offered to help, but it appears the IMO and others seem to be blocking their help.
If that is the case, that is very serious indeed. The IMO representative has not even met with me or other leading biodiversity experts on the island in the 46 days since the grounding of the Wakashio.”
For a UN regulator to step in between a host nation’s and former President’s (and a biodiversity expert at that) call for international assistance, and the response from other nations who had offered their support, is a very serious line to have crossed and could be perceived as a UN agency interfering in the domestic affairs of a country.
So why are individuals with the ability to respond to a major national crisis being ignored by the IMO?
4. A heavy gender imbalance
Women were on the front lines of the oil spill in Mauritius - in both the response and in being on the receiving end of the impact. When the oil spill first hit, it was the women who braved the waters and organized some of the artisanal booms. They were active in self- organizing the large social media groups that are coordinating the volunteer-led response. Several of the most compelling images taken of the events were by female photographers and journalists, and
many women have now created environmental NGOs to respond to the rehabilitation needs and are actively coordinating international outreach for Mauritius. It is a tale of collaboration, support and humility.
When the story of the Wakashio is fully told, it will be just as much about the rise of female environmental leaders in Mauritius as it is about the disastrous handling of the ship and clean up. Was gender a factor in explaining the difference in effectiveness of decision-making?
At the same time as women have stepped up in the clean-up response, it is also women who are bearing the worst brunt of this oil spill. Many in Mauritius were moved to tears watching the cries of two women. The first was a resident of the town of Mahebourg, who stepped up to call out at the powerful ministers that were arriving in Court on private charges of negligence for their response to the Wakashio disaster. She shamed them into asking what they had done to her historic town where she relies on a simple income from lagoon fishing and asked how she was now supposed to make ends meet. This encounter was prominently featured in national newspaper, L’Express. The second was a set of two interviews, first with the wife and then the elderly mother of the still missing captain of the sunk Mauritian tugboat where the bodies of three of his eight crew have been found. They were both
was interviewed by national media organization, Defi Media. You do not need to understand Mauritian creole to hear the pain in all of their voices.
Interviews with women in the medical journal, The Lancet, by Dr Sima Barmania, also reveal greater fears among women about what risks this oil spill means for them. The journal cites local Mauritian, Carina Gounden who was involved in the clean-up and described her symptoms to The Lancet, “I was in a state of confusion, unable to focus, finding it difficult to breath. I was not the only one.” In other oil spills, there are usually more concerns from those who are pregnant, who are concerned about what the risks of ship engine fuel poses to their unborn babies.
Many who live in the smaller fishing villages like Bois des Amourettes spend their days on the ocean and sit cheek by jowl with the large, sprawling 5-star hotels where some may find work. Yet it is these hotel groups and the powerful business lobby behind them who have been pushing a marketing campaign to brush aside many of the health concerns of these poorer Mauritians, that many are finding distasteful in Mauritius. One week’s stay in one of these five star hotels costs more than what many of the villagers living just beside them make in a year. These are the villagers who are on the front lines of the oil spill and have nowhere else to go.
Photo credit: IMO
https://www.flickr.com/photos/imo-un/50237761237/
The Report • December 2020 • Issue 94 | 79
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