Seychelles designate one third of its EEZ as Marine Protected Areas

 On March 26th 2020, the world witnessed a historical event where Seychelles completed a six year long initiative and designated 30% of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as marine protection areas, a target reached 10 years ahead of the global target to have 30% ocean protection by 2030.

Mr Wallace Cosgrow, the Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change signed the legal instrument in the presence of Mr Danny Faure, President of the Republic of Seychelles, high government officials and TNC representative.

Gazetting of the legal instruments will result in the declaration of 13 new protected areas.  These include the designation of high biodiversity waters surrounding the Aldabra group, marine areas in the Amirantes including D’Arros to Poivre, and the South of Amirantes and Bird Island where no human activity other than sustainable tourism will be permitted.  It also includes the medium biodiversity areas that fall within the Amirantes to Fortune Bank which will be designated for sustainable use where activities vital to Seychelles’ economy will continue to operate under new sustainability regulations.

‘The initiative is the result of extensive consultations with all the major sectors using or valuing the ocean in Seychelles’.  Said the President in his inaugural speech.

On March 26th 2020, the world witnessed a historical event where Seychelles completed a six year long initiative and designated 30% of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as marine protection areas, a target reached 10 years ahead of the global target to have 30% ocean protection by 2030.

Mr Wallace Cosgrow, the Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change signed the legal instrument in the presence of Mr Danny Faure, President of the Republic of Seychelles, high government officials and TNC representative.

Gazetting of the legal instruments will result in the declaration of 13 new protected areas.  These include the designation of high biodiversity waters surrounding the Aldabra group, marine areas in the Amirantes including D’Arros to Poivre, and the South of Amirantes and Bird Island where no human activity other than sustainable tourism will be permitted.  It also includes the medium biodiversity areas that fall within the Amirantes to Fortune Bank which will be designated for sustainable use where activities vital to Seychelles’ economy will continue to operate under new sustainability regulations.

‘The initiative is the result of extensive consultations with all the major sectors using or valuing the ocean in Seychelles’.  Said the President in his inaugural speech.

Nekton Explore the Seychelles Midnight Zone

The state house announced last Wednesday in a press release the new joint marine-research to explore further the marine biodiversity in the Seychelles and Maldivians oceans. The objective is to establishing a baseline of marine life and the state of the ocean in Seychelles, the Maldives and the High Seas of the central Indian Ocean.

The first descent “Midnight Zone’ is described at a depth between 1000-4000 meters where there is absolutely no light. This research main focused will be on the seamounts between the Seychelles and Maldives. Seamounts are known to be underwater sea mountains which has been formed by volcanic activities. The expedition will be using one of the world’s most advanced deep-diving submersible alongside a dozen research tools including landers, sampling, sensors and mapping technology.

“A healthy planet needs a healthy ocean. The time to act is now. Seychelles is committed to ocean conservation and by the end of March, we will have 30% of our waters established as protected areas. Seychelles are demonstrating the scientific and economic case for sustainable ocean management and protection and we are delighted that other nations, like the Maldives, are taking leadership” said President Danny Faure of Seychelles.

“This expedition will help us establish the long-term sustainability of our eco

nomic growth, livelihoods and jobs through establishing marine protected areas to build ocean resilience” said President Ibrahim Mohamid Solih of Maldives.

Dr. Lucy Woodall, Nekton’s Principal Scientist, from the University of Oxford state “Seamounts have high levels of biological diversity and biomass with a complex mosaic of habitats. They provide stepping stones between coastal areas that can act as nurseries for juvenile fish and are highly productive fishing grounds” Dr. Woodall further added “Seamounts are poorly studied across the globe but are being increasingly impacted by human activities as technology allows exploitation of ocean resources at greater depths and distances from land”.

