On July 25, a Japanese shipping vessel struck a coral reef off the coast of the island nation of Mauritius, resulting in a massive oil spill in the Indian Ocean. Earlier this week, Mauritius declared a state of environmental emergency. “The oil spill has badly impacted on the pristine lagoons, coral reefs, mangrove forests and biodiversity with images showing shorelines covered with black sludge, in what is turning out to be an environmental disaster and emergency,” wrote the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation in a press release issued just today.

For the first part of today’s program, we learn about Mauritius and discuss the oil spill disaster and its reverberating effects with Sunil Mokshanand Dowarkasing from Greenpeace Africa.

Then, Happy Khambule of Greenpeace Africa talks about other ecological issues facing Africa including climate change and warming temperatures, deforestation and desertification, and water supply—and how all of these in turn affect migration and human lives.

Sunil Mokshanand Dowarkasing is a Senior Portfolio Manager for Greenpeace International, focusing on driving the renewable initiative in Africa. Previously, he served as a Member of Parliament for Mauritius (2000–2010) and the Pan-African Parliament (2005–2010) and was a senior adviser to the Prime Minister of Mauritius on environmental matters (2010–2014).

Happy Khambule is a Senior Political Advisor at Greenpeace Africa. He was recognized by the British Council as a Global Changemaker in 2008 and International Climate Champion in 2010. In 2013, he was selected as one of the Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans of the year.

Cover photos by Guillaume Baudusseau on Unsplash and Jeremy Wermeille on Unsplash