Dr Rolph Payet to attend world waters conference in Cape Town

Source: Seychelles Nation - 30.07.2007

Dr Rolph Payet, Special Advisor to the President, will be attending the Fourth International Waters Conference at the invitation of the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

The meeting, to be held from July 30 to August 3 in Cape Town, South Africa, will involve various interactive sessions, in which Dr Payet is expected to make presentations as an expert, and in others act as chair and facilitator.

Organised by the GEF and its implementing agencies (UNDP, UNEP, and the World Bank), the conference is aimed at bringing together experts and policy-makers to share experiences and innovative practices among GEF's global International Waters portfolio which exceeds nearly 4 billion dollars. This meeting, which is by invitation only, will have participants coming from over 100 countries.

In a keynote presentation to be delivered by Dr Payet, he will focus on ocean research and governance, an area which he has been researching for several years.

In a 2005 paper that was published by the prestigious journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Dr Payet proposed that the Mascarene Plateau should be recognised as a Large Marine Ecosystem. In simple terms, a large marine ecosystem is a geographic area of the ocean with distinct characteristics and ecosystems.

Dr Payet, further proposed that based upon a number of recent scientific findings, the Mascarene Plateau's Large Marine Ecosystem, which runs from the Mahe plateau all the way to Mauritius, should be considered as a distinct large marine ecosystem, with unique characteristics in terms of ecosystems diversity, productivity, fisheries and role in climate regulation.

Indeed, recent research undertaken by British and French scientists under the auspices of the Seychelles Centre for Marine Research and Technology have re-enforced this argument, Dr Payet noted.

To allow for further research, the GEF earlier this year approved a US $31 million regional project aimed at improving our understanding of two other large marine ecosystems in the Western Indian Ocean, namely the Agulhas current (in the Mozambique channel) and the Somali current. Part of the funds will also go towards activities to further explore the Mascarene Plateau, and Dr Payet will be leading discussions on how Seychelles can continue to play an active role and benefit from this project.