The joint Seychelles-Maldives Expedition is led by scientists from Nekton and the University of Oxford working with, and on behalf of the Governments of Seychelles and the Maldives. Scientists from Seychelles and the Maldives will be participating throughout the mission

The expedition’s mothership, DSSV pressure drop and submersible have just completed sea trials in the Mediterranean Sea before beginning the journey towards Seychelles.

March last year Nekton Mission launched a two month underwater expedition not deeper than 500metres of the Seychelles waters were various data and specimen were collected 

Photo Nekton

Ministry of Environment Energy and Climate Change Leap towards Web App

Seychelles pristine environment is occasionally being affected by different kind of environmental negligence. Therefore the Ministry of Environment is counting on the support from the General public to report any environment-related incident through a web app Ecoalert, which was introduced by the Department of Information, Communication and Technology, last Friday during a press conference. The Ecoalert Web app was initiated by the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change which is now accessible to the public for reporting any incident which is illegal to the environment. This web app is accessible through a web page www.ecoalert.gov.sc on any web browser such as Smart phone, Laptop, Computer and Tablets this web app is not available as an icon in App Store or Google play store.

The Principal Secretary for Environment Mr. Alain Decomarmond, stated that this Web app is an additional reporting platform for the public, as Green Line (2722111), Ministry’s Website and Facebook are still operational, and the Ministry wants to broaden their option of communication.

“Green Line is operational 24/7, our staff respond to any incident that is being reported. We have even explored the option of WhatsApp in the past, unfortunately the Ministry has taken a decision to stop as we received tones pictures or messages that was not relevant to the environment. Therefore we gave thoughts that nowadays people are moving more towards technology and social media, then we had the idea of creating a web app which would be easy for people to upload pictures and videos.” Explained PS Decomarmond

Krisl Gopal the Principal Analyst from DICT, gave a small demonstration on how Eco alert functions. Simply upload video or pictures not more than 25 MB and select their location and describe the incident. Mr. Terry Mousbe, Program development Officer from the Ministry in the department of education declare that lack of man power prevent them for being all over the island each and anytime. Therefore he advised that they make good use of Ecoalert. 

Third Session of the Intergovernmental Conference

Third Session of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) on an International legally Binding instrument (ILBI) under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the conservation and sustainable use of Marine Biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ)

From 19^th-30^th August 2019, Seychelles participated in the negotiations of the third IGC-BBNJ session held at the UN Headquarters in New York City. The country was represented by PS Alain Decomarmond, DG BCM Marie-May Muzungaile (Environment Department), Senior Legal Officer Ms. Estelle Lucas (Blue Economy Department) from Capital along with officials from the Seychelles UN Mission based in New York. For the first time at this session delegated started text based negotiations on the draft treaty text. Particularly important for SIDS like Seychelles the issue of benefit sharing and technology transfer, establishing clear procedures for Environmental Impact Assessment in Areas beyond National Jurisdiction. Also together with Mauritius Seychelles is fighting for recognition of adjacent states as key players in the ABNJ particularly as it relates to our extended continental shelf and the Joint Management Area. There is expected to be fourth session of negotiations that Seychelles will have to be part of in Spring of 2020 (March 2020. If all goes to plan it is expected that BBNJ Treaty will be ready for signature late 2020, but there is possibility that a fifth session will have to be added or at least a certain level of intersessional work in order to complete some of the elements.

Moving Towards Renewables

“As part of our commitments towards climate change mitigation, Seychelles like other small island developing states have developed ambitious climate action plans also known as Nationally Determined Contributions or NDC’s. A large component of our NDC centers on the transition from a fossil fuel powered society to one which is powered by clean and renewable sources of energy”.

Minister for Environment Energy and Climate Change Mr. Wallace Cosgrow, made the statement at the inauguration and handing over of the rooftop solar panels at the Barbaron Transit Home. Minister Cosgrow expressed his appreciation concerning the implementation of the Rooftop Solar Panels and stated that it is one component of a much larger project to install 2 megawatt of solar photovoltaic on selected government buildings and over 500 Homes.

