"In the past two decades Mauritius has experienced an unprecedented boom in the tourism industry. Tourism activities are mostly concentrated on the coastal zone and over 90% of the hotels have a beach frontage............ The ribbon development in the coast and lack of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) monitoring are having negative visual and environmental impacts on the coastal zone which can affect the sustainable development of the tourism industry" (Ramjeawon and Beedassy 2004: 538).

Define Environmental Impact Assessment and in the light of the above statement, critically analyze the weaknesses of the EIA system of the island of Mauritius.