration against the UK Government.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Alberto Pezzali/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The depopulation of Chagos has been ruled <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/nov/03/4">unlawful</a>, too. In 2000, two High Court judges in the UK held that a legal ordinance enacted in 1971 to expel the indigenous Chagos Islanders was entirely incompatible with British law, and that preparations ought to be made for the islanders to exercise their lawful right of return.</p>
<p>This means that Britain enjoys the dubious distinction of having broken both international and domestic laws within just a few years of creating the British Indian Ocean Territory –- hardly an auspicious beginning for the country’s last ever colony.</p>
<h2>Rules-based order</h2>
<p>Today, British leaders <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/mar/15/why-britain-is-tilting-to-the-indo-pacific-region">claim</a> to be committed to a “rules-based” order in the Indo-Pacific. At least one Member of Parliament <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/1298649/china-new-chagos-islands-british-indian-ocean-territory-diego-garcia-Daniel-Kawczynski">has portrayed</a> the military base on Diego Garcia as central to this endeavour. If this is true, however, then it must come as quite a surprise to the government of Mauritius and members of the exiled Chagossian community.</p>
<p>Britain never did allow the Chagos Islanders to return to their homes, despite having been instructed to do so by its own judiciary. Instead, the government used <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/biotgovernment/legal-challenges-by-chagossians/the-2004-order-in-council---a-2nd-round-of-legal-action">Orders in Council</a> –- a form of primary legislation done without any input from Parliament –- to reimpose the total exile of the Chagos Islanders in 2004.</p>
<p>This grossly undemocratic measure was, in effect, a way to sidestep the High Court and rid the government of an inconvenient constraint on its power. The islanders resolved to fight on, but their legal challenges have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/oct/22/chagos-islanders-lose">so far</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/dec/20/chagos-islands-court-ruling">come</a> to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/29/chagos-islanders-lose-supreme-court-bid-to-return-to-homeland">nothing</a>.</p>
<p>Nor has London bowed to international pressure to decolonise. Only five states agree with Britain that the Chagos Islands ought to remain under its jurisdiction. By contrast, more than 23 times as many - a whopping 116 world governments – have <a href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2019/ga12146.doc.htm">called for</a> Britain to exit the Chagos Islands “as soon as possible.”</p>
<p>Can a state be regarded as friendly to the idea of rules-based global governance when it shows such blatant disregard for international law, institutions, and world opinion?</p>
<h2>Mauritius and the Chagossians</h2>
<p>For a long time, Port Louis and the Chagos Islanders’ various campaign groups waged their legal and political battles in isolation from one another. Today, however, they have come together in support of decolonisation.</p>
<p>When the flag of Mauritius <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2022/02/16/mauritius-plants-flag-on-disputed-chagos-islands/#:%7E:text=The%20red%2C%20blue%2C%20yellow%20and%20green%20flag%20of%20Mauritius%20was,%2C%20on%20Monday%2C%20February%2014.&text=Chagos%20islanders%20who%20were%20forcibly,have%20been%20fighting%20for%20decades">was raised</a> last week above the Chagos islands of Peros Banhos and Salomon, the Mauritian ambassador to the United Nations stood proudly alongside Olivier Bancoult of the Chagos Refugees Group.</p>
<p>It is important to emphasise that <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2022-02-14/chagos-islanders-living-in-sussex-criticise-problematic-flag-raising">not all</a> Chagossians agree with this joining of forces. Some view Port Louis with distrust and point out that their people have suffered mistreatment at the hands of both governments, not just Britain.</p>
<p>However, if justice is ever going to be done in the Chagos Islands –- including a restoration of the islanders’ right of return -– then it will only happen under Mauritian sovereign control. This much is abundantly clear by now: decolonisation is a prerequisite for resettlement.</p>
<h2>Decolonise now</h2>
<p>Mauritius has waited long enough to regain its lost territory. Especially given that Port Louis has <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/Interview/Mauritius-makes-play-for-future-with-US-base-on-Diego-Garcia">pledged</a> to allow the US base on Diego Garcia to exist under its stewardship, there are no excuses left to justify persistent British colonialism.</p>
<p>All that remains is for Britain to do the decent thing and decolonise the Chagos Archipelago without delay. In the final analysis, this is the best way for London to demonstrate its commitment to international rules: to actually follow them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177461/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Harris does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the early 1960s, British and American diplomats conspired to establish a military base on Diego Garcia, the largest atoll of the Chagos Archipelago.Peter Harris, Associate Professor of Political Science, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1713932021-11-18T19:10:19Z2021-11-18T19:10:19ZFriday essay: how do I understand who I am, when my family have hidden themselves from recent history?<p>My auntie has stopped speaking to her siblings. Rifts like these are commonplace in my family, where people fall out with each other like dealt cards. The size of our family doesn’t help. The original eight siblings have grown into four generations and almost 90 people. Full family parties happen only at parks and playgrounds or in the backyards of wealthy family members, which are the only backyards that can accommodate us all.</p>
<p>Some of the grievances are historic, dating back decades and finessed over time. Others are new, fresh. It’s a condition prevalent among migrant families, especially those like mine who have been tentative – because of differences in language, culture, class, education – to socialise widely in Australia. We are tethered to each other and this tether grows thin, frayed by too many gatherings filled with the same faces and the echoes of old pains. In this context my 70-year-old auntie’s antagonism is understandable.</p>
<p>Except for this. She will speak to her siblings (and presumably to us nieces and nephews) if we speak to her in English or French. She just won’t speak to anyone in Creole anymore.</p>
<p>It was my dad who told me this, and when I asked why, he muttered something about Creole being a low language. What do you mean, I pressed.</p>
<p>“A low language”, my dad said again. “You know, without proper verbs and things like that.”</p>
<p>Creole, the language that my Mauritian family speak with one another, is a patois – a variation on French. That’s what I’ve always been told, anyway. Google tells me something else: that it’s a mix of a European with “local” languages, especially African languages spoken by slaves in the West Indies – this is mentioned discretely, in brackets. </p>
<p>Like my auntie, Google also privileges French. </p>
<p>And while there is no official language stipulated by the Mauritian constitution, in places like Parliament, the chosen languages are English and French, despite the fact that <a href="https://www.sunresortshotels.com/en/newsroom/cultural-diversity-history-mauritius">86.5% of the population</a> speak Creole. </p>
<p>In not wanting to speak Creole, my auntie is merely doing what her country asks of her. She is also doing what her mother asked of her. Despite her Chinese husband and surname, my grandmère taught her children to speak French, but not Chinese. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/renaming-english-does-the-world-language-need-a-new-name-14763">Renaming English: does the world language need a new name?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Growing up, I could count to ten in Cantonese, and the only phrases I knew were “wash your bum”, “wash your vagina” and “wash your penis”. These were the height of our pre-teen insults. Once, in anger, I told my father to “<em>gong hei fat choy</em>”. He laughed. “What’s so funny?” I asked in indignation. “I just told you to leave me alone.”</p>
<p>“No you didn’t. You wished me a happy new year.”</p>
<p>But when it came to French, my grandmère schooled us on the intricacies of pronunciation. Her favourite grandkids were the ones who pronounced the words flawlessly, with a French tongue. Like everyone else in my family, Grandmère spoke Creole most – but for her, French was the language in which she wasn’t just seen as poor and brown, and she made sure all her children could speak it. As though the language were a cloak that could be thrown over them all, allowing them to pass, for a moment, as something they weren’t.</p>
<p>I loved my grandmère. There was a pillowy warmth about her. She smiled easily. She pulled us onto her lap and sang us songs and told us stories. She went to church every week, carried ten babies in her womb and buried two. When she and her family lived in Mauritius, she rose at 5am and worked until 11pm making manioc (tapioca). This meant cutting, peeling, grating and draining cassava, soaking it for days, straining and kneading and drying it. My aunts would get up and work with her before going to school for the day, their hands still bleeding.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432526/original/file-20211117-17-15zw1aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432526/original/file-20211117-17-15zw1aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432526/original/file-20211117-17-15zw1aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432526/original/file-20211117-17-15zw1aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432526/original/file-20211117-17-15zw1aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432526/original/file-20211117-17-15zw1aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1006&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432526/original/file-20211117-17-15zw1aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1006&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432526/original/file-20211117-17-15zw1aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1006&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A photo of the author’s grandmère.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My grandpère’s job was cycling around Mauritius selling <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT">DDT</a> to farmers. While raising a large family, Grandpère became sick, first with tuberculosis and then with typhoid. A bucket was kept by his bed into which he vomited blood. My favourite auntie remembers vividly the bucket, the blood and the distance they were forced to keep from it.</p>
<p>This is all, of course, a way of me telling you not to judge my grandmère. I don’t judge my grandmère, or even my auntie, for privileging French over Creole. Their experiences are not my own. Neither of them had the luxury of studying for an arts degree at a university where the curriculum was taught in the language that the vast majority of the population spoke. English is a language that has been forced on us all. </p>
<p>That doesn’t make us all heard, by the way. But it suggests that we might be heard if we say the right things to the right people. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432537/original/file-20211118-14-f19bs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432537/original/file-20211118-14-f19bs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432537/original/file-20211118-14-f19bs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=687&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432537/original/file-20211118-14-f19bs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=687&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432537/original/file-20211118-14-f19bs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=687&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432537/original/file-20211118-14-f19bs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=863&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432537/original/file-20211118-14-f19bs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=863&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432537/original/file-20211118-14-f19bs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=863&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author with her Grandmere and Grandpere.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Questions of identity</h2>
