[{"bbox": [96, 152, 1134, 313], "category": "Text", "text": "of climate change. In response, the Government has adopted the National Biodiversity Strategy (2017-2025) aiming at ensuring a healthy environment and an enhanced quality of life, through the effective conservation, sustainable use and restoration of biodiversity in line with national and international commitments, while respecting local values. The adoption of CE and nature-positive principles will contribute, particularly in the built environment sector, to Target 3 (incentives to reward pro-biodiversity practices by all stakeholders, including the private sector) and Target 4 (biodiversity mainstreaming plans in key economic sectors) of the national strategy."}, {"bbox": [96, 324, 1134, 537], "category": "Text", "text": "In response, the government is making strong commitments and supporting important projects to protect the environment and bolster climate resilience paving the way to “an inclusive, high income and green Mauritius, forging ahead together”. The Government designed strategic measures that will enable the country to leapfrog to a cleaner, greener, environmentally sustainable, climate-change resilient, low-emission and circular economy, including the Solid Waste Management and Climate Change 10-year policy and strategy approved by the Government in May 2022, and the Circular Economy Roadmap and Action plan that was adopted in 2023. The need for climate adapted urban planning has been acknowledged by the government, especially when it comes to land drainage aspects in the context of road construction³⁴."}, {"bbox": [96, 548, 1134, 1210], "category": "Text", "text": "As regards inequalities, Mauritius has eradicated extreme poverty and, at 2.2 percent in 2017, the incidence of poverty is also low. Only about 1 in 10 Mauritians ranks below the upper middle-income class poverty line. Owing to the pandemic, poverty is estimated to have increased from 10.5 percent to 15.9 percent in 2020 and to remain above 11 percent through 2023. The rise in total income inequality was mitigated by an extensive system of public transfers, which led to a moderate downgrading of the Gini index over the 2012-2017 period from 38.5 to 36.8.³⁵ Inequalities remain driven by the transformation of the economy towards value added services (e.g., finance, tourism, high end construction) that resulted in a widened inequality gap (between 2001 and 2015, the incomes of the poorest and the richest increased by 37%³⁶), the rise of unemployment of highly educated youth and persisting significant gender-based wage disparities (women earned 22% less than men in 2020³⁷) and a skill mismatch in particular in rural areas³⁸. By supporting the integration of circular economy principles, the Action will foster inclusive economic development meeting the needs of vulnerable populations and improve living conditions in marginalized areas by reducing pollution, health hazards and reliance of fossil fuel energy. Circular economy initiatives such as waste prevention through redesign, reuse, refill, remanufacturing, product-as-a-service, valorisation of secondary material, sharing platforms, can also create new and formalised job opportunities, including for marginalized communities and in social enterprises, and better employment quality, thus empowering marginalized populations, youth and women with new skills, and/or safer conditions, allowing them to harness employment opportunities stemming from intersectoral synergies (e.g., agricultural waste and construction material). Promoting the reuse, repair, resource sharing and repurposing of goods will also make essential quality products, components and materials more affordable and accessible to marginalized communities, notably in the essential housing sector, and at the same time contribute to mitigate GHG emissions of virgin materials. The National Social Inclusion Foundation (NSIF) provides support to CSO/NGO-led initiatives for which the promotion of inclusiveness is a cross-cutting aspect in all intervention areas. The Foundation manages 75% of the obligatory 2% CSR funding that Mauritian companies pay on their chargeable income³⁹. Such initiatives however often remain very small and scattered and could benefit from better connection to the country's and businesses' reform initiatives."}, {"bbox": [96, 1224, 1134, 1438], "category": "Text", "text": "As regards gender equality, the Global Gender Gap Index (GGI) of the WEF, Mauritius was ranked 110 out of 155 countries worldwide in 2021. Despite the adoption of 83.3% of legal frameworks promoting, enforcing and monitoring gender equality under the SDG indicator⁴⁰, work still needs to be done to achieve gender equality. In 2021, only 20% of seats in parliament were held by women, women and girls aged 10+ spend 19% of their time on unpaid care and domestic work, compared to 4.8% spent by men. As of December 2020, only 39.4% of indicators needed to monitor the SDGs from a gender perspective were available hindering the elaboration of evidence-based gender-response policies, with gaps in key areas, like women's access to assets (including land), women's exposition to environmentally downgraded sites⁴¹, partly due to hazardous substances being dumped in"}, {"bbox": [86, 1470, 1143, 1510], "category": "Footnote", "text": "³⁴ For example, the capital city Port Louis and surrounding roads have been suffering from heavy rains several times in early 2024, leading to suspending access to the capital city and lower productivity due to inaccessibility and logistical complications."}, {"bbox": [86, 1509, 404, 1528], "category": "Footnote", "text": "³⁵ *Poverty and Equity Brief*, World Bank, 2021."}, {"bbox": [86, 1528, 745, 1548], "category": "Footnote", "text": "³⁶ \"Mauritius: Addressing Inequality through More Equitable Labor Markets\" – World Bank, 2018."}, {"bbox": [86, 1547, 411, 1567], "category": "Footnote", "text": "³⁷ ILO (2023): UN Women Mauritius gap report."}, {"bbox": [86, 1566, 588, 1586], "category": "Footnote", "text": "³⁸ *Education Mismatch and Wages in Mauritius: Premium or Penalty*, 2021."}, {"bbox": [86, 1586, 410, 1606], "category": "Footnote", "text": "³⁹ *Mauritius Corporate Income Tax*, PWC, 2024."}, {"bbox": [86, 1606, 263, 1626], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁴⁰ UNWOMEN Mauritius."}, {"bbox": [86, 1626, 321, 1645], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁴¹ UNWOMEN WOMEN COUNT"}, {"bbox": [1023, 1680, 1143, 1705], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 10 of 38"}]