To mark the international environment day, there is an urgent need for some hard thinking. The following two stories will give us a clear insight into the whole thing.

A couple of decades back, Mr Jugdeo and his family had returned from the Soviet Union (now Russia) after visiting their son, a medical student in Moscow. It was a great honour in those days for Mauritians who had travelled abroad to talk about interesting things they had seen and hold their listeners? attention. But what left Mr Jugdeo amazed was that one day his little daughter, having eaten a banana, had thrown away the peel in a street of Central Moscow. Seeing that unbecoming act of the girl, an elderly woman stared at her, picked up the banana peel and threw it into the bin nearby. No need to say how disturbed Mr Jugdeo had been, he added.

By virtue of my former office, I had the privilege of receiving at the airport, consultants, experts and distinguished persons from all over the world. On the way, I would have to answer their questions and also ask them about their countries among other things.

Once I had to welcome consultants from Singapore, a country which had always fascinated me because of its strict discipline. I dared to ask them whether people were not angry or unhappy about being fined for fouling the environment, even for throwing away a cigarette butt or a bit of paper in public. The answer was just no; yet, they pointed out that their parents might perhaps have found it hard, being in a period of transition. They stressed that tough discipline had become their way of life. It had enabled their nation, despite being devoid of natural resources, even drinking water, to rise from a Third World country to a First.

To say that nothing has been done to upgrade our environment would be far from true. One can not be blind to the significant steps that have been taken to make our island what it is today ? a prized tourist destination. Both the government and the private sector here deserve our praise.

But much remains to be done. The chikungunya syndrome cannot be forgotten so soon. In addition to introducing more severe pieces of legislation, it is essential that the population be made more responsible towards our environment. No matter what the age group, the walk of life they belong to, the message should be loud and clear : our environment is our lifeline ; so, every effort has to be made to protect it from pollution such that to keep dirt free our air, land, sea and all water bodies should be within our code of conduct and part of our daily lifestyle.

Let us therefore make a solemn promise to keep our home, our surroundings, our country clean and safe ; may we contribute towards maintaining it as a paradise island or rather living up to Mark Twain?s statement that Mauritius was made first and heaven afterwards.

<B> Kaviraj SOHUR</B>