<p>Like most countries with a history of slavery, both real and economic – indentured workers are not enslaved physically, but they are also not free – Mauritius has deep issues around racism and identity. It has been colonised twice, first by the French and then by the English. At one point in history, slaves constituted <a href="https://mauritianarchaeology.sites.stanford.edu/history">80% of the Mauritian population</a>. </p>
<p>It’s no surprise, then, that many Mauritians were eager to emphasise their European heritage. They hold the other parts of themselves – Chinese, African, Indian – under deep water.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/treatment-of-foreign-workers-lends-a-lie-to-myth-of-the-mauritian-miracle-67180">Treatment of foreign workers lends a lie to myth of the Mauritian 'miracle'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The country was formally decolonised in 1968. It was too late for my family, who emigrated to Australia in 1969. They never got to feel what their country was like free of British rule, to exhale as (some) of its institutions became more democratic and multicultural. In coming here to escape British imperialism, they merely traded one form of racial discrimination for another.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432542/original/file-20211118-16-1k8odx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432542/original/file-20211118-16-1k8odx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432542/original/file-20211118-16-1k8odx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432542/original/file-20211118-16-1k8odx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432542/original/file-20211118-16-1k8odx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432542/original/file-20211118-16-1k8odx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432542/original/file-20211118-16-1k8odx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432542/original/file-20211118-16-1k8odx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chinatown, Port Louis, Mauritius 1960s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Raouf Oderuth/ Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is why Grandmère insisted that her mother was light-skinned with grey eyes. This is how her story goes, though everything about us – our hair, eyes, lips, skin – suggests that this cannot be true. My grandmère’s surname before Kon-yu was Leubas (pronounced Le-bah), though this is an uncommon name and one I’ve had some difficulty tracing. </p>
<p>My Mauritian family has a history of strange names: Kon-yu is a strange name, a Chinese academic once told me. As far as she knew, Chinese names weren’t hyphenated. There aren’t many Kon-yus around the world, and we’re the only ones in Australia. If you search for Leubas and its variations, the most popular name you will find is Leuba (pronounced Loo-bar), which is a name most commonly found in Switzerland.</p>
<p>These are not our people.</p>
<p>Creole was one of the first languages I knew. A language I didn’t have to translate, but one that sat within my skin. I probably stopped speaking Creole in my early 20s when my grandmère died. I try to speak it still with my aunties, but I fumble, embarrassed, over my loss of basic words and phrases. I find myself translating from English to Creole in my mind. </p>
<p>The only time in my adult life when the language comes back to me is when I am with my children. All my lullabies are in Creole and, as it turns out, so are many of my commands. “<em>Donne moi ton li pied</em>,” I ask my son as I dress him in his pyjamas. “<em>Pa touché ça!</em>” I’ll cry out. My kids, born in Australia to two English-speaking parents, don’t know yet that they’re hearing Creole. They don’t know how low their language is. </p>
<p>The other language they hear, the other one I speak, my other first language, is Italian. This comes from my mother and from my nonna and nonno. It’s easier to put effort into relearning Italian – there are books and apps and classes. It is, as my father and auntie and grandmère have intimated, a proper language. People want to learn it. </p>
<p>Like Creole, Italian bursts out of me at odd moments. Most often at the Italian deli, where the air is thick with baccala, provolone and the sounds of words I remember, however dimly. It forces its way through, like Creole, when I am with my children. Again, lullabies and commands are sung and given in Italian. Here the languages are easy.</p>
<p>They slip out of me as though no other language stands in their way. There is no translating. There is just memory.</p>
<h2>Tying down a definition</h2>
<p>This is an uncomfortable matrix of things to be born into. Especially now, in this cultural moment when it seems as if everything must be tied down, defined. I feel a pressure, exerted from almost everywhere, to define myself in a certain way, as a woman of colour, even though this definition doesn’t quite fit. </p>
<p>I am wary of taking space from people who are defined much more categorically by their skin colour, who cannot pass. </p>
<p>And I am cautious of tying myself to a set of definitions based on my skin colour and unusual surname. When the issue is racism, then racial categorisations can only get us so far. Racism doesn’t respect geographic or religious differences. I’m also painfully aware that Mauritius is a country where the <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/colour-bar">colour bar</a> was instituted and wielded against its citizens. And I’ve never forgotten what Toni Morrison pointed out in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved">Beloved</a> – that “Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined”.</p>
<p>Yet, even so, sometime in early 2020, I decided to take a DNA test. I was sceptical, but curiosity got the better of me.</p>
<p>The results came during the pandemic and the first lockdown here in Melbourne. They were a brilliant moment of sunshine in days that hung greyly together. Here, at last, was the answer to who I actually was and where my family were definitely from. And yes, I know these things are not always accurate, that mistakes are made and cultures lumped clumsily together. But I was ready for a different thread of the story.</p>
<p>The results were a seismic shift in the narrative of who we are and where we are from. I found out I am Asian, but not Chinese. It turns out only a measly 2.6% of my DNA is Chinese. There is no French. None at all.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/should-i-get-my-dna-tested-we-asked-five-experts-120664">Should I get my DNA tested? We asked five experts</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>When I shared my DNA results with my cousins over a family group chat, they were shocked. One exclaimed, “you are more than half-Asian!” Both her parents are from Mauritius, and it reminds me that even in my own family, we categorise ourselves. I was surprised by this too, assuming my ethnicity was split down the middle, that my shorthand cultural signification was “Eurasian”. All this time, I have been far more Asian than Eur.</p>
<p>I grieved when I got these results. I grieved for the cultures I had been told I belonged to, whose traditions my family and I practised. Our love of yum cha, the little red envelopes my grandpère gave us at Chinese New Year when we were kids, the easy way I fold wonton and use chopsticks. My own Chinese surname. What had once seemed genetically and culturally solid now felt like an accident of fate. A Chinese man in the right place at the right time. </p>
<p>So where does Leubas come from? It is undeniable that both my grandmère’s names are French-sounding, but are they Creole names – Afro-French rather than European French? No one knows. And while I am used to being seen as a stranger by other people, it was quite another thing to feel like a stranger to myself. Looking at the Ethnicity Estimate in my test results, seeing myself in various coloured blobs spread out all over the world, I felt like I was from everywhere, and therefore from nowhere.</p>
<p>I am still Italian – at least that part of my history is true – but I’m a bit less Italian than I would like. I’m also 12% English, which explains, perhaps, my nonna’s blue eyes, passed down to my son, who is the only Kon-yu born with eyes this colour. The Englishness was a particular blow to me, as someone who does postcolonial work and habitually blames the English for All the Things Wrong With the World. I won’t lie. I felt the shift of the moral high ground change under my feet when I read this.</p>
<p>Mauritian didn’t even rank as an ethnicity. It can’t. Everyone from Mauritius is from somewhere else, or from many places at the same time. </p>
<h2>Stories in DNA</h2>
<p>I couldn’t speak English when I went to school, despite being born in Australia. I became aware of the differences between myself and my classmates when I was moved from a school of working-class brown kids to one filled with working-class and middle-class white kids. I was aware at the age of seven, when my new classmates kept a polite distance from me and my difference, how little control I had over the story of who I was. Like my auntie, I refused to speak Italian and Creole at home after I started school, knowing even then how tightly English needed to be cleaved to my self. That I needed it not only to get by, but to do well.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432543/original/file-20211118-13-wvorls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432543/original/file-20211118-13-wvorls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432543/original/file-20211118-13-wvorls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432543/original/file-20211118-13-wvorls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432543/original/file-20211118-13-wvorls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432543/original/file-20211118-13-wvorls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432543/original/file-20211118-13-wvorls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432543/original/file-20211118-13-wvorls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author’s cousin, Morena, as a child.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With the loss of Creole and Italian I can no longer claim to be trilingual. And there are things I’ve forgotten that I want to remember. My grandmére’s stories, for one. No one in my Mauritian family remembers these stories. Not one. It’s like we lost them in the deep water between here and there, discarding them as things we no longer needed. I’ve looked for them online. I’ve bought books of Mauritian fairy tales and asked people to transcribe them. But they are not our stories. I’ve searched for African fairy tales, for Indian fairy tales, for French fairy tales. All with no luck.</p>
<p>So where am I actually from, and does it matter? The bulk of my DNA is West Asian (Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Azerbaijan) followed by South Asian (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka). The West Asian, I think, can be ascribed to my Italian family, who are from Sicily (a place that has a precarious relationship to Italianness at the best of times). The South Asian is something I share with another cousin who took the DNA test. And there are stories, hushed of course, of my grandpère’s mother, a Muslim woman who was either (depending on who tells the story) ostracised by her mostly Christian family, or was well-loved and died young.</p>
<p>My Ethnicity Estimate gives me 42 ethnicities. By contrast, my husband’s ethnicity comprises two major ethnic groups: Irish and Northern European. His coloured blobs sit side by side on a map. It is a map of people who were content enough to stay where they were born, who didn’t venture too far.</p>
<p>When I look at my own map, all I see is people fleeing.</p>
