Seychelles recently designated 30% of its EEZ as marine protection areas. To ensure adaptive management, the country needs to close the significant knowledge gaps by conducting more research and building capacity of stakeholders in marine management and blue enterprises.
SeyCCAT’s Blue Grants Fund is inviting all Seychelles-based organizations, businesses, governmental agencies, and citizens to apply for the Blue Grants Fund 5. This year, SeyCCAT is looking to offer small (up to 100,000 SCR), medium (up to SCR 1 million), and large (up to SCR 2 million, conditions apply) grants to projects that support one of the 4 strategic objectives of SeyCCAT.
Please see SeyCCAT website for more information and to apply!
Call for proposals 3 May – 11 June 2021
Commonwealth Blue Charter features the Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust (SeyCCAT) in their case studies for innovative financing. Video features key interviews with Principal Secretary Mr. Alain de Comarmond (MACCE), Principal Fisheries Scientist Dr Ameer Ebrahim (SFA) and Chief Executive Officer Ms. Angelique Pouponneau (SeyCCAT).
To watch the SeyCCAT video and read the case study – click here
The Seychelles Marine Spatial Plan is a necessary output of the Seychelles’ debt conversion and is the public, participatory process to reach the government’s 30% marine protection target as well as a comprehensive marine spatial plan for the full 1.35 million sq km of ocean. The MSP supports the advancement of Seychelles’ Blue Economy.
To reach the Seychelles MSP case study – click here
Seychelles News Agency and other local media covered a socially-distanced ceremony at Botanical Gardens to mark the 1 year anniversary of the 30% marine protection Milestone from March 2020.
The selection of canvases appear on the Seychelles MSP website front page in celebration of this effort by local artists. Many thanks for their generosity and inspiration!
Legal, strategic framework being developed for the 30 pct of Seychelles’ waters now protected
One year after Seychelles legally designated 30 percent of its territorial waters as marine protected areas 10 years ahead of international targets, efforts are now underway to develop a legal and strategic framework as well as a management plan for each of these sites.
The principal secretary for the environment, Alain Decomarmond, said each site will have a plan that dictates what type of activities can be done as per the Blue Economy Strategy. The plans will also examine conservation issues, enforcement and research that can be done.
Flavien Joubert appealed to more young people to do like James Dupres – the creator of the canvases – to support environmental initiatives. Dupres told journalists that his work is a combination of colours and shapes of the ocean.
Read the full story from Seychelles News Agency – click here
Credits for the artworks: Concept and Artistic Director- @jamesdupres Photography- @marshadinephotography
Graphics- @andrewpalmyre (AP Designs)
Make up -Ann-Marie Price and her assistant Vanah Philoe from @seyhairandmakeup
Models- @philipshamhong_official @sheldonbrioche @ Kaline Jeannevolle (la diguoise) @islandnatalie (Nathalie Lefevre) and Tracey Decomarmond
Inspired by the biodiversity of our Seychelles waters ☀️ 🌊 🐠
The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Geospatial Systems team and the Geospatial Leadership Council have joined forces to bring you this annual report & map book that features:
25 use cases or applications illustrating how geospatial technology is supporting and advancing our conservation work around the world
A global map series from our Global Science and Protect Oceans, Lands and Water teams showing crisis and last chance ecosystems under high development pressure
14 feature maps depicting specific conservation projects
The Seychelles MSP Initiative prepared two presentations for the Seychelles Ocean Science Symposium, held in November 2020. Dr. Joanna Smith, MSP Science and Process Lead, presented an overview of the MSP process and zoning outputs, and Ms. Helena Sims, MSP Project Manager, presented on the components being considered for the draft implementation plan.
Recordings for some of the presentations are available from the SeyCCAT website – click here
The Seychelles MSP, Ministry of Agriculture, Climate Change and Energy, and the SWIOFish3 World Bank have started a project with The Nature Conservancy’s Mapping Ocean Wealth team to evaluate ecosystem services in the marine protection areas.
This project started in August 2020 and is scheduled to continue through June 2021.An inception workshop was held in September and presentations given remotely to Seychelles participants from the Mapping Ocean Wealth team.
Ecosystem services are the benefits natural ecosystems provide to people. That broad definition covers a vast array—from the tangible fish sold in a market or served in a family home, to the invisible influence of a seagrass meadow removing some of the world’s excess carbon dioxide, subtly shifting the chemical balance of both the water and the air above. A recent study on the ecosystem services from mangroves found that they are critical not only as nursery habitats for fish and invertebrates but for coastal communities also. Globally, there are 4.1 million fishers associated with mangrove ecosystems. For more information about marine ecosystem services, please see the Mapping Ocean Wealth website.
Seychelles now has Marine Spatial Plan policy to guide development, conservation
Seychelles now has its own Marine Spatial Plan (MSP) policy that will provide a road map for marine planning and the guiding principles to inform the decision-making process for development and conservation.
