Policy and Governance Assessment for Marine and Coastal Resources for the Republic of Mauritius

The Republic of Mauritius consists of a group of islands situated in the South West Indian Ocean at latitude of 20.17°S and a longitude of 57.33°E. It comprises mainland Mauritius, Rodrigues and Saint Brandon, Agalega and several outer islands. It enjoys a subtropical climate.

Figure 1: Republic of Mauritius and its Economic Exclusive Zones (Source: Mauritius Environment Outlook, 2010)

It has a total area of 2040 km2 and an economic exclusive zone of 1.9 million km2 . About 43% of the land area is under to agriculture, 25% is occupied by built-up areas, 2% by public roads; and 11 the remaining 30% consists of abandoned cane fields, forests, scrub land, grasslands/grazing lands, reservoirs and ponds, swamps and rocks.

Its population is estimated to be around 1.3 million (CSO, 2010). Mauritius was classified as a Middle Income Country in 1995. In 2009, its GDP was USD 6836; the Human Development Index was 0.804; the Human Poverty Index value was 9.5%, ranked 57th on the Global Competitive Index and 17th country in terms of overall regulatory ease of doing business. The Environmental Performance Index (Yale and Columbia Universities) released at the World Economic Forum in January 2010, ranked Mauritius 6th out of 163 countries.