<p>I know that the truth doesn’t reside in a random swab of my cheek, but nor does it lie in family stories that contradict themselves. It is somewhere else, secret and hidden. The hiding makes me sad. The fact that my family come from places they want to keep hidden. The fact that we are a family devoid of lore. Nobody knows anything definite about my great-grandparents, and information about my grandparents is scarce. Where did Grandmère and Grandpère meet? I asked my favourite auntie, the one who cleaved to her mother, who listened actively for information. She couldn’t say because she didn’t know. </p>
<p>There is grief here, to be part of a family who have hidden themselves from recent history. Who can’t trace their lineage back more than two generations before the trail wisps into nothing. Who are probably not spelling either of their surnames (Grandmère’s or Grandpère’s) properly. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432544/original/file-20211118-21-1fk7aa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432544/original/file-20211118-21-1fk7aa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432544/original/file-20211118-21-1fk7aa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432544/original/file-20211118-21-1fk7aa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432544/original/file-20211118-21-1fk7aa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432544/original/file-20211118-21-1fk7aa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432544/original/file-20211118-21-1fk7aa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432544/original/file-20211118-21-1fk7aa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author’s dad as a child.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Along with the sadness and loss I feel, I am lucky enough to see an exit here. To think about how this multiplicity is not all bad. As an academic and writer, I have always been interested in the in-between and how it can trouble the things surrounding it. And I am bothered by the push in our culture to define ourselves as one thing and not another. </p>
<p>The idea of one thing and not another has been used against us all our lives. To buy into this binary, to use it against ourselves, is to enact a kind of violence. To let it in, under our skin. As Audre Lorde <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-masters-tools-will-never-dismantle-the-masters-house-9780241339725">told us</a>, “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.”</p>
<p>As sociologist Malenn Oodiah <a href="https://www.luxury-in-mauritius.com/people/the-mauritian-identity-the-result-of-a-long-journey">writes</a> of the Mauritian identity, “Our cultural and religious differences constitute our wealth. Looking for a single identity is impoverishing.” For me, it means inhabiting, however precariously, all of my ethnicities and owning all my family stories, however misguidedly they have been forged. To listen to my family in whatever language they choose to speak. I have to be comfortable living in between because it is the only place I actually belong. </p>
<p>Everything I’ve been told about my family is wrong and everything I’ve been told about my family is right. We belong here and there, on many different continents and in the vast, unknown waters between them.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This piece is an edited extract, republished with permission from <a href="https://www.griffithreview.com/editions/escape-routes/">GriffithReview74: Escape Routes</a> edited by Ashley Hay</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171393/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Kon-yu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>My family is Mauritian, but when I take a DNA test, Mauritian didn’t even rank as an ethnicity. It can’t. Everyone from Mauritius is from somewhere else, or from many places at the same time.Natalie Kon-yu, Lecturer in Creative and Professionaln, Literature and Gender Studies, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1626822021-06-15T10:54:53Z2021-06-15T10:54:53ZTribute to Sir Anerood Jugnauth, the architect of contemporary Mauritius<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406124/original/file-20210614-73826-k3bexh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Anerood Jugnauth won his last election at the age of 84. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">nicholas larche/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sir Anerood Jugnauth, the towering figure of Mauritian politics for six decades, has <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/6/4/former-mauritius-pm-anerood-jugnauth-dies-at-91">died</a> at the age of 91. “SAJ”, as he was fondly known, will be <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/6/4/former-mauritius-pm-anerood-jugnauth-dies-at-91">remembered</a> as the father of the Mauritian economic miracle. </p>
<p>Under his stewardship as both prime minister and president, Mauritius <a href="https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/egms/docs/2016/AliZafar.pdf">witnessed</a> full employment, unprecedented growth and the setting up of new economic pillars, such as the offshore sector and knowledge economy.</p>
<p>He was one of the last surviving politicians who participated in the Lancaster House discussions in 1965 on Mauritius’ independence from the British. </p>
<p>Jugnauth eventually went on to hold the highest political positions in the country. He served as president from 2003 to 2012 and prime minister from 1982 to 1995 and then from 2000 to 2003. He was 84 years of age when he took on his final round as prime minister in 2014. </p>
<p>Though his administration did have its challenges, there’s no doubt that Sir Anerood Jugnauth considerably shaped the economic and political contours of contemporary Mauritius. </p>
<h2>The early years</h2>
<p>Jugnauth first came onto the political scene in the 1950s. He joined the Independent Forward Bloc of the Bissoondoyal brothers who militated for Hindu political empowerment and renaissance. He subsequently held ministerial positions in the pre-independence government. </p>
<p>When Mauritius became independent from Britain in 1968, the island was fraught with economic and social uncertainty. Many didn’t want independence, with <a href="http://www.parisglobalist.org/the-power-of-ignorance-is-mauritius-doomed-to-lose-its-history/">44%</a> of the population voting against it. </p>
<p>Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam became independent Mauritius’ first prime minister. He was the premier in the pre-independence government and led the Independence Party (an alliance of the Labour Party, Independent Forward Bloc and Comité d'Action Musulman) which garnered the most seats in the 1967 general elections. Ramgoolam rallied all political parties in a national unity government, leaving an opposition political vacuum. It was at that time that the Mouvement Militant Mauricien – a political party founded by Paul Berenger, a politician with French ancestry – emerged. </p>
<p>The Mouvement Militant Mauricien fought for social justice among the working class and trade unions. This appealed to Jugnauth and he joined the party in the early 1970s and soon became its president. </p>
<p>In the 1976 general elections (the first since independence), Jugnauth’s party lost and he became the leader of the opposition in parliament. This was where he cut his political teeth.</p>
<p>A turning point was in 1982 when his political party swept all the seats at the general elections. This was an unprecedented feat as it left a nonexistent opposition. </p>
<p>Jugnauth was appointed prime minister for the first time, a position he would occupy for an uninterrupted 14 years. </p>
<h2>Prime minister</h2>
<p>His government faced new challenges and hard choices, like the management of high unemployment and severe austerity measures proposed by the International Monetary Fund.</p>
<p>Differences in strategic pathways concerning the economic and social issues split his cabinet and party. He left the Mouvement Militant Mauricien and created his own party, the Mouvement Socialiste Mauricien. Just nine months after his resounding win, he dissolved parliament. </p>
<p>Jugnauth is often credited as the father of the Mauritian economic miracle. He initiated the diversification of the economy with sectors such as the offshore, the freeport, the cybercity and the financial services. These were able to succeed because Mauritius had good <a href="https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/4450110/Frankel_MauritiusAfrican.pdf">quality institutions</a>: political participation, rule of law, and control of corruption. The island was classified as a low income economy when he first took office and moved towards a middle income one by the late 1990s and ultimately into a high income economy in 2020. </p>
<p>There were some hurdles along the way. Jugnauth’s prime ministership was also tainted by several controversies, scandals, abuse of authority and unfair practices. </p>
<p>This includes the abrogation of the <a href="https://attorneygeneral.govmu.org/Documents/Laws%20of%20Mauritius/A-Z%20Acts/N/NEWSPAPERS%20AND%20PERIODICALS%20ACT,%20Cap%2037.pdf">Muslim Personal Law</a> in 1987. This stripped the Muslim marriage contract (nikaah) of legal standing, antagonising a segment of the Muslim community. In addition, in 1993, Jugnauth <a href="https://www.lexpress.mu/idee/319980/parlement-siege-dr-ramgoolam-pas-declare-vacant-en-1992">attempted to disqualify</a> the then leader of the opposition, Navin Ramgoolam, from his parliamentary seat. He also tried to rein in the media by bringing <a href="https://www.lexpress.mu/node/342482">an amendment</a> to the Newspapers and Periodical Act (1837).</p>
<h2>Staying in power</h2>
<p>Despite this, Jugnauth had real staying power. </p>
<p>He was an astute politician, with a flair for opportunism, he crafted coalition politics with military precision to his advantage where he would retain the position of prime minister and his Mouvement Socialiste Mauricien party would dominate within the coalition. This explains his successive electoral wins in the 1983, 1987 and 1991 general elections. </p>
<p>Things changed in the 1995 general election. His coalition party suffered an electoral washout faced with an unbeatable Mauritius Labour Party and Mouvement Militant Mauricien coalition party.</p>
<p>Jugnauth accepted this defeat. </p>
<p>Ahead of the 2000 general elections, Jugnauth and Berenger, who was the leader of the opposition, signed a pre-election pact that if they won, power would be shared between them. Effectively, their parties won with a landslide victory and Jugnauth kept to his word and stepped down after three years as prime minister, allowing Berenger to became the country’s first non Hindu prime minister since independence. The move drew a lot of criticism from traditional Hindu voters.</p>
<p>With Berenger as prime minister, Jugnauth acceded to the post of president of the republic – a position that essentially holds ceremonial power. </p>
<p>But the call to get back into the political arena was too strong and he resigned as president in March 2012. At the ripe age of 84 years, he swept the polls in the 2014 general elections and once again became prime minister. He eventually ceded this position to his son Pravind Jugnauth in 2017.</p>
<p>His last struggle was for the <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2019/02/26/hand-over-chagos-islands-to-mauritius-un-court-tells-britain">restitution of the Chagos Archipelago</a> to the sovereignty of Mauritius. A good, lasting legacy for future generations of Mauritians. </p>
<p>His success in garnering the support of more than 95% of nations of the United Nations General Assembly in supporting the return of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius bears the hallmark of a true patriot and history will bear witness to this remarkable achievement.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162682/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roukaya Kasenally does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Sir Jugnauth considerably shaped the economic and political contours of contemporary Mauritius.Roukaya Kasenally, Democracy scholar and Associate Professor in Media and Political Systems, University of MauritiusLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1597922021-04-29T14:38:49Z2021-04-29T14:38:49ZWatching a coral reef die as climate change devastates one of the most pristine tropical island areas on Earth<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397728/original/file-20210429-13-1cf9nq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C1917%2C1212&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Chagos Reef was vibrant before the heat wave.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.livingoceansfoundation.org/publication/global-reef-expedition-chagos-archipelago-final-report/">Ken Marks/Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chagos_Archipelago#/media/File:Chagos_map.PNG">Chagos Archipelago</a> is one of the most remote, seemingly idyllic places on Earth. Coconut-covered sandy beaches with incredible bird life rim tropical islands in the Indian Ocean, hundreds of miles from any continent. Just below the waves, coral reefs stretch for miles along an <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Satellite-bathymetry-map-of-the-western-Indian-Ocean-basin-Approximate-aerial-extent-of_fig1_320835153">underwater mountain chain</a>.</p>
