Mauritius: Assessing the green jobs potential

In 2010, Mauritius requested the ILO’s assistance to further improve its development strategy “Maurice Ile Durable” (Mauritius – Sustainable Island concept) adopted in 2008. Since then, four studies have been conducted in cooperation with national institutions to estimate the number of existing green jobs, assess actions undertaken by enterprises in the field of green businesses and identify the potential for the creation of further green jobs. A policy validation and planning workshop was later held in February 2012. The findings of these studies have been summarised in a research report Green jobs in Mauritius. Experiences from a Small Island Developing State. Such policy applied research has led to the inclusion of a green gobs target into the MID strategy which sets to increase the number of green jobs from 6% in 2012 to 10% in 2020.

After society-wide consultations, a comprehensive national action plan was adopted in 2013, with targets set for energy, environment, employment/economy, education and equity. MID includes an ambitious action plan, with one of its targets to increase the share of green jobs from 6.3 per cent in 2010 to 10 per cent of the workforce by 2020. During the first phase of 2014-2017, four action plans, comprised of about 130 projects, are set to be implemented in energy, environment, green economy and ocean economy.

Mauritius is partnering with PAGE to further pursue its green economy transition process with initial consultations already undertaken.