JCI Curepipe has embarked on a new ACF project in late 2019. The very first stage of this framework is a needs analysis process. To understand more on the barriers towards adoption of Green Actions by locals, a survey was carried out and we got around 150 respondents. Some key findings depicting the status quo of green actions and the gaps to be addressed are below.
Adoption of Green Actions by Locals
Under this section, the adoption of green actions by locals is assessed. While in the previous section, most of the respondents acknowledged that environmental responsibility rest with the individuals and consumption and habits can to a great extent impact the environment, this section will breakdown and portray the status quo of the current green actions by locals.
| Always | Sometimes | Never | |
| Do you own a hybrid car | 14 | 22 | 110 |
| Have you stopped using plastic products | 30 | 104 | 12 |
| Do you consider energy efficient appliances when purchasing electronics | 80 | 56 | 10
|
| Do you recycle | 47 | 81 | 18 |
| Do you sort your trash | 46 | 58 | 42 |
| Do you opt for car pooling or use of public transport in your daily life | 68 | 64 | 14 |
| Do you switch off appliances when they are not in use | 113 | 28 | 5 |
| Do you have a composter at home | 67 | 23 | 56 |
Table 1: Green Actions adopted by Locals
Other Actions adopted that has been listed:
- more mindful of the packaging of the things I buy. Before being a pen and paper person, now I try to use less papers and go more with softcopies.
- Gardening at home
- Becoming vegan, raising awareness about sustainability
- Utilisation de piles rechargeables, plante des arbres, arbustes, réduit les produits ménagers industriels et utilise produits naturels, ne mange plus de viandes
- Waste not water.everydrop counts! No chemical.
Gap: while most of the respondents did acknowledge of environmental responsibility, however when we assessed the adoption of green actions, it can be gauged that half of the respondents had sometimes or never adopted most of the green actions. Thus, it is important to assess the challenges for Mauritians to adopt green actions despite them being aware of their environmental footprint.
Barriers for adoption of Green Actions
This section assesses the root cause of this needs analysis and depicts on the barriers to adoption of green actions.
Barriers identified towards Adoption of Green Actions
- Higher Prices of Green Products: It can be noted that the most pertinent barrier is the high prices of green products. The relevant argument of high prices has been linked to supply chain implications. It is not easy making products that have minimal impact on the environment – and extra costs come with a higher degree of difficulty. A second argument could be that the clean producer saves less from emitting pollution and so raises price and restricts output with less reluctance than does a dirty producer. In addition, that the market size of green products is rather small today and economy of scale does not simply come in as an advantage to the manufacturer or retailer. Green products get produced in small lots, more like boutique items and hence tend to cost more.
- Lack of Information: The second barrier highlighted by respondents is lack of information. Locals has the willingness to adopt green actions however, they lack information about the practices. Most locals also do not know how to assess the product information and environmental footprint.
- Unavailability of green products: The third barrier that has highlighted by respondents is the unavailability of green products. It can be deduced that the green products market is still niche and mostly operated by a handful of SMEs in Mauritius. The products are not readily accessible to customers in Mauritius.
Top Initiatives that locals want to be implemented
Based on the challenges that respondents have highlighted, it can be noted that most of them want tougher environmental laws to be enforced, more sale of green products and education and awareness campaign on green actions.
We would like to thank the Team for leading this survey: 2019 Local President Karishma, 2019 Local Vice President Siksha, Hanusha Cheddy, Keshav Topsy, Devina Lobine and 2018 Local President Yudhish Rohee.
For a more detailed report, please feel free to email us.