<p>It’s a paradise. At least it was before the heat wave.</p>
<p>When I first explored the Chagos Archipelago 15 years ago, the underwater view was incredible. Schools of brilliantly colored fish in blues, yellows and oranges darted among the corals of a vast, healthy reef system. Sharks and other large predators swam overhead. Because the archipelago is so remote and sits in one of the largest <a href="https://chagos-trust.org/chagos/overview">marine protected areas</a> on the planet, it has been sheltered from industrial fishing fleets and other activities that can harm the coastal environment.</p>
<p>But it can’t be protected from climate change.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A diver carries a plastic pipe for measuring while swimming over a variety of corals" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397204/original/file-20210426-15-ng6gsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=480%2C586%2C1097%2C689&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397204/original/file-20210426-15-ng6gsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397204/original/file-20210426-15-ng6gsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397204/original/file-20210426-15-ng6gsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397204/original/file-20210426-15-ng6gsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397204/original/file-20210426-15-ng6gsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397204/original/file-20210426-15-ng6gsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A diver documents the coral reefs in the Chagos Archipelago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.livingoceansfoundation.org/publication/global-reef-expedition-chagos-archipelago-final-report/">Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2015, a marine heat wave struck, harming coral reefs worldwide. <a href="https://people.miami.edu/profile/spurkis@rsmas.miami.edu">I’m a marine biologist</a> at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, and I was with a team of researchers on a <a href="https://www.livingoceansfoundation.org/global-reef-expedition/global-reef-expedition-final-reports/">10-year global expedition to map the world’s reefs</a>, led by the <a href="https://www.livingoceansfoundation.org/">Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation</a>, wrapping up our work in the Chagos Archipelago at the time. Our report on the state of the reefs there <a href="https://www.livingoceansfoundation.org/publication/global-reef-expedition-chagos-archipelago-final-report/">was just published</a> in spring 2021.</p>
<p>As the water temperature rose, the corals began to bleach. To the untrained eye, the scene would have looked fantastic. When the water heats up, corals become stressed and they expel the tiny algae called dinoflagellates that live in their tissue. Bleaching isn’t as simple as going from a living coral to a bleached white one, though. After they expel the algae, the corals turn fluorescent pinks and blues and yellows as they produce chemicals to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.04.055">protect themselves from the Sun’s harmful rays</a>. The entire reef was turning psychedelic colors.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397178/original/file-20210426-13-v15dqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two bright pink coral mounds" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397178/original/file-20210426-13-v15dqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397178/original/file-20210426-13-v15dqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397178/original/file-20210426-13-v15dqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397178/original/file-20210426-13-v15dqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397178/original/file-20210426-13-v15dqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397178/original/file-20210426-13-v15dqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397178/original/file-20210426-13-v15dqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Just before they turned white, the corals turned abnormally bright shades.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.livingoceansfoundation.org/publication/global-reef-expedition-chagos-archipelago-final-report/">Phil Renaud/Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397198/original/file-20210426-21-txmdaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Large fish and schools of fish swimming above the reef" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397198/original/file-20210426-21-txmdaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397198/original/file-20210426-21-txmdaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397198/original/file-20210426-21-txmdaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397198/original/file-20210426-21-txmdaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397198/original/file-20210426-21-txmdaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397198/original/file-20210426-21-txmdaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397198/original/file-20210426-21-txmdaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Chagos archipelago is home to some 800 species of fish, including rays, skates and dozens of varieties of shark.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.livingoceansfoundation.org/publication/global-reef-expedition-chagos-archipelago-final-report/">Phil Renaud/Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That explosion of color is rare, and it doesn’t last long. Over the following week, we watched the corals turn white and start to die. It wasn’t just small pieces of the reef that were bleaching – it was happening across hundreds of square miles.</p>
<p>What most people think of as a coral is actually many tiny colonial polyps that build calcium carbonate skeletons. With their algae gone, the coral polyps could still feed by plucking morsels out of the water, but their metabolism slows without the algae, which provide more nutrients <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_corals/coral02_zooxanthellae.html">through photosynthesis</a>. They were left desperately weakened and more vulnerable to diseases. We could see diseases taking hold, and that’s what finished them off.</p>
<p>We were witnessing the death of a reef.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A large mushroom-shaped coral structure, half of it turned white from bleaching" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397197/original/file-20210426-19-2eyjzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397197/original/file-20210426-19-2eyjzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397197/original/file-20210426-19-2eyjzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397197/original/file-20210426-19-2eyjzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397197/original/file-20210426-19-2eyjzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397197/original/file-20210426-19-2eyjzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397197/original/file-20210426-19-2eyjzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Corals beginning to bleach in the Chagos archipelago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.livingoceansfoundation.org/publication/global-reef-expedition-chagos-archipelago-final-report/">Phil Renaud/Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Rising temperatures increase the heat wave risk</h2>
<p>The devastation of the Chagos Reef wasn’t happening in isolation.</p>
<p>Over the past century, <a href="https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/global/time-series/globe/ocean/ytd/12/1880-2017">sea surface temperatures</a> have risen by an average of <a href="https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-sea-surface-temperature">about 0.13 degrees Celsius</a> (0.23 F) per decade as the oceans absorb the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, largely from the burning of fossil fuels. The temperature increase and changing ocean chemistry affects sea life of all kinds, from <a href="https://www.pmel.noaa.gov/co2/story/What+is+Ocean+Acidification%3F">deteriorating the shells of oysters and tiny pteropods</a>, an essential part of the food chain, to causing fish populations to migrate to cooler water. </p>
<p>Corals can become stressed when temperatures around them <a href="https://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/satellite/methodology/methodology.php">rise just 1 C</a> (1.8 F) above their tolerance level. With water temperature elevated from global warming, even a minor heat wave can become devastating.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IEWJAEkGeNk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>In 2015, the ocean heat from a strong <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ninonina.html">El Niño</a> event triggered the mass bleaching in the Chagos reefs and <a href="https://www.climate.gov/news-features/event-tracker/survey-photos-reveal-damage-year%E2%80%99s-global-coral-bleaching-event">around the world</a>. It was the third global bleaching on record, following events in <a href="http://www.reefcheck.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Ambio1999.pdf">1998</a> and <a href="https://www.climate.gov/news-features/videos/coral-bleaching-alarm-2010">2010</a>.</p>
<p>Bleaching doesn’t just affect the corals – entire reef systems and the fish that feed, spawn and live among the coral branches suffer. One <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0401277101">study of reefs</a> around Papua New Guinea in the southwest Pacific found that about 75% of the reef fish species declined after the 1998 bleaching, and many of those species declined by more than half.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two bright orange fish with white bands swim past an anemone" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397200/original/file-20210426-21-24e0zc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397200/original/file-20210426-21-24e0zc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397200/original/file-20210426-21-24e0zc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397200/original/file-20210426-21-24e0zc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397200/original/file-20210426-21-24e0zc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397200/original/file-20210426-21-24e0zc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397200/original/file-20210426-21-24e0zc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Most corals are brown or green. Fish and anemones bring color to the reefs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.livingoceansfoundation.org/publication/global-reef-expedition-chagos-archipelago-final-report/">Ken Marks/Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Starfish on a coral" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397603/original/file-20210428-19-1j2eryy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397603/original/file-20210428-19-1j2eryy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397603/original/file-20210428-19-1j2eryy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397603/original/file-20210428-19-1j2eryy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397603/original/file-20210428-19-1j2eryy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397603/original/file-20210428-19-1j2eryy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397603/original/file-20210428-19-1j2eryy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Noduled sea stars are among the reef’s diverse species.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.livingoceansfoundation.org/global-reef-expedition/">Ken Marks/Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Research shows marine heat waves are now about <a href="http://doi.org/10.1126/science.aba0690">20 times more likely</a> than they were just four decades ago, and they tend to be hotter and last longer. We’re at the point now that some places in the world are anticipating coral bleaching every couple of years.</p>
