The beaches of the Indian Ocean island seem bereft of the beautiful shells popular with tourists.
When I visited Mauritius as a child on family holidays I would see plenty of seashells on the beaches.
This is not surprising for 14-year-old old climate change activist Anesh Mungur, who says he has hardly seen any seashells in his lifetime.I don't think many people know about the importance of seashells and how much they are being affected""I feel that the island is really suffering from the consequences of climate change and more needs to be done to protect the island before it's too late.
The rising temperature of the sea water has affected much of the ecosystem, including seashells in which molluscs live, while an increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere "causes acidification of the ocean which therefore causes seashells to become thinner", says Mr Kauppaymuthoo.It all has a knock-on effect - and devastating consequences for coral reefs and the ecosystem around the island.
Anesh, who is part of the Fridays For Future Mauritius movement, says more also needs to be done to stop environmental disasters, like the huge oil spill that hit the island in 2020.About 1,000 tonnes of fuel oil from the Japanese-owned MV Wakashio leaked into the ocean after it ran aground on a coral reef, causing Mauritius' worst ecological disaster.
The government is trying to stop people picking up shells - and the sale of souvenirs to tourists - with two laws brought in over the last 15 years.
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