Section 2: Interpretation

2. Interpretation (1) In this Act— “authorised officer” means a public officer entrusted by the Minister with responsibility for carrying out all the functions specified in this Act; “base line”, in relation to a mountain range, means the line specified as such in the First Schedule; “Chief Surveyor” means the Chief Surveyor of the Ministry responsible for the subject of lands; “destroy” includes bark, break, burn, bury, cut, fell, saw, uproot; “district” has the same meaning as in the Local Government Act; “escarpment” means the bank of a river, rivulet or feeder, the mean slope of which makes an angle of not less than 60 degrees with the horizontal line; “feeder” means the affluent of a river or rivulet; F22 – 1 [Issue 1] Forests and Reserves Act “forest land” includes a national forest and all land which is not under cultivation and which is covered by trees; “forest officer” means any public officer authorised in writing by the authorised officer; “forest produce” includes bark, charcoal, coral, creeper, earth, fandia, fibres, firewood, fruit, grass, gum, honey, leaves, litter, moss, bird’s nest, peat, plants, resin, roots, sand, sap, seeds, spices, stones, trees, wax, withies and any other thing which the Minister may by regulations declare to be forest produce; “game” has the same meaning as in the Wildlife and National Parks Act; “implement” includes any air rifle, bow and arrow, catapult, trap, noose, poison, axe, hatchet, saw or other instrument capable of being used for destroying trees or working timber; “Minister” means the Minister to whom responsibility for the subject of forests is assigned; “mountain range”— (a) means a mountain or mountain range specified in the First Schedule; and (b) includes the main chain and all spurs pertaining to the system; “mountain reserve” means land lying between the ridge line and the mountain reserve line on either side of a mountain range; “mountain reserve line”, in relation to a mountain reserve, means, subject to subsection (2), a line situated on the side or slope of the mountain reserve at an altitude which exceeds that of the base line by one third of the difference of altitude between the ridge line and the base line; “national forest” means a forest declared as such under section 4; “nature reserve” means an area specified in the Second Schedule; “occupier”, in relation to immovable property— (a) means the lessee; and (b) includes a person having possession of the property; “owner”— (a) includes a person having a legal interest in immovable property; (b) does not include an occupier; “Permanent Secretary” means the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry responsible for the subject of agriculture; “protected plant” means a plant or a class of plants specified in the Third Schedule; [Issue 1] F22 – 2 Revised Laws of Mauritius “remove” means carry, convey, or take away in any manner; “reserve” means a mountain, nature, river or road reserve; “river” means a river specified in the Fourth Schedule; “river reserve” means— (a) where there is an escarpment, the land extending from the edge of a watercourse to the top of the escarpment; (b) where there is no escarpment, the land extending from the edge of a watercourse to a distance measured on the horizontal plane— (i) in the case of a river, of 16 metres; (ii) in the case of a rivulet, of 8 metres; (iii) in the case of a feeder, of 3 metres; “rivulet” means a rivulet specified in the Fourth Schedule; “road” has the same meaning as in the Ro “river reserve” means— (a) where there is an escarpment, the land extending from the edge of a watercourse to the top of the escarpment; (b) where there is no escarpment, the land extending from the edge of a watercourse to a distance measured on the horizontal plane— (i) in the case of a river, of 16 metres; (ii) in the case of a rivulet, of 8 metres; (iii) in the case of a feeder, of 3 metres; “rivulet” means a rivulet specified in the Fourth Schedule; “road” has the same meaning as in the Roads Act; “road reserve” means the land on each side of a road which forms part of the domaine public; “State land” includes land vested in the Curator; “stream” includes— (a) any marsh or morass situated on State land from which a stream flows; (b) any marsh or morass not situated on State land declared to be a stream by the Minister, by regulations; “structure” includes fencing; “tree” includes live or dead timber, shrubs, underwood, brushwood, bamboo, palm, branches and twigs; “wood”— (a) means any tree which has been cut or has fallen down; and (b) includes any timber or produce derived from a tree. (2) For the purpose of determining a mountain reserve line— (a) a point in the ridge line shall have for its corresponding point in the reserve line a point lying in the same vertical plane as the point to be taken in the base for the measurement of altitude; (b) the line passing through points in the ridge, reserve and base lines shall be the one which has least length in the horizontal projection; (c) the reserve line shall— (i) not be a curved line; and F22 – 3 [Issue 1] Forests and Reserves Act (ii) be composed of a series of straight lines following generally the theoretic line and neglecting its smaller sinuosities, drawn so as to ensure that in the whole no additional area is given to the reserve for any one property and that the reserve line is in no case less than 60.96 metres above the base line. [S. 2 amended by Act 48 of 1991.]