Friends of the Environment

Friends of the Environment is a Mauritian NGO founded in 1989 to help preserve local sites and the natural environment. Over the years, FoE has rehabilitated sites like the Jewish Cemetery and the Martello Tower, while promoting conservation, awareness and community participation. Its flagship initiative is the Citadelle Native Re-vegetation Project, launched in 2015 to restore native dry forest elements on the slopes of Citadelle in Port Louis. The project brings together heritage preservation, biodiversity restoration and public engagement in a highly visible urban landscape affected by invasive species, fire risk, erosion and runoff. Behind this work is a very small field team of only four people: one Restoration Manager, one Assistant Manager and two field workers, responsible for restoring and maintaining almost four hectares of land. Despite limited funding and capacity, FoE has continued to grow the project through persistence, partnerships, volunteers and community support.