Who "pays the bill" for this ecological disaster in Mauritius

　　On August 29, local time, tens of thousands of Mauritian citizens marched in the capital, Port Louis, to protest the government's improper handling of the oil spill of the Japanese cargo ship "Waka Chao".

　　It has been more than a month since the cargo ship ran aground on July 25 to the fuel leak on August 6. This incident has caused Mauritius to face the most severe ecological test. Who will pay the bill in the end?

　　One

　　More than 10,000 people, including some leaders of the opposition party, participated in the demonstration on the 29th.

　　According to Xinhua News Agency, the protesters, holding the Mauritian flag and various slogans, accused the government of being "negative" in the follow-up of the oil spill, causing pollution of the offshore coral reefs and causing environmental damage.

　　Mauritian Prime Minister Jagnarth said that the investigation is still ongoing, and he called on the Mauritian people to trust the results of the investigation by the relevant agencies.

　　On July 25, the Japanese cargo ship "Wakachao" ran aground in the waters southeast of Mauritius and all its crew evacuated.

　　On August 6, the hull of the cargo ship broke and a large amount of fuel leaked.

　　According to local media reports, the cargo ship carried about 4,000 tons of fuel oil, and at least 1,000 tons of fuel oil leaked into the nearby sea.

　　The next day, Mauritius declared an "environmental emergency".

　　"We are facing a huge disaster." The Minister of Environment of Mauritius wrote this sentence desperately on Twitter that day.

　　There are media reports that the fuel spill has seriously polluted the island’s iconic coral reefs and marine ecosystems, making the clear and transparent sea muddy.

　　From the aerial photos, it can be seen that the blue waters around Mauritius are being covered little by little by the oil spilled by the "Ruochao", eroding this pure land that is bred with many rare animals and plants.

　　two

　　The oil spill from the stranded ship plunged Mauritius into a huge ecological disaster.

　　The writer Mark Twain once wrote in his work "A Journey to the Equator": God first created Mauritius, and then imitated Mauritius to create paradise.

　　Mauritius, an island country located in the Indian Ocean in eastern Africa, has beautiful scenery, bright sunshine and simple folk customs, and has the reputation of "Pearl of the Indian Ocean".

　　After the incident, the spokesperson of the United Nations Secretary-General Dujarric stated at a press conference on August 17 that the United Nations system is making every effort to provide support and assistance in response to the oil spill.

　　The United Nations Development Program also immediately allocated 200,000 US dollars to deal with the impact of the oil spill.

　　Japan sent two working groups to deal with the aftermath. France and India quickly took larger actions to help Mauritius deal with the oil spill.

　　The local people even organized spontaneously. On the day of the incident, thousands of volunteers went to start the operation.

　　According to local media reports, volunteers even launched a hair donation campaign in order to take advantage of the oil-absorbing and non-water-absorbing properties of hair.

　　They put hair and sugarcane leaves and other oil-absorbing substances into nylon screens and placed them around the seawater contaminated by oil spills to prevent the spread of oil.

　　On August 15, the hull of the stranded "Ruochao" broke in two. On the 24th, the front half of the cargo ship was towed to the high seas and sank to the bottom of the sea, while the second half was still aground.

　　The Mauritius police have also launched an investigation into the fuel spill and boarded the "Ruochao" to extract evidence such as logbooks and black boxes.

　　On August 18, local time, the captain and chief mate of the Japanese cargo ship "Wakachao" involved were arrested after being questioned by the Mauritius Central Criminal Investigation Department.

　　three

　　However, so far, the cause of the accident is still difficult to determine.

　　Although there are reports that before the "Ruochao" hit the rocks, the ship was celebrating the birthday of a crew member, and they changed course to obtain WiFi signals.

　　As of last week, rescuers have recovered more than 900 tons of oil pollution, nearly 600 tons of solid pollutants and 582 cubic meters of oil containment booms that have absorbed oil pollution.

　　However, the environmental protection organizations involved in the clean-up work said that in addition to the damage to the environment, the oil spill will also affect the economy, food security, and people's health of Mauritius, causing extremely dire consequences.

　　Some environmental experts pointed out that after the oil pollution cleanup is completed, it will take decades for local ecological restoration.

　　In addition to doing their utmost to participate in oil pollution treatment, local people also accused the government of slow response and inaction.

　　They asked the government to explain why it didn’t do anything during the period from the ship’s grounding to the fuel leak: “It’s been two weeks from the ship’s grounding to the leak, and you didn’t do anything for these two weeks. Now you know it’s time to act, but it’s too late. ."

　　On August 28, Reuters reported that at least 40 dolphins died mysteriously in the waters affected by the oil spill.

　　The local fishery department believes that the deaths of these dolphins have nothing to do with the oil spill of the "Ruochao", but this also became one of the reasons for the protests on the 28th. They called on the government to speed up the investigation.

　　The Mauritian government said it would conduct autopsy on all dead dolphins and set up a committee to continue investigating the oil spill.

　　Tourism is an important part of the Mauritius economy. In 2019, the country's tourism revenue reached 63 billion Mauritian rupees (about 11 billion yuan).

　　The fuel leak made practitioners feel desperate. In an interview with the British "Guardian", they said that under the influence of the new crown epidemic, Mauritius has already faced difficulties such as suspension of tourism industry and loss of protection for people's lives. The accident made the situation worse, "Can't imagine what the future will become?"

　　Zhao Xiaozhan