Following his address the Indian High Commissioner H.E General, Dalbir Singh Suhag, stated “Seychelles is one of the founding members of the International Solar Alliance and will be availing Solar Implementations to the extent of USD 8.7 Million under this development partnership arrangement directly from the people of India. This would cover rooftop solar installations in various government building, housing units and even solar street lighting in various locations in Mahe, Praslin and La Digue”.

The delegation then proceed for a tour to view the installation of the Rooftop Solar Panels during the tour Minister Cosgrow was briefed on the status of those Solar Panels and the progress they have made. Present at the inauguration was Minister of Habitat, Land, Infrastructure and Land Transport Mrs. Pamla Charlette, Principal Secretaries and Chief Executive Officers from both Ministries.

14th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)

The 14^th Conference of the Parties (COP 14) to the United Nations to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) took place from the 02^nd to 13^th September in India. “Restore Life, Sustain Future’” was the chosen theme for this 14^th Conference of the Parties. Seychelles ratified the Convention in 1997 and since then the Country through different schemes has undertaken several donor funded projects relating to land degradation project. The latter include those relating to Coastal erosion adaptation and rehabilitation programs, capacity building on Sustainable land Management and the development and implementation of Land Use Plans,

The COP’s High Level Segment was officially opened on Monday 9^th September by India’s Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi. Parties to the Convention have agreed to make the Sustainable Development Goal target of achieving land degradation neutrality by 2030 a national target for action. Ministers also adopted the New Delhi Declaration “Investing in Land and Unlocking Opportunities”, the declaration consist of a series of 35 decisions. India the host of COP 14 announced its commitment to enhance implementation of the UNCCD among other actions. During COP 14, three ministerial roundtables and three high-level interactive dialogues as well as exchanges with representatives of civil society organizations (CSOs), the youth and the private sector.

The country parties discussed on the implementation modalities of the Convention for the next two years. More than 8,000 participants including more than 100 ministers and high-level officials attended the COP.

Seychelles were represented at the COP by Minister Wallace Cosgrow, Minister for Environment Energy and Climate Change (who attended the high-level segment from 09^th to 11^th September.  Mrs. Nanette Laure (The UNCCD National Focal Point for Seychelles) and Mr. John Quilindo (UNCCD Alternate Focal Point for Seychelles).  Mr. Selby Pillay (Seychelles Ambassador to India) also joined the Seychelles delegation at the official opening of the high Level Segment of the COP on the 09^th September.

Ban On Single-Use Plastic Straws

Ministry of Environment Energy and Climate Change

Ban on Plastic Straws

The Ministry of Environment Energy and Climate Change has implemented the restriction on the single-use plastic straws. The announcement of such a ban was made June 5^th 2018 to commemorate World Environment Day. The restriction is bound to apply on the 1^st February 2019 which will give the businesses, retailers and importers enough time to complete their available stock, as the total ban of manufacturing and selling of single-use plastic straws will be implemented 1^st June 2019. There are no local businesses that produces single-use plastic straws in the country. The Department of environment has considered that the restriction will apply for the single-use plastic straws used for beverages such as cocktails, not straws that comes along with juice boxes. The aim of this interdiction is part of reducing the amount of plastic waste material deposited on land field. Single-use Plastic straws is one of the most common type of waste material collected during beach cleanups. Hospitality establishments have already been informed of the upcoming ban on single-use plastic straws through various campaigns made by the Seychelles Hospitality and Tourism Association (SHTA), the department of environment and NGO’s. Quite a number of hotels are encouraging their guest to use the Disposable and Biodegradable paper, pasta straws or even reusable metal straws as one perfect replacement for the harmful plastic straws. Hilton Seychelles Labriz Resort and Spa has demonstrate their support by using the environmental-friendly straws.

 Photo credited: Mr. Alain Decomarmond (Pasta Straw)