Paper on events related to Climate Change in Mauritius
Between 13th and 19th January 2024, Mauritius was severely impacted by Cyclone Belal and Candice and some of the headlines read : Cyclone Belal causes heavy flooding in Mauritius after battering Reunion
Mauritius is a tropical island regularly visited by cyclones and cyclones such as CAROL and ALIX in the late 1960’s brought a cultural change with construction of homes and other buildings in reinforced concrete as part of resilience building.
Also, from experience over the years, Mauritius has in place, a tested and proven warning system with timely evacuation of residents from vulnerable areas to safe refuge centres. In this context we have a National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) since 2010. This centre becomes operational 24/7 the moment notice of heavy rainfall or cyclone is issued by the Meteorological Services.
However, the recent cyclones and in general, weather patterns are showing that heavy deluge of rain are occurring over short periods leading to chaos leading to closure of schools and offices and heavy traffic jams, due to all trying to get home at the same time.
In anticipation of these floodings, landslides, coastal erosion and coastal reprofiling, water security, Engineers are engaged in preparing a national drainage masterplan which is already being implemented in the worst flood prone areas.
Cutoff drains upstream of residential areas as well as new drains in towns and villages are urgently being built to minimize overflooding by redirecting flows into newly created flood plains.
For the low-lying area in the centre of Port Louis, where many parked vehicles were swept away, engineers have identified and recommended, that such areas are decreed as a no-parking zone when the meteorological services forecast 100 mm of rainfall in that catchment area for the duration of a specific timeframe.
The coastal zone is proving to be the biggest challenge to prevent any coastal erosion and floodings because of 1) the waves (energy) impacting on the shore are from different direction depending on the coordinates of the cyclones and 2) when cyclonic conditions coincide with high tide resulting in backup of floods inland. 
Engineers contribution both in terms forecasting impacts from Cyclones and floodings to dealing with unforeseen situation such as resilience building for roads, and infrastructure are critical.
The Institution of Engineers Mauritius is also driving a project for Engineering Graduate Degree courses, run by National Universities to be benchmarked with Washing Accord standards so that the Engineers of the future are educated to deal with as yet, unforeseen challenging issues.
 
Raj H Prayag GOSK. PDSM. CEng. FIEM

 
Commonwealth Engineers’ Council
International Women’s Day Event, March 2024
Speaker BiographiesWelcome to the International Women’s Day webinar organised by the Commonwealth Engineers’ Council. WE invite you to join us to hear from four inspiring women from the Commonwealth talking about the 2024 theme of #InspireInclusion.
Link to join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84307428083​ 

Moderator:
Dawn Bonfield
President, Commonwealth Engineers’ Council
Dawn Bonfield MBE FREng is Professor of Practice in Sustainable Development at King's College London, and Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor of Inclusive Engineering at Aston University, working with young people on addressing the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as ethics, equity, diversity and inclusion in the engineering sector. She is currently President of the Commonwealth Engineers' Council. She is also the Founder & Director of Towards Vision, a not-for-profit which works towards a vision of diversity and inclusion in engineering, and founder of Magnificent Women, a social network exploring the history of women in engineering. She is former CEO of the Women's Engineering Society (WES), founder of International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), and an Executive Board Member of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations.

Speakers
Michelle Meaclem
Co-lead WFEO Young Engineers/Future Leaders Working Group
Michelle is a Civil Engineer at Tonkin + Taylor New Zealand with over 5 years’ experience across civil and stormwater design, climate resilience, and water infrastructure advisory. Michelle is a Commonwealth Engineers Council President’s Future Leader and is a passionate advocate for aligning the infrastructure sector to climate targets and the inclusion of young people, especially those in STEM, in climate policy making. She does this through her roles as the co-lead of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations’ Young Engineers/Future Leaders’ Working Group on SDG13: Climate Action (Working Group) and a Steering Committee member of the Commonwealth Youth for Sustainable Urbanisation network. In 2023, Michelle was a COP28 International Youth Climate Delegate and a finalist for Young Engineer of the Year.
 
Michelle Maphosa
Author and cofounder - Sibo the Engineer Program
Michelle is the author of Sibo the Engineer series, an African educational children's program on STEM. A civil engineer and certified project manager, she is a passionate advocate for the increased quality of STEM education in Africa, as well as the uptake and retention of women in STEM. She is the co-founder of Tea in 60, a virtual mentorship and networking platform for Zimbabwean girls and women in STEM, and its offshoot STEMExplorers, which focuses on the early introduction of STEM to children under 12 years. Michelle has experience in construction and project management in government, private and development sectors. Michelle is an awardee of the Royal Academy of Engineering Africa Catalyst Program (Phase 4 and 5), and sits on various global, regional and national committees on Engineering Education and Capacity Building.

Trudy Morgan
President of the Sierra Leone Institution of Engineers
Ing Trudy Morgan is President of the Sierra Leone Institution of Engineers, Council Member of the Professional Engineering Regulatory Council; Co-founder and first President of the Sierra Leone Women Engineers; a trustee with the UK based charity Engineers for Change (Sierra Leone); and the International Representative for the UK Institution of Civil Engineers. 
Following her first degree from Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone, she started her career with Sir Robert McAlpine & Sons working on iconic buildings in London, followed by 11 years designing and building railway bridges and infrastructure across the UK. She completed her MBA at Cranfield and spent the next 10 working as a management consultant and business development specialist leading teams across 17 countries designing and constructing offices for a large UK government agency. She returned to Sierra Leone in 2010 where she has worked as a Consultant with the IFC, World Bank; and the United Nations. She has worked in many sectors including transportation, health, ICT amongst others.
Passionate about youth and women empowerment, she has started several initiatives that support the growth and development of young people and women. Ing Trudy made history by becoming the first female Fellow from Africa, of the UK Institution of Civil Engineers. She has won several awards locally for her work with women engineers. In June 2020, she became the first female President of the Sierra Leone Institution of Engineers in its 50 year anniversary. And in November 2023, she was named as one of 274 engineering icons by Transport for London and the Royal Academy of Engineering. 
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Valerie Kelsick
Past President, Association of Professional Engineers, Trinidad and Tobago
Regional Representative of the Caribbean and Americas
Association of Professional Engineers of Trinidad & Tobago (APETT)
Ms. S. Valerie Kelsick has an extensive and diverse background covering over 35 years combined experience in project management, project finance, banking, financial and management consulting, facility maintenance and consulting engineering.  Her formal professional career culminated with a Project Officer/Analyst position at the Caribbean Development Bank followed by managerial positions at Republic Bank Limited.
Ms. Kelsick holds an MBA in Finance & International Business, from Columbia Business School (USA), a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Southampton (UK) and the PMI’s Project Management Professional (PMP) (USA) credential. She is a Registered Engineer with the Board of Engineering as well as a Fellow of the Association of Professional Engineers of Trinidad & Tobago (APETT). She also possesses various professional credentials having completed courses including Chartered Director Programme from Caribbean Corporate Governance Institute (TT), public private sector partnerships, mediation and construction contracts.
Serving as Board Director on public and not for profit institutions, she has a passion for strategic governance efforts and influencing public policies.  Ms Kelsick is a Past President of APETT, former Chair of the National Insurance Property Development Company Limited as well as a former Trustee of the Colleges of Science, Technology & Applied Arts of Trinidad & Tobago.  She also serves on the Board of the Fondes Amandes Reaforestation Community Project (FACRP)