2009 environmental round-up

Seychelles Nation: - 31.12.2009
The year of the climate change campaign
2009 could be called the year of the climate change campaign, in the lead-up to the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December.

During the year, President James Michel increased his efforts to make the world aware of the vulnerability of small island states to climate change.

In January at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, he said the world has failed to understand the limits of the planet, and he also made a link between climate change and food security at the World Food Summit.

At the Copenhagen summit at the end of the year, the President emphasised the need for developed countries to shoulder their responsibility to stop climate change. His special adviser, Dr Rolph Payet, took the message as far as the Arctic Circle during a United Nations meeting there.

On the ground, inroads are being made in rising to the challenge of global warming. A welcome step was made with the signing of an agreement between the government and  Masdar, the Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy organisation, to examine the feasibility of wind power in Seychelles. 

The programme to make Cousin Island Special Reserve the first carbon-neutral island in the world attracted the attention of CNN and other regional and global media, and this 40-year-old nature reserve also earned the description “one of the world’s great conservation success stories”.

Several non-governmental organisations such as the Red Cross, the Scouts, Wildlife Clubs and Sustainability for Seychelles organised awareness campaigns to educate various sectors of society on the impacts of climate change.
The Earth Hour, an international event to draw attention to global warming, was introduced to the public by Nature Seychelles and the Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation.

Government restructuring has led to new institutions and new opportunities – for example the Seychelles Agricultural Agency was set up to give a new direction to agricultural development in the country.

Soon after that, it started to create links with the environment by signing a memorandum of understanding with Nature Seychelles and launching the Heritage Gardens at Roche Caïman, for example. 

The Seychelles National Parks Authority (SNPA) was set up incorporating the Centre for Marine Research and Technology/Marine Parks Authority (CMRT/MPA), and is now the agency responsible for land parks, including the Vev Reserve, and for marine parks.

Several major research projects have been started, for example by the Marine Conservation Society of Seychelles on sharks and by the Seychelles Islands Foundation in the Vallée de Mai, during which a new population of Seychelles endemic Sooglossus frogs was discovered.

Studies on the coral reefs around Curieuse were conducted as part of the coral and coastal ecology project that the SNPA has with the Earthwatch institute.

The Seychelles Bureau of Standards announced the approval of several new environmental research projects by overseas researchers.

Biodiversity conservation projects continued to deliver excellent results. The Island Conservation Society conducted courses on island ecology for local stakeholders and launched a workshop on island restoration.

The international project carried out by the UK organisation DICE and Nature Seychelles with Denis Island’s management to rescue Seychelles’ most endangered bird, the  paradise flycatcher (vev), had its first success with the breeding of introduced birds on the island.

Some exciting new funding opportunities for environmental projects have been introduced into the country this year, especially for NGOs.

The Regional Programme for Sustainable Management of the Coastal Zones of the Indian Ocean Countries provided two types of grants to NGOs, ones working on coastal zone management and another for those in marine protected areas.

The Mangroves for the Future project, managed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) provided several small grants, again mostly to NGOs working on activities in the coastal zones.
Meanwhile, ongoing large projects funded by the Global Environment Facility and carried out by the UNDP and the government continued to support consultancy studies to help in managing land use, mainstreaming biodiversity in productive sectors and other key areas.

The environment’s link to tourism has been strengthened. The Seychelles Islands Foundation’s new visitor centre at the Vallée de Mai Unesco World Heritage Site was opened by Mr Michel, the SIF’s patron.

It houses an education and information centre to engage visitors, promote conservation and diversify SIF revenue. 
Aldabra atoll was designated as a Ramsar Wetland Site of International Importance in recognition of its outstanding value for conservation.

The call for responsible tourism was launched by Nature Seychelles and the Seychelles Tourism Board in the presence of Vice-President Joseph Belmont and national partners.

The year 2009 was one of celebrations as well. In June, the CMRT/MPA (now the SNPA) celebrated the 30th anniversary of three of its marine protected areas – Cap Ternay, Port Launay and Curieuse.
Various activities were organised over a month, including an open day on Curieuse where the renovated Doctor’s House was reopened by Minister Joel Morgan.