<p>That increasing frequency of heat waves is a death knell for reefs. They don’t have time to recover before they get hit again.</p>
<p><iframe id="IS1fT" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/IS1fT/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Where we saw signs of hope</h2>
<p>During the <a href="https://www.livingoceansfoundation.org/global-reef-expedition/global-reef-expedition-final-reports/">Global Reef Expedition</a>, we visited over 1,000 reefs around the world. Our mission was to conduct standardized surveys to assess the state of the reefs and map the reefs in detail so scientists could document and hopefully respond to changes in the future. With that knowledge, countries can plan more effectively to protect the reefs, important national resources, providing <a href="https://reefresilience.org/value-of-reefs/">hundreds of billions of dollars a year</a> in economic value while also <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral_protect.html">protecting coastlines</a> from waves and storms.</p>
<p>We saw damage almost everywhere, from the <a href="https://www.livingoceansfoundation.org/global-reef-expedition/atlantic-ocean/inaguas-bahamas/">Bahamas</a> to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yisyMO-Xi0">Great Barrier Reef</a>.</p>
<p>Some reefs are able to survive heat waves better than others. Cooler, stronger currents, and even storms and cloudier areas can help prevent heat building up. But the global trend is not promising. The world has already <a href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2019/06/protecting-coral-reefs-in-a-deteriorating-environment">lost 30% to 50% of its reefs</a> in the last 40 years, and scientists have warned that most of the remaining reefs <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/2018/10/08/summary-for-policymakers-of-ipcc-special-report-on-global-warming-of-1-5c-approved-by-governments/">could be gone within decades</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Flat corals turning white as they bleach" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397202/original/file-20210426-21-nq77pb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397202/original/file-20210426-21-nq77pb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397202/original/file-20210426-21-nq77pb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397202/original/file-20210426-21-nq77pb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397202/original/file-20210426-21-nq77pb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397202/original/file-20210426-21-nq77pb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397202/original/file-20210426-21-nq77pb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Table corals bleaching in the Chagos Reef.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.livingoceansfoundation.org/publication/global-reef-expedition-chagos-archipelago-final-report/">Derek Manzello/Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397179/original/file-20210426-21-1l2ahj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Diver with large sea turtle swimming over corals." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397179/original/file-20210426-21-1l2ahj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397179/original/file-20210426-21-1l2ahj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397179/original/file-20210426-21-1l2ahj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397179/original/file-20210426-21-1l2ahj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397179/original/file-20210426-21-1l2ahj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397179/original/file-20210426-21-1l2ahj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397179/original/file-20210426-21-1l2ahj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author, Sam Purkis, dives near a hawksbill turtle in the Chagos Archipelago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.livingoceansfoundation.org/publication/global-reef-expedition-chagos-archipelago-final-report/">Derek Manzello/Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While we see some evidence that certain marine species are <a href="https://phys.org/news/2021-04-climate-marine-species-poleward.html">moving to cooler waters</a> as the planet warms, a reef takes thousands of years to establish and grow, and it is limited by geography.</p>
<p>In the areas where we saw glimmers of hope, it was mostly due to good management. When a region can control other harmful human factors – such as overfishing, extensive coastal development, pollution and runoff – the <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/a-bulwark-against-reef-destruction-in-a-warming-world/">reefs are healthier</a> and better able to handle the global pressures from climate change.</p>
<p>Establishing large marine protected areas is one of the most effective ways I’ve seen to <a href="http://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0210">protect coral reefs</a> because it limits those other harms.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Pointed-nose fish among coral branches" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397195/original/file-20210426-19-7dtogm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397195/original/file-20210426-19-7dtogm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397195/original/file-20210426-19-7dtogm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397195/original/file-20210426-19-7dtogm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397195/original/file-20210426-19-7dtogm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397195/original/file-20210426-19-7dtogm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397195/original/file-20210426-19-7dtogm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Coral reefs are fish nurseries and feeding grounds. They also protect coast lines from storms and waves.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.livingoceansfoundation.org/publication/global-reef-expedition-chagos-archipelago-final-report/">Stephan Andrews/Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Brilliant blue fish swim in a coral reef" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397205/original/file-20210426-15-15m16st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397205/original/file-20210426-15-15m16st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397205/original/file-20210426-15-15m16st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397205/original/file-20210426-15-15m16st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397205/original/file-20210426-15-15m16st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397205/original/file-20210426-15-15m16st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397205/original/file-20210426-15-15m16st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some of the diversity of the Chagos Reef.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.livingoceansfoundation.org/publication/global-reef-expedition-chagos-archipelago-final-report/">Derek Manzello/Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Chagos marine protected area covers 640,000 square kilometers (250,000 square miles) with only one island currently inhabited – Diego Garcia, which houses a U.S. military base. The British government, which created the marine protected area in 2010, has been <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/chagos-archipelago-dispute-law-diplomacy-and-military-basing">under pressure to turn over control of the region</a> to the country of Mauritius, where former Chagos residents now live and which won a challenge over it in the International Court of Justice in 2020. Whatever happens with jurisdiction, the region would benefit from maintaining a high level of marine protection.</p>
<h2>A warning for other ecosystems</h2>
<p>The Chagos reefs could potentially recover – if they are spared from more heat waves. Even a 10% recovery would make the reefs stronger for when the next bleaching occurs. But recovery of a reef is measured in decades, not years.</p>
<p>So far, research missions that have returned to the Chagos reefs have found only meager recovery, if any at all.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397198/original/file-20210426-21-txmdaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Large fish and schools of fish swimming above the reef" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397198/original/file-20210426-21-txmdaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397198/original/file-20210426-21-txmdaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397198/original/file-20210426-21-txmdaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397198/original/file-20210426-21-txmdaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397198/original/file-20210426-21-txmdaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397198/original/file-20210426-21-txmdaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397198/original/file-20210426-21-txmdaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Chagos Archipelago is home to some 800 species of fish, including rays, skates and dozens of varieties of shark.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.livingoceansfoundation.org/publication/global-reef-expedition-chagos-archipelago-final-report/">Phil Renaud/Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We knew the reefs weren’t doing well under the insidious march of climate change in 2011, when the global reef expedition started. But it’s nothing like the intensity of worry we have now in 2021.</p>
<p>Coral reefs are the canary in the coal mine. Humans have collapsed other ecosystems before through overfishing, overhunting and development, but this is the first unequivocally tied to climate change. It’s a harbinger of what can happen to other ecosystems as they reach their survival thresholds.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369797/original/file-20201117-13-180ibt9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369797/original/file-20201117-13-180ibt9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369797/original/file-20201117-13-180ibt9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369797/original/file-20201117-13-180ibt9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369797/original/file-20201117-13-180ibt9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369797/original/file-20201117-13-180ibt9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369797/original/file-20201117-13-180ibt9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>This story is part of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/oceans-21-96784">Oceans 21</a></em></strong>
<br><em>Our series on the global ocean opened with <a href="https://oceans21.netlify.app/">five in-depth profiles</a>. Look for new articles on the state of our oceans in the lead-up to the U.N.’s next climate conference, COP26. The series is brought to you by The Conversation’s international network.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159792/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sam Purkis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Scientists watched in real time as rising ocean heat transformed the sprawling reef. It was a harbinger for ecosystems everywhere as the planet warms.Sam Purkis, Professor and Chair of the Department of Marine Sciences, University of MiamiLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1505672020-11-26T16:03:50Z2020-11-26T16:03:50ZWhy Mauritius is culling an endangered fruit bat that exists nowhere else<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371289/original/file-20201125-17-1jxfrza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C6%2C2035%2C1355&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Jacques de Speville</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/18743/86475525">endangered Mauritius fruit bat</a> is once again the centre of a controversial cull at the hands of its government, much to the alarm of wildlife conservation organisations. Under pressure from both farmers and the public, the government of the Indian Ocean island recently <a href="https://goc2020.govmu.org/gisnotice/wp-content/plugins/pdfjs-viewer-shortcode/pdfjs/web/viewer.php?file=https://goc2020.govmu.org/gisnotice/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Mauritius-fruit-Bat-1.pdf&dButton=true&pButton=true&oButton=false&v=1.5.1#zoom=auto">announced a plan</a> to cull 10% of its 80,000 or so fruit bats to protect the nation’s fruit industry.</p>
