The Policy and Planning Division has as main task to formulate and review policies on key environmental issues. The Division has reviewed the National Environmental Policy (NEP) 1991 and developed NEP 2007 to ensure consistency and application of international policies relating to environmental protection.The Division has also coordinated several Technical Advisory Committees in the formulation of policies on complex environmental issues namely: rock quarry, disposal of used oil, coal ash management, mineral resource sites, pig farming, management of pig waste, and management of poultry wastes. Presently, the Division is focusing on the development of policies to ban and reduce the abusive use of plastic bags and on the protection, management and valorization of Environmentally Sensitive Areas.
In addition to policy formulation and review, the Division is also responsible for environmental planning. Finalization and publication of guidelines for environment assessment falls under its purview. The sectoralguideline on content of Environmental Impact Assessment Report forparcelling out of land above 5 ha, for residential cum commercial purposes has been the latest one published.
Environmental reporting are also core duties of the Division. Since 2010, the publication of the following reports has been under its responsibility:
· National Assessment Report for the 5-year review of the Mauritius Strategy(2010)
· Mauritius Environment Outlook Report (2011)
· National Synthesis Report for the Rio+20 Conference (2012)
· National Report for the 3rd Global SIDS Conference (2013)
The Division is implementing the Africa Environment Information Network (AfricaEIN) UNEP pilot Project which will span over four years. The network will also strengthen capacities of the ten participating countries to meeting their reporting obligations including the State of Environment (SOE) reports and the Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs). It will also provide support to keep their state of the environment under review, namely through the development of an environmental indicators’ database.
The Policy and Planning Division has also been assigned the task of acting as the Multilateral Environmental Agreements Desk to coordinate and follow up on implementation of the conventions and protocols which Mauritius has signed. Contact:
Policy and Planning Division
Tel: 203 6200 (Ext: 212)
