Port Glaud, Mahé Island, Seychelles. Photo credit: Jason Houston
The Seychelles Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) Initiative was initiated in 2014 and focuses on resilience and sustainable use of marine ecosystems. The MSP is identifying zones for marine protection that meet high and medium biodiversity objectives (15% of the EEZ each in each zone). In February 2018, the first phase of the process was completed with the creation of two new protected areas covering a total area of more than 200,000 km2. The MSP Initiative has now entered the second phase, with the ultimate goal of 30% of Seychelles’ marine environment zoned for conservation and sustainable-use by 2020. Meeting these targets will pose challenges stemming from the socio-economic impacts that may result from changes in how users access the resources. It is therefore vital to consider the trade-offs between socio-economic impacts, which may be short-term in nature, and the long-term benefits from ecosystem goods and services, which are poorly understood or quantified in Seychelles.
The Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change is now recruiting a Consultancy Firm or Institution to conduct an ‘Evaluation of ecosystem goods and services for Seychelles’ existing and proposed protected area system’.
The consultancy will consist of two main work streams.
Firstly, a gap analysis will be undertaken to document and compile relevant data and research on the proposed zones, identifying clear gaps or constraints for the application of methods commonly applied in evaluating marine ecosystem goods and services.
The output from the gap analysis will then be used to select applicable methods for evaluating ecosystems goods and services, which in the second stream will be applied to an analysis of the goods and services to Seychelles from the existing and expanded protected areas.
Consultants can indicate their interest in providing the services by submitting an Expression of Interest (EOI), which shall consist of a cover letter, profile of firm or institution and curriculum vitae.
The deadline for submission of EOI is 7September 2018 and should be clearly marked using the Subject Line ‘‘Evaluation of MPA Ecosystem Goods and Services”. Interested applicants may obtain the full Terms of Reference (download TOR here) and further technical details from the Director General Biodiversity Conservation and Management Division (m.mjeremiemuzungaile@env.gov.sc).
Shortlisted firms will be requested to prepare technical and financial proposals. The procurement process will be conducted according to the World Bank’s procedures. Complete EOI should be delivered in hard copy or by email to:
Principal Secretary
Environment Department
Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change
Seychelles
Phone +248 467512
Email: adecommarmond@gov.sc
Do you have experience with costing or budgeting for Marine Protected Areas? The Seychelles MSP Initiative is looking for information and examples about the financial costs of implementing marine protected areas, including large-scale MPAs (150,000 sq km+).
Click here for more information and to contribute. The project team will share this collected information back. However, if your documents cannot be shared publicly, please email information directly toinfo@seymsp.com.
Please contact Helena Sims, MSP Project Manager, for more information. Email: info@seymsp.com
Quebec City, 9 June 2018: Seychelles got the attention of the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) industrial nations today when President Danny Faure addressed them on the islands’ innovative financing for the blue economy and ocean sustainability.
President Danny Faure grabbed the attention of Canadian, island and other leaders at a roundtable of small island developing states (SIDS) at the G7 summit in Quebec, Canada today.
This year’s G7 chair Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada had invited President Faure and the leaders of 10 other island and developing countries to join France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States at a special session on ‘healthy, productive and resilient oceans and seas, coasts and communities’. Speaking at the outreach session in the Quebec resort town of Charlevoix, President Faure also called on Mr Trudeau and Canada to play a “prominent and proactive” role in high seas negotiations that begin at the United Nations in New York this September. “Our ocean is our pathway to prosperity,” Mr Faure told leaders of the seven richest western nations as he talked about the Seychelles’ blue economy roadmap and marine spatial plan.
In Seychelles, an innovative approach to marine protection
In February 2018 the Government of Seychelles announced the creation of two new areas for marine protection covering 16 per cent (210,000 square kilometres) of its ocean:
• 74,400 square kilometres of mostly deep and some inshore waters surrounding the Aldabra Group, an archipelago 1,100 kilometres west of Seychelles’ main islands where endangered marine species live and breed, or migrate through.
• 136,000 square kilometres of deep waters stretching between the Amirantes Group and Fortune Bank, a swathe of Seychelles’ central ocean that includes areas important for biodiversity conservation, tourism and fishing industries.
The MSP core team would like to take the opportunity to thank all the stakeholders for their continued participation and input into the MSP Process.
The Nature Conservancy shared a ‘Happy World Oceans Day’! with a “Thank You” from more than 2,200 people from around the world congratulating Seychelles to complete Phase 1 towards improving management of their ocean.
On Wed 21 Feb 2018, the Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change (MEECC), Mr Didier Dogley, announced the designation of the Phase 1 marine zones for the Seychelles Marine Spatial Plan. The official event was held at The Savoy Hotel in Seychelles.
Two new areas – around the Aldabra Group and Amirantes to Fortune Bank – will by February next year be designated as new marine protections as as part of a six-year public process called the Seychelles Marine Spatial Plan Initiative. Helena Sims – the project manager of the plan – told SNA last week that the decision is in support of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity to improve marine protection worldwide. Read full story here.
For information on where to see the new marine protected areas’ nomination file at Ministry of Environment, Economy and Climate Change, please click here.
Stakeholders discuss ways to protect Seychelles’ ‘Blue Gold’
The importance of fisheries for the Blue economy of Seychelles and the challenges of regulating fisheries and stopping illegal fishing were the focus of a symposium held on Wednesday.These challenges were discussed across two panels with speakers from the Seychelles and from overseas. The event, held at the Guy Morel Institute at Ma Joie, was organised by the Sir James Mancham International Centre for Peace Studies and Diplomacy (JMPC) and the James Michel Blue Economy Research Institute (Beri) of the University of Seychelles. Read full article here
Seychelles News Agency 9 Dec 2017
Presentation during Illegal fishing symposium. Photo: Seychelles News Agency
Aldabra, Assumption put in high biodiversity areas for Seychelles’ marine plan
The Seychelles’ Marine Spatial Plan is an initiative that looks at the management of all the different uses of the island nation’s Exclusive Economic Zone. Areas around Aldabra Atoll, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the Assumption Atoll have been drafted as zone one areas — high marine biodiversity protection areas – under the Seychelles’ Marine Spatial Plan phase one presented on Friday. Discussions involving the management of the plan took place last Friday and looked at areas that will fall under zones one and two, and corresponding activities that will be allowed in each zone. Read full article here.
Seychelles News Agency 9 Oct 2017
The Seychelles’ Marine Spatial Plan is an initiative that looks at the management of all the different uses of the island nation’s Exclusive Economic Zone. (Gerard Larose, Seychelles Tourism Board)