<p>Bat culling in Mauritius is fraught with deep divisions and entrenched interests. No one disputes that the fruit bat – the clue is in its name – can cause damage to lychee and mango harvests in orchards and private gardens. That’s why pressure from fruit farmers and the general public led the government to order culls of tens of thousands of bats – at least a third of the species’ population – in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019. Many conservationists feel that these culls contravene the <a href="https://www.cbd.int/convention/articles/?a=cbd-08">UN Convention on Biological Diversity</a>, which Mauritius was the very first nation to sign and ratify in 1992.</p>
<p>This has led to perpetual arguments and increasing divisions between farmers, agricultural companies, fruit traders, conservationists academics, government agencies, media and the public.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371288/original/file-20201125-19-11v38hn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A bat hangs upside down from a branch." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371288/original/file-20201125-19-11v38hn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371288/original/file-20201125-19-11v38hn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371288/original/file-20201125-19-11v38hn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371288/original/file-20201125-19-11v38hn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371288/original/file-20201125-19-11v38hn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371288/original/file-20201125-19-11v38hn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371288/original/file-20201125-19-11v38hn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Precious endangered species or annoying pest…or both?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jacques de Speville</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These bats are found nowhere else in the world. That’s why conservation organisations both in Mauritius and elsewhere have raised concerns that these repeated culls could decimate their population. Large island fruit bats are <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6332/1368.full">particularly vulnerable</a> because reproductive rates are low, with females giving birth to just one pup per year at best, which makes it difficult for populations to recover losses. Six of the past eight bat extinctions, including the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/18763/8585073">Guam flying fox</a> and the lesser Mascarene flying fox, were similar species who succumbed to similar combinations of intense hunting and habitat loss. </p>
<p>Mauritius has already lost two bat species to extinction, and its fruit bats now find themselves in the same precarious situation. Less than 4% of their native forests remain, so there isn’t much leeway for the bats to recover from culls.</p>
<h2>Blame birds – not bats</h2>
<p>However, there is more to this case of <a href="http://www.hwctf.org/resources/tf-publications">human-wildlife conflict</a> than first meets the eye. For one thing, though both the government and media generally portray this as an agricultural problem centred around farmers losing income, several academic studies (including <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/comments?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0220955">one that one of us worked on</a>) have shown that most of the damage to fruit in the island’s orchards is not caused by bats but by birds, often species invasive in Mauritius. Bats, however, make for much better scapegoats.</p>
<p>Bats don’t specifically target orchards but, to the dismay of many Mauritians, also visit people’s backyards, feeding in large groups and making a great deal of noise and mess. These intrusions are hugely irritating and certainly don’t help bats with their popularity. Surprisingly though, we’ve found in our research that it is the general public who have the most hostile attitudes towards bats, many wanting them extinct. Orchard owners had softer NIMBY (“not in my backyard”) attitudes towards bats, wanting the damage taken care of but the bats left alone.</p>
<p>There is also a political angle to any human-wildlife conflict, involving political and economic interests, and the relative dynamics of institutions. It would not be fair to presume the entire government of Mauritius is in favour of killing bats, nor that this is necessarily its own first choice course of action. While the Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security may be ordering the culls, its own conservation and agricultural outreach sub-agencies are also keen to explore gentler solutions with minimal resources. To this end, a series of <a href="https://www.iucn.org/news/secretariat/201812/iucn-calls-end-culls-mauritius-fruit-bat">workshops and dialogues</a> with different groups and government agencies between 2017-18 offered initially promising results.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the scientific conservation community repeatedly emphasises the importance of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1617138118303595?casa_token=BH6sa7Buqc8AAAAA:NPx3frhMKQdPf6e3sGRhekL0ThUxcx9UdC6ogfYKace0ZbYwyUmLBfAXC5m9xWUd7gNiRek31w8E">evidence-based decisions regarding bat culling</a>. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has issued official letters, passed a formal <a href="https://portals.iucn.org/library/node/46436">resolution</a> and a <a href="https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/content/documents/mauritius_bat_position_statement_2018_final.pdf">position statement</a> urging for a U-turn on culling. It has even sent specialist technical assistance in the shape of conservation mediators and bat experts, requesting the Mauritian government to develop alternatives.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371515/original/file-20201126-15-12nt4dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A tree covered in a net." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371515/original/file-20201126-15-12nt4dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371515/original/file-20201126-15-12nt4dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371515/original/file-20201126-15-12nt4dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371515/original/file-20201126-15-12nt4dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371515/original/file-20201126-15-12nt4dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371515/original/file-20201126-15-12nt4dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371515/original/file-20201126-15-12nt4dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tree netting trials in Mauritius.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alexandra Zimmermann</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Non-lethal damage control solutions do exist. Orchards can be covered in nets, for instance, or trees can be planted in rows and pruned to stay small, which much improves the efficacy of netting as well as crop yield. Such techniques have been shown to work well in Australia and were demonstrated by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/grovesgrowntropicalfruit/">experts from a Queensland lychee farm</a> during a <a href="https://www.mauritian-wildlife.org/mwf-files/files/files/accounts/Netting%20Workshop%20Report%20Aug%202017.pdf">tree netting workshop</a> run as a collaboration between IUCN, the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation (an NGO) and the Mauritian government.</p>
<p>But the conflict seems at an impasse, as the proposed practical measures are proving near impossible to implement. So long as people are divided, and neither side trusts the other, evidence-based arguments simply won’t gain traction. There is great need for extensive mediation work to bring the parties together and rebuild cooperative relationships. As so often in <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/csp2.259">complex human wildlife conflicts</a>, the missing piece is the acceptance that you’ll rarely solve a complex social problem by arguing about facts. </p>
<p>Public opinion is deeply divided, and the escalating tensions between the farmers, public, conservationists, and government are the primary obstacle to progress. Soon this may become an intractable hindrance to finding any commonly acceptable way forward.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150567/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexandra Zimmermann is Chair of the IUCN SSC Human-Wildlife Conflict Task Force and has received funding from Chester Zoo. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ewan Macdonald currently receives funding from Saïd Business School's Future of Marketing Initiative and The Donkey Sanctuary, he has in the past received funding from Chester Zoo.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tigga Kingston received small grants in support of travel to Mauritius from Lubee Bat Conservancy, San Diego Zoo, Zoo Leipzig, Chester Zoo, Zoo Landau, Zoos Victoria, Paignton Zoo, Ray Hole Architects, Zoological Society of London, Houston Zoo, Wildlife Reserves Singapore. She is co-Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Bat Specialist Group, with responsibility for the Old World. </span></em></p>Conflict between fruit-growers, the Mauritian government and conservationists has dragged on for years – it’s time for a new approach.Alexandra Zimmermann, Senior Research Fellow, University of OxfordEwan Macdonald, Research Fellow in Conservation Marketing, University of OxfordTigga Kingston, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1493712020-11-05T15:30:14Z2020-11-05T15:30:14ZThe diet of invasive toads in Mauritius has some rare species on the menu<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367196/original/file-20201103-19-1edoc5o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C379%2C1268%2C549&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The invasive guttural toad.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author supplied.</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.sanbi.org/animal-of-the-week/guttural-toad/">guttural toad</a> (<em>Sclerophrys gutturalis</em>) is a common amphibian found in much of sub-Saharan Africa, from Angola to Kenya and down to eastern South Africa. With such a wide geographic range, and a liking for living in human-disturbed areas, it’s often seen in people’s backyards. Around gardens it can be thought of as a helpful neighbour, as it is a keen predator of insects and other invertebrates that may try to eat plants. Yet it also has the potential to be ecologically hazardous outside its native range – and this toad is an accomplished invader.</p>
<p>In the Mascarene Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, far from mainland Africa, these toads have been an established invasive species for almost 100 years. In 1922, the director of dock management in Port Louis, Mauritius, deliberately released guttural toads in an attempt to control <a href="http://www.herpconbio.org/Volume_14/Issue_2/Telford_etal_2019.pdf">cane beetles</a> – a pest of the country’s major crop, sugar cane. This attempt at biocontrol failed, but the toads appeared to thrive and rapidly spread across the island. </p>
<p>Mauritius had no native amphibian species for it to compete with, and no native predators with a recent evolutionary history with toads. In mainland Africa these toads would have to divide resources, like food, with a host of native amphibians and deal with an array of native birds, mammals and snakes that evolved feeding on them. But without these challenges on Mauritius, the toads colonised the entire island rapidly.</p>
<p>Most toads are generalist predators and hunt a wide variety of prey, more or less eating whatever they can fit in their mouth. So as the guttural toad’s population numbers grew through the decades, so too did the concerns from Mauritian ecologists about the impact on native fauna. Anecdotal accounts as early as the 1930s suggest that the toads were having a negative impact on endemic invertebrate populations. In fact it has been suggested that the toads may have been a driver in the decline, and possible extinction, of endemic <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-006-9050-9">carabid beetles</a> and <a href="https://islandbiodiversity.com/Phelsuma%2018-2.pdf">snails</a>.</p>
