insurance salesperson? This is the largest ever oil spill in Mauritius’ history at a site of immense historical and natural importance to the country. Where is the discussion about the IMF relief fund or bank loans to pay out a portion of the claims immediately while any court process goes on (with interest rates close to zero, this would appear to be the most attractive path forward). The salvage agreement was a Lloyds Standard Form of Salvage Agreement (LOF), signed on 26 July, a day after the grounding. This means that any such settlement is likely to be decided in an Arbitration Court in London.
As an international shipping regulator, it is the IMO’s duty to be providing the latest and most accurate information to scientists, conservationists and citizens trying to understand what they are dealing with, as well as transparent information on international law and any financial implications.
Protests in the country against the Government should not change the fact that UN organizations need to be politically independent and fact-based when in a country experiencing a major oil spill, like Mauritius. The citizen protests are well organized, peaceful and are being scheduled two weeks apart. Clear misinformation by the IMO is aggravating the local situation and lack of trust with public institutions in the country.
What’s been seen so far in Mauritius does not build confidence in the decisions or actions taken by a regulator that decided to opt-out of the Paris Agreement and ask citizens of the world to blindly trust them to self-regulate and lead the world into a cleaner, safer and climate-friendly future for shipping. A pattern from the lack of oversight is starting to emerge.
3. Dismissing local talent
Many islanders in Mauritius have been offended by how local expertise has been dismissed for expensive international consultants who do know have the knowledge, expertise or commitment that locals have, and even worse have made inaccurate statements, without being held to account.
What has been even more troubling is the implications that the IMO may be filtering international offers of assistance from other countries to Mauritius.
In a series of videos
featuring the IMO representative, he says that Mauritius “is overwhelmed” and implies that the IMO could be the judge of what international assistance or technology should be received.
Many Mauritians have been shocked by these comments, as citizens from any country affected by an oil spill, whould be by hearing such comments from an international shipping regulator. All the skills that Mauritius needed to run a world class national response existed within the country and among a well-educated diaspora, each with deep domain knowledge on what to do for each workstream in a national oil spill response.
Why was (and is) this talent being rebuffed?
Mauritius even has a former President and Professor, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, who is a world- renowned Biodiversity Scientist. This is a major oil spill that is impacting some of the world’s rarest species. These species have never been exposed to the toxic chemicals contained within ship engine fuel and it should have been obvious to any international oil spill response team to meet with the leading
78 | The Report • December 2020 • Issue 94
scientific figures of the country to understand the potential risk to this fragile ecology. Instead, Dr. Gurib-Fakim has been appealing for international scientific assistance on specific areas of biodiversity support for weeks. It would be troubling if this international assistance is being blocked by the IMO against the wishes of such local biodiversity scientific expertise.
The former President of Mauritius has also been highly surprised that she has not yet been approached by the IMO representative who is coordinating the oil spill clean-up, given that she is one of the world’s leading scientific authorities on Mauritius’ rare biodiversity, and she herself has been spending time on the front lines cleaning the oil, helping sew homemade protection booms, and is intimately familiar with the unique species found on that part of the island.
In an interview with Forbes, the former President of Mauritius, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, has called for more extensive and specialized monitoring of the important coral reef and mangrove habitats. She said, “The world has talked about the importance of standing up to climate change and biodiversity loss, yet here we are on the front line of both - a fossil fuel being dumped into a fragile biodiversity hotspot of coral reef. I have called for specific support and independent science to ensure the clean-up operations do not cause even more harm than the initial oil spill.
This has not happened. I do not know why. We also demand greater accountability of the international organizations operating in Mauritius. There is the knowhow within Mauritius on how to respond to this oil spill, but we need independent scientific support. Countries have
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