Le Barachois Project – Mauritius

The Barachois project is the rehabilitation of the barachois which is adjacent to Mahebourg. This area is an abandoned plot of land and polluted river/beach area for over 50 years, which is in the process of being rehabilitated by Sandy and her team. This barachois belongs to the state and was abandoned since the 1970s / 1980s.

With the help of a French lady, who works as the Project Manager in the rehabilitation of wetland zones, she was reached out and started out as a volunteer to clean up that place. After being neglected for over 50 years, this area accumulated lots of litter, pollution and was an area well liked by drug dealers as well.

A group of youngsters, women, fishermen and area residents volunteers to clean up that barachois. Part of the project also involves to clean up swamps and turn it back into its natural state (lake). This can then be used for aquaculture with the help of fishermen. Everything is done manually and naturally to preserve the environment around the barachois. Cages are done with wooden sticks to catch fish and crabs.

Events are organized with children to sensitize them about the environment and to keep the area clean. The barachois is surrounded by Mangrove trees. The benefits and properties of Mangrove trees were taught to the children to pass the information to the next generation. Palettes were collected by surrounding companies ( e.g airport) to create sign boards which states to preserve the environment and not to litter. As the barachois is surrounded by a wall- the wall has been cleaned and rehabilitated. They have been funded ba JEF from Japan for this project. They also worked in collaboration with companies in Mauritius, who came on a volunteer basis to clean up the area and to plant endemic plants etc. Plastic bottles were recycled to create threads, the machine was manually invented to convert plastic bottles into threads so that this can be used to tie cages made.

Women around the area do not have a job and thus they were encouraged to clean up. The idea behind The Barachois Project is to make it a lively place and create jobs for women, fishermen, and people around the area. There is an abandoned house on the area, this could be converted into a place where women could expose and sell their handmade products.

The project has been put on halt because the government is not providing them the permit to convert this area into a livable and cleaner place. They are not getting the land permit to occupy this area as it belongs to the state. Regardless of the fact that they have been provided with endemic plants from the Ministry of Environment ( as the area already had endemic plants on site prior to the clean up of the area).

Sandy wishes her project gets selected to be presented at the regional level so that she could attract more attention and that the Mauritian government would give them the required land permit in order to proceed with their project.