<p>But it’s only recently that the toad’s diet in Mauritius has been examined closely. In our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/aje.12814">new study</a> we examined the stomach contents of 361 toads collected in some of the last remaining native forests of Mauritius.</p>
<p>By knowing more about what species the toads are eating, and which groups they favour, our research may help inform toad control actions to protect areas with known sensitive species.</p>
<h2>In the belly of the beast</h2>
<p>Through our research we were able to identify almost 3,000 individual prey items, encompassing a wide variety of invertebrates like insects, woodlice, snails, spiders, millipedes and earthworms.</p>
<p>This research also went one step further to examine the prey preference of the toads. In general, they seemed to favour, some of the more abundant and common prey species. These included ants and woodlice, which made up about two-thirds of their overall diet. </p>
<p>These findings may suggest that the toads were able to identify a readily available food source, and this may have fuelled their invasive population growth. Yet they are also eating prey that represents a more serious conservation concern.</p>
<p>Inside the toads we found 13 different species of native snail, most of which were island endemics. Four species are listed as being vulnerable to extinction and one, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/mollus/eym004">Omphalotropis plicosa</a>, being critically endangered – having been presumed extinct until it was rediscovered in 2002. Understandably, we found it very troubling to find a <a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-the-lazarus-creatures-six-species-we-thought-were-extinct-but-arent-50274">“Lazarus species”</a> within the stomach of an invasive predator.</p>
<h2>Unanswered questions</h2>
<p>These early insights into the native species now being hunted by a widespread and voracious predator raise new research questions. To understand the greater impact the toads are having on native species much more work is required to understand their prey’s population dynamics so we can determine if the toad’s invertebrate “harvest” is contributing to declines.</p>
<p>Furthermore, how does the toad’s invasive diet in Mauritius compare with that of other invasive populations, like those in Réunion or Cape Town – is their invasive success linked to a common prey type? And how does it compare with their diet in their own native species range? </p>
<p>Our study could only examine what they are eating currently, but Mauritius has seen numerous species decline over the past 100 years. What role did the toad play in these losses? Perhaps they historically fed more readily on creatures that were more abundant in the past, but had to switch their favour to ants and woodlice when the populations of other species dropped. We may never know.</p>
<p>What is clear is that there is much to learn about the habits of this far-from-home amphibian and its impact on the ecosystems it has invaded.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149371/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Baxter-Gilbert receives funding from DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology and is a postdoctoral fellow at Stellenbosch Univeristy. </span></em></p>A new study examines the diet of an invasive population of guttural toads in Mauritius and finds a number of species of conservation concern.James Baxter-Gilbert, Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre for Invasion Biology (C·I·B), Department of Botany & Zoology, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1454222020-09-10T15:40:02Z2020-09-10T15:40:02ZProtecting ocean habitats isn’t easy when industries are booming – but can they be part of the solution?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357200/original/file-20200909-14-oi3ajf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/international-container-cargo-ship-ocean-freight-469280870">Aun Photographer/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The MV Wakashio ran aground on a coral reef in Mauritius in late July 2020, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/mauritius-oil-spill-wakashio/2020/08/09/8dd09ee8-da49-11ea-b205-ff838e15a9a6_story.html">leaking 1,000 tonnes of oil</a> into the crystal blue waters of a lagoon, threatening mangrove, seagrass and mudflat habitats. Since then, dozens of dead <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nishandegnarain/2020/08/31/international-condemnation-of-global-shipping-grows-as-47-whales-confirmed-dead-in-mauritius/#5cc0187579a8">dolphins and porpoises</a> have washed ashore. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nishandegnarain/2020/08/29/mauritius-sees-popular-protests-over-handling-of-the-wakashio-oil-spill-and-whale-deaths/#2a70b57f5253">Anger has grown</a> and sadness has deepened.</p>
<p>But this is a different story – it starts two years ago in the same place in Mauritius, and I am walking down a muddy path in a mangrove forest. A guide is telling me about <a href="https://epco.ngo/the-baracois-project/">how the community</a> has removed invasive species, cleaned up waste and planted mangroves.</p>
<p>She points out a knee-high seedling growing by the side of the path. “This is a critically endangered species,” she says. There is no fence or sign, but someone has placed a rock next to it – perhaps to keep anyone from accidentally stepping on it. Here, that seemed to be enough.</p>
<p>This is in one of 33 <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rajarshi_Dasgupta2/publication/337656503_Satoyama_Initiative_Thematic_Review_vol_5_Understanding_the_Multiple_Values_associated_with_Sustainable_Use_in_Socio-ecological_Production_Landscapes_and_Seascapes_SEPLS/links/5de387d04585159aa457edb9/Satoyama-Initiative-Thematic-Review-vol-5-Understanding-the-Multiple-Values-associated-with-Sustainable-Use-in-Socio-ecological-Production-Landscapes-and-Seascapes-SEPLS.pdf#page=26">barachois</a> along the island’s coastline. In their simplest sense, barachois are simply coastal lagoons, but in Mauritius they have been modified by local communities into something unique. Over 200 years ago, they built permeable stone walls within the lagoons, creating something akin to artificial tidepools, where fish could be reared among the mangroves in brackish water fed by the tides. A reliable food source was born, biodiversity increased, new livelihoods were created, and the glue that held things together was the community’s ability to act as stewards of their barachois. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A tropical lagoon with trees in the background beneath a blue sky." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356274/original/file-20200903-22-1pyc60q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356274/original/file-20200903-22-1pyc60q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356274/original/file-20200903-22-1pyc60q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356274/original/file-20200903-22-1pyc60q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356274/original/file-20200903-22-1pyc60q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356274/original/file-20200903-22-1pyc60q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356274/original/file-20200903-22-1pyc60q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A view of the Mahebourg barachois in August 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Robert Blasiak</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But what does stewardship mean on a global scale? After all, the ocean is the beating heart of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/blue-acceleration-our-dash-for-ocean-resources-mirrors-what-weve-already-done-to-the-land-130264">dozen global industries</a>, the Earth’s climate system, and the biosphere. The MV Wakashio was just one of the <a href="https://ungc-communications-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/publications/Call-To-Action_Imminent-Threats-to-the-Integrity-of-Global-Supply-Chains.pdf">50,000 vessels</a>, crewed by 1.2 million seafarers, that operate around the world, transporting nearly 90% of global trade.</p>
<p>In the last few decades, many ocean-based industries have grown dramatically. Seabed mining scarcely existed in the 20th century, but since 2001, <a href="https://secure.jbs.elsevierhealth.com/action/getSharedSiteSession?redirect=https%253A%252F%252Fcell.com%252Fone-earth%252Fretrieve%252Fpii%252FS2590332219302751%253F_returnURL%253Dhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%25252Fretrieve%25252Fpii%25252FS2590332219302751%25253Fshowall%25253Dtrue&rc=0">1.4 million square kilometres</a> of seabed have been leased for exploration. Over roughly the same period, there has been a <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IS.SHP.GOOD.TU">fourfold increase</a> in the volume of goods transported by shipping. </p>
<p>With so much going on in the ocean, what’s the equivalent of putting a rock next to places like the coral reefs of Mauritius so they don’t get stepped on? </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/blue-acceleration-our-dash-for-ocean-resources-mirrors-what-weve-already-done-to-the-land-130264">Blue Acceleration: our dash for ocean resources mirrors what we’ve already done to the land</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Searching for stewards</h2>
<p>Governments need to collaborate on policies and legislation that set high standards for sustainable and fair practices. And they need to ensure they’re enforced. But a global appetite for multilateralism <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-brexit-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-international-cooperation-70865">seems to be fading</a>, and even the international processes that are moving are going nowhere fast.</p>
<p>One example is a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-01594-1">treaty</a> aimed at ensuring the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ). While much of the ocean is within national jurisdiction and governed by states, most of it is not. Collectively, ABNJ forms a vast area covering nearly half the Earth’s surface, nominally governed by a patchwork of international agreements – one for <a href="https://www.isa.org.jm/">seabed mining</a>, <a href="http://www.imo.org/en/Pages/Default.aspx">one for shipping</a>, <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/international/rfmo_en">one for fisheries</a>, and so forth – but with crucial gaps. For example, there’s no global mechanism to create <a href="https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/governing-areas-beyond-national-jurisdiction">protected areas</a> here, and access to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-0522-9">genetic resources</a> – among the most promising sources for the development of new drugs and other innovations – <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/6/eaar5237">is unregulated</a>.</p>
<p>The UN General Assembly started a process in 2004 to fill some of these holes in ABNJ. Despite <a href="https://un.org/bbnj">progress</a>, a treaty that would help to conserve life in half the planet remains elusive. </p>
<p>In the meantime, the catalogue of statistics about damage to the ocean <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-47201-9">grows</a>, with the MV Wakashio oil spill being just the latest addition. While thousands of local communities around the world have acted as stewards of their coastlines for generations, they are now embedded within one global community, with the ocean as the connecting element. </p>
<p>If governments have struggled to prevent degradation of the ocean, who else can help? NGOs can make a valuable contribution, but they don’t have the authority or resources to reshape ocean governance on their own. So what about the biggest users of the ocean? Can transnational corporations <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-019-0978-z">become</a> responsible ocean stewards?</p>
<p>It’s easy to be sceptical. Decades of corporate social responsibility have yielded <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/115/9/2072">mixed results</a>, and some transnational corporations have a record of <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/corporate-power-global-agrifood-governance">systematically lobbying</a> to weaken social and environmental standards. Nice words are not going to shift the needle.</p>
