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Threats to environmentally sensitive areas from peri-urban expansion in Mauritius

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2015

D. S. HAMMOND ,
V. GOND ,
C. BAIDER Open the ORCID record for C. BAIDER [Opens in a new window] ,
F. B. V. FLORENS ,
S. PERSAND  and
S. G. W. LAURANCE
D. S. HAMMOND*
Affiliation:
NWFS Consultancy, 4050 NW Carlton Ct, Portland, Oregon, USA
V. GOND
Affiliation:
CIRAD, Tropical Forest Goods and Ecosystem Services Research Unit, Campus International de Baillarguet, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
C. BAIDER
Affiliation:
MSIRI, RE Vaughan Building, Réduit, Mauritius
F. B. V. FLORENS
Affiliation:
Department of Biosciences, University of Mauritius, Reduit, Mauritius
S. PERSAND
Affiliation:
CLAMS Ltd., Port Louis, Mauritius
S. G. W. LAURANCE
Affiliation:
Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science (TESS) and School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland 4878, Australia
*
*Correspondence: Dr D. S. Hammond, Shaw House, Cranbrook, Kent TN17 2LE, UK e-mail: dhammond@nwfs.biz
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Summary

Rapid population growth and economic change on the tropical islands of Mauritius have led to one of the highest rates of urban build-out in the world. Pressure on many of the island's natural features and resources increasingly risks further degradation to the environmental services that they provide to the country. Fourteen types of marine and terrestrial environmentally sensitive areas (ESAs) are critical to the nation's sustainable development. Twelve of these ESA types are currently at risk of degradation, owing to their spatial proximity to built-up areas (BUAs) and current use designation. There was a bimodal distribution in proximity; eight of the 12 ESA types analysed had an area-weighted modal peak < 500 m from the nearest BUA, and four ESAs had a modal peak 2–3 km from the nearest BUA. Six coastal and marine ESAs had limited protection from urban expansion and over-use. The Mauritian experience reflects trends that are emerging across many tropical developing countries, where the bulk of future global growth in urban area is expected to occur. The approach detailed in this case study is replicable and may be useful in assessing degradation risk as a result of urban expansion in other island countries.

Keywords

coastal managementcoral reefforestsMauritiusurban planningwetlands
Type
Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 42 , Issue 3 , September 2015 , pp. 256 - 267
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2015 

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