Mauritius is among the most vulnerable small island states to the adverse impacts of climate change and most exposed to natural hazards, especially sea-level rise, flooding, and cyclones, due to its geographical location in an active tropical cyclone basin. These climatic events directly impact key socio- economic sectors such as coastal resources, agriculture, water resources, fisheries, health and well-being, land-use change and forestry, and biodiversity. Moreover, these events have intensified in recent years, and the nation’s level of preparedness has deteriorated. This grant is requested to help equip Mauritius with robust climate information services across its critical sectors to strengthen its readiness to fight climatic deterioration. Specifically, the request aims to support the integration of effective science-based decision-making approaches during the development and implementation of climate change policies and strategies, projects, and programmes. This approach is developed to enable Mauritius to detect early-stage risks, monitor climatic changes, and mobilize the necessary resources to tackle associated climatic impacts.

In addition, the readiness grant will help Mauritius overcome socioeconomic barriers and challenges that the population faces in critical sectors that are highly dependent on the climate (agriculture, water, coastal resources, land use, etc.). This drives national and local institutions to strengthen the monitoring and evaluation of current and future socio-economic and climatic changes and their related impacts, identify fit-for-purpose solutions, and design in line with the country’s development pathways.

Furthermore, the grant will assist in developing a deeper understanding of the correlation between climate-related risks and socio-economic growth within the Mauritius context. This phenomenon is often overlooked or underestimated in development planning, and implementation as climatic impacts are not accounted for in the country’s growth diagnosis. Contributing to this, the country’s lack of sufficient financial resources hinders its ability to access, collect, and analyze evidence-based scientific data to build a pipeline of high-quality climate change projects, policies and strategies with a strong climate rationale.