<p>But it’s becoming increasingly clear that caring for the environment has little to do with altruism. The long-term viability of ocean industries depends on a functioning biosphere, and the growing number of voluntary initiatives show that corporations can be a positive force. </p>
<p>In 2020, the United Nations Global Compact (the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative) published a <a href="https://unglobalcompact.org/library/5742">ten-year road map</a> with ten goals for companies that include a commitment to fully traceable seafood, decarbonised shipping, and ending the flow of plastic into the ocean. Elsewhere, some seafood companies are now pushing governments to follow <a href="https://www.fishfarmingexpert.com/article/fish-feed-makers-call-for-science-based-whiting-quotas/">scientific advice</a> and reduce fishing quotas to sustainable levels, and more than a third of global funding for <a href="https://www.poseidonprinciples.org/about/">shipping</a> is now tied to public reporting on greenhouse gas emissions and reduction targets. If actions like these become a point of pride among corporations and increasingly associated with time-bound targets and public reporting, perhaps momentum will grow.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356276/original/file-20200903-22-s6yhya.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A boat in the coastal lagoon approaches the outer reef where a shipwreck looms." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356276/original/file-20200903-22-s6yhya.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356276/original/file-20200903-22-s6yhya.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356276/original/file-20200903-22-s6yhya.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356276/original/file-20200903-22-s6yhya.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356276/original/file-20200903-22-s6yhya.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356276/original/file-20200903-22-s6yhya.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356276/original/file-20200903-22-s6yhya.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Remnants of an old shipwreck on the outer reef where the MV Wakashio would run aground two years later.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Robert Blasiak</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A final memory from my time in Mauritius. I am in a boat out in the very lagoon that has recently been flooded with oil. The waters are blue and clear, and I can see bright glimmers of reef fish through the ripples. Far out, waves are crashing over the outer reef that encircles the lagoon – and there, stuck on the outer reef, is the twisted metal remnant of a shipwreck.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145422/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Blasiak is funded in part by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation and Walton Family Foundation and has contributed in an unpaid capacity to the work of the United Nations Global Compact. </span></em></p>Multiple ocean industries are rapidly growing, but efforts to protect vulnerable habitats are stalling.Robert Blasiak, Research Fellow in Ocean Management, Stockholm UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1454112020-09-06T09:26:25Z2020-09-06T09:26:25ZMauritius must protect vulnerable coastal communities from the effects of the oil spill<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356531/original/file-20200904-18-1i7u3nj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Citizens rallied to stem the oil tide. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of Daphney Dupre</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On 25 July 2020, the Japanese ship, MV Wakashio, ran aground the coral reef off the eastern coast of Mauritius. The vessel <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53754751">discharged</a> more than 1,000 tonnes of oil into the island’s pristine lagoon including its Blue Bay Marine reserve. </p>
<p>The situation is critical because Mauritius is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/mauritius-oil-spill-how-coral-reefs-mangroves-and-seagrass-could-be-affected-144954">biodiversity hotspot</a>. But beyond the environmental consequences, there’s the human impact. Oil spills have major social and health implications. People exposed <a href="https://www.mun.ca/harriscentre/reports/arf/2011/11-12-ARF-Final-Chen.pdf">can suffer from</a> liver damage, skin and lung disorders, increased cancer risk, reproductive damage and post traumatic stress.</p>
<p>Responding to the crisis, Mauritius’ government temporarily <a href="https://www.lemauricien.com/actualites/wakashio-fermeture-des-etablissements-scolaires-dans-la-region-sud-est-ce-mercredi/368607/">closed schools</a> and gave fishermen a small <a href="https://www.lemauricien.com/actualites/societe/mv-wakashio-a-pointe-desny-une-compensation-de-rs-10-200-evoquee/368419/">compensation.</a>. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nishandegnarain/2020/08/28/35-days-of-mauritius-oil-spill-drama-seen-through-the-lens-of-14-local-photographers/#5270625b71bb">Citizens also admirably rallied</a> to stem the oil tide. </p>
<p>Over the years Mauritius has transitioned into a middle-income country, growing its financial, industrial, tourism and IT industries. But the ocean continues to be <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248962710_Heritage_Tourism_and_Identity_in_the_Mauritian_Villages_of_Chamarel_and_Le_Morne">hugely important</a> to many poorer Mauritians who rely on it for subsistence, culture and leisure. </p>
<p>It’s particularly important for vulnerable communities that live in villages along the coastline, <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-22874-3_24">most</a> of whom are Creoles, the descendants of African and Malagasy people. From the mid 17th to the 18th Century, the ancestors of Creoles were brought to Mauritius and forced into slavery. After the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/History-Slavery-Mauritius-Seychelles-1810-1875/dp/0838623980">abolition of slavery</a> in 1835, many Creoles settled in coastal villages. </p>
<p>When Mauritius attained independence in 1968, it remained a <a href="https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/BoswellMalaise">hierarchical society</a>. It continues to be led by <a href="https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/SalverdaFranco">powerful Franco-Mauritian families</a> and influential ‘high caste’ Hindu Mauritians. <a href="http://www.mauritiustimes.com/mt/nita-chicooree-mercier-122/">Dynastic politics</a> became the norm. </p>
<p>Despite tourism and human development <a href="https://www.nber.org/digest/may11/w16569.html">gains</a>, certain communities <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/3886">struggle with</a> poverty and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290878206_Le_malaise_Creole_Ethnic_identity_in_Mauritius">are marginalised</a>. </p>
<p>Though the collection of ethnic data on who lives where ceased in the early 1980s, I have <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rosabelle_Boswell">conducted research</a> on racism, poverty and social change in Mauritius for over 20 years. From my experience, the villages most affected by the oil spill are amongst the <a href="http://statsmauritius.govmu.org/English/StatsbySubj/PublishingImages/Chart%202-200607.jpg">poorest</a> areas of the island and have many Creole inhabitants. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/2012/02/truth-commission-mauritius">Truth and Justice Commission (TJC)</a> in 2011 documented that African descendants in Mauritius still suffer from racism and poverty. It also <a href="https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/ROL/TJC_Vol1.pdf">called for</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>reparations by way of positive discrimination and an integrated rehabilitation plan concerning schooling of children, better housing conditions, elimination of discrimination on the employment market, whether in the public and private sector, review of the electoral system in order to pave the way for better representation in electoral constituencies of Creoles. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The oil spill highlights the plight of impoverished communities that live along the coastline, and policymakers must act on the recommendation of the report to address the inequalities in Mauritian society. </p>
<h2>Poverty</h2>
<p>The areas most affected by the oil spill <a href="https://africageographic.com/stories/mauritius-oil-spill-pictures-map-and-details/">include</a> the main town of the Grand Port District, Mahebourg, and seven other southeastern villages. Based on language use and religious practices captured in the 2011 Mauritian Census, these villages are <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-22874-3_24">inhabited</a> by vulnerable communities, including Creole communities, whom rely on the ocean for their livelihood.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://web.facebook.com/groups/1598893050367118">Facebook group</a> titled “Rivière des Creoles”, after a river in southeastern Mauritius, has shared images of oil soaked mangroves, beaches and dead fish, and images of locals knee deep in oil residue. This is but a snapshot of what these communities now grapple with.</p>
<p>Artisanal fishery is vital in providing employment opportunities and protein <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/artisanal-fishery">to over</a> 4,000 households in the coastal regions. </p>
<p>The beaches and sea are also culturally important in Mauritius. Creole communities <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325223438_Sonic_landscape_of_seggae_Mauritian_sega_rhythm_meets_Jamaican_roots_reggae">created</a> the music and dance of the Sega. Traditionally performed on the beach, Sega music and dance <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19480881.2016.1270010">still provides</a> a reprieve from hard labour. Public beaches and lagoons are environmental and cultural assets. </p>
<p>The oil spill will be disastrous for these communities. Looking at the effects of the <a href="https://www.usf.edu/news/2020/first-gulf-of-mexico-wide-survey-of-oil-pollution-in-fish-completed-10-years-after-deepwater-horizon.aspx">Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico</a> ten years later, researchers found dangerous toxins in popularly consumed fish, similarly toxic outcomes are apparent in <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266629618_Crude_Oil_Spill_Exposure_and_Human_Health_Risks">humans</a>.</p>
<p>My concern is that the oil spill will be especially disastrous for vulnerable coastal communities, not only because of immediate and long-term health implications, but because these groups are marginalised. They are at greater risk of not being assisted in instituting damages claims.</p>
<h2>Moving forward</h2>
<p>To ensure that the vulnerable coastal communities are protected, leadership response to the disaster must be transparent, coordinated, caring and swift. </p>
<p>Leaders must attend to the immediate effects of disasters and anticipate long-term consequences. Communities exposed to oil for example, need to be monitored to allow for early detection of exposure-related harm. </p>
<p>The government, together with civil society, must also claim damages from the de jure owners of the MV Wakashio, who in turn must pay for the immediate and anticipated loss of ecological, economic, health and cultural benefits. Apologies are not enough. </p>
<p><strong><strong>Editor’s note: Due to insufficient data, the author requested an amendment of her statement that Creoles are the predominant community living in the villages affected by the oil spill. The article has since been updated to reflect this.</strong></strong></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145411/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosabelle Boswell receives funding from the UK GCRF One Ocean Hub project and the South African National Research Foundation. </span></em></p>Mauritius’ oil spill highlights the plight of impoverished communities that live along the coastline.Rosabelle Boswell, Professor of Ocean Cultures and Heritage, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.