Biodiversity and Tourism in Mauritius and Reunion

Water Resources and Freshwater Ecosystems

Environmental Governance and Institutions

Biodiversity and Tourism in Mauritius and Reunion

Submitted by Candy Schibli on Mon, 2009-06-08 16:10

The islands of Mauritius and Réunion contain endemic species found nowhere else in the world that are plagued by massive population decline. Before the 1500s, these islands were uninhabited by humans. Soon after the arrival of the first explorers, Dutch settlement and the introduction of non-native plant and animal species, biodiversity loss mushroomed (WRI 1989). Since the over 400 years following the first alterations in the islands' ecosystems, populations of native birds, reptiles, and trees have been driven to extinction. Such continual loss of biodiversity threatens the "process of life that the components give rise to – among them production, consumption, and evolution." This post looks at the islands' more recent trends in biodiversity and human activity to better understand current threats to their animal and plant species.

Biodiversity Loss

According to the Convention of Biological Diversity, of the "724 recorded animal extinctions in the last 400 years, about half [have been] island species." For Mauritius and Réunion, these have included mostly birds and reptiles. Between 1990 and 1999, Mauritius and Réunion possessed 46 percent of the reported extinct reptile species worldwide. Within the same time period, both islands collectively contained 28 percent of extinct bird species. The percentages by each location are presented in Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 1. Percentage of Extinct Reptile Species for Mauritius and Réunion (1990-1999)

Source: WCMC and World Conservation Union (IUCN), 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals
Figure 2. Percentage of Extinct Bird Species for Mauritius and Réunion (1990-1999)

Source: WCMC and World Conservation Union (IUCN), 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals

Not only are animal populations on Mauritius and Reunion in danger of extinction. The tree species are as well. Mauritius housed four out of the 95 globally extinct tree species in the wild between 1990 and 1999. In addition to these extinct species, Mauritius and Réunion contained 1 percent of the 5,904 threatened tree species.

This information is overwhelming considering the size of both islands. The total area of Mauritius is 2,040 sq km, only 11 times the size of Washington D.C and less than twice the size of London. Similarly, the total area of Réunion is 2,512 sq km.

The Growth of Tourism

Also between 1990 and 1999, both Mauritius and Réunion experienced nearly continuous increases in travel and tourism investments. This growth and development yielded frequent rises in the travel and tourism sectors’ contributions to the islands’ gross domestic products (GDPs) (see Figures 3 and 4).

Figure 3. Percent Change in Personal Travel and Tourism, Capital Investment, and Direct Impact GDP by Year in Mauritius(1990-1999)

Source: World Tourism and Travel Council, Tourism Impact Data
Figure 4. Percent Change in Personal Travel and Tourism, Capital Investment, and Direct Impact GDP by Year in Réunion(1990-1999)

Source: World Tourism and Travel Council, Tourism Impact Data

Although it's difficult to determine the exact impacts of tourism on biodiversity for Mauritius and Réunion from 1990 to 1999, the time overlap of the data suggests that this sector related expansion has a strong correlation to biodiversity loss. One can expect that as habitats and ecosystems are likely altered by tourism related infrastructure, so are the ecological processes of nutrient cycling, water cycling, predation, mutualism and speciation. If this is the case, such events visibly underscore the criticality of understanding the challenges awaiting tourism’s expected growth.

The Future of Tourism

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in its 2003 report Tourism and Biodiversity: Mapping Tourisms Global Footprint, anticipates tourism related GDP generation, employment, and travel to double globally by 2020. Yet, it also cautions that the relationship between tourism and biodiversity is not always positive. To, therefore, promote a more mutually supportive interaction, UNEP recommends management standards and guidelines for stakeholders participating in tourism development.

Looking Ahead

Data already show 6 threatened bird species in Réunion and 11 in Mauritius for 2007. For Mauritius and Réunion, timely implementation of strategies like those laid out by UNEP is imperative for saving further threatened species from extinction. Acknowledging this need, both islands have crafted environmentally focused policies for tourism. Mauritius, for example, requires environmental impact assessments for a number of tourism sector related undertakings. In Réunion, prioritization of biodiversity conservation and strategies for incorporating environmental concerns into development are entailed in the Profil Environnemental de la Réunion 2006.

Nevertheless, it will be the timed execution against these strategies that will determine the success in protecting biodiversity and ensuring ecologically sustainable tourism for Mauritius and Réunion in years to come. How this will occur depends on stakeholder cooperation and the continued global support for conservation and biodiversity monitoring.