Mauritius: A collaborative Greenhouse project undertaken by the Islamic Cultural College of Port-Louis, the Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security, and the Ministry of Environment, Solid Waste Management and Climate Change was launched this morning in Port-Louis.
The project aims at propagating native/endemic plants in view of reforesting the site of the Citadel and other sites approved by the authorities.
The Minister of Environment, Solid Waste Management and Climate Change, Mr Kavydass Ramano, the Attorney General, Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security, Mr Maneesh Gobin, and the Lord Mayor of Port Louis, Mr Mahfooz Moussa Cadersaïb, were present on occasion.
In his address, Minister Ramano remarked that the project is in line with Government’s objective of promoting food self-sufficiency, which should become part of everyone’s lifestyle.
He underlined the alarming rate of overconsumption of resources and indicated that the Earth Overshoot Day, being the day that humanity’s demand for ecological resources exceeds the resources Earth can regenerate within that year, was marked on 28 July 2022.
The Minister called upon the need for everyone to act responsibly in order to protect the environment by shifting to a circular economy and adopting practices such as reducing, recycling and reusing waste.
Mr Ramano also pointed out that his Ministry is implementing the concept of Extended producer responsibility to ensure that the end-of-use treatment of products is taken into consideration before production.
The primary aim is to increase the amount and degree of product recovery and to minimise the environmental impact of waste material, he added.
As for Minister Gobin, he highlighted the cross-cutting partnership that enabled the implementation of the project. He lauded the spirit of positive thinking that underpinned the project and congratulated the college for embarking on the project, irrespective of the challenges encountered, namely the lack of space.
Mr Gobin congratulated the ingenious alternatives proposed under the project, including planting on the rooftop of the building and in containers. He encouraged other school institutions to emulate the project.
The Minister also offered five Phoenix roebelenii (dwarf date palm trees) to be planted in the public garden found next to the college.