The Department of Environment announced that in partnership with the Ramsar Convention secretariat, the international launch of Wetlands Day 2010 will be in Seychelles, with a week of activities to be held.

Several Seychellois environmentalists received honours. Dr Payet was cited by the UN for his work on climate change policy, and Ronnie Renaud, chief executive of the national parks authority, became the first Seychellois to become a WIO-PRO – the professional certification given to marine protected area managers by WIO-COMPASS, the only programme that provides such certification in the world.

And Nirmal Shah, the chief executive of Nature Seychelles, was elected for a three-year term as president of the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association, becoming the first citizen of an island state to be elected to lead this important organisation.

School children voice concerns on climate change

Seychelles Nation - 21.12.2009
A group of students from all schools on Mahe met recently at a one-day conference
to voice their concerns on climate change and set up projects to reduce its effects.

Dr Payet addressing the audience at the conference

Held at the National Theatre, Mont Fleuri, the conference followed a call for action by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (Unesco) world conference on education for sustainable development held in Bonn, Germany, earlier this year.

That conference involved youths in designing and drawing up projects on sustainable development.
During the recent conference here, the students listened to presentations on the causes and effects of climate change and their relevance to biodiversity, marine life, water and sustainable living.

Their views and concerns were compiled and submitted to the National Climate Change Committee members who took part in the Copenhagen Conference, as well as to local policy makers and Unesco.

Through group work, the students were able to start on different themes – such as a sustainable lifestyle for children to fight climate change, and schools and climate change mitigation and adaptation – to prepare them for International Year of Biodiversity in 2010.

In his opening remarks, President James Michel’s special adviser on the environment Dr Rolph Payet said that being a small island state, Seychelles is vulnerable to the effects of climate change and there is a need to change our way of life and be more resilient.

“We need to educate our young people on its effects and help them understand that we will need to change our way of life to adjust to those changes,” he said.

Threat of rising seas looms over coastal Africa

From:Reuters

* Coastal residents say sea levels already rising

* 56 million people live in low-lying coastal areas

* Major lagoon cities such as Lagos could be submerged

By Tim Cocks

ABIDJAN, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Africans living on the coast, who face the loss of their cities, homes and livelihoods to rising seas, are less interested in haggling over greenhouse gas emissions than getting aid to move to higher ground.

Speaking as talks on a global climate deal in Copenhagen ran into disagreements over how to share the burden of emissions cuts, some residents of low-lying coastal Africa said they had more pressing concerns.

"We want the authorities of the world powers to come and rescue the poor people from the sea," said Diakite Abdullaye, 46, looking over his shoulder at the ruins of a house he said had already been destroyed by the advancing ocean.

"If they can't stop the sea rising, then help us move somewhere else," said the resident of Ivory Coast's biggest city.

Rising sea levels caused by the melting of polar ice caps are seen by climate experts as largely unavoidable for centuries to come, even if substantial cuts in carbon dioxide emissions are made.

"Like a slowly boiling kettle, the oceanic system has very long response time to changing conditions and the seas will go on slowly rising for centuries even if all greenhouse gas emissions stopped tomorrow," wrote Mark Lynas, a British climate expert and author who advises the government of the Maldives.

The U.N.'s climate change panel in 2007 predicted global warming would raise sea levels by between 18 and 59 cm (7 and 24 inches) this century. Many climate scientists believe the estimate is conservative, and a rise of a metre or more is likely.

Either way, it could spell disaster for much of coastal Africa, especially densely populated tropical West Africa whose economic centres sprawl along the coast.

The United Nations estimates Africa has 320 coastal cities and about 56 million people living in "low lying" coastal zones, those less than 10 metres above mean sea level.

ENCROACHING TIDE

Some expects say sea levels have risen by about 20 cm since the start of the Industrial Revolution in northern Europe.

That is no surprise to residents of Abidjan's Port Bouet, where abandoned concrete shacks litter the beach. Some have lost their front walls. Scaffolding is all that remains of others.

"Twenty years ago the sea was far away from here," said Samassa Awa, 39, an unemployed nurse whose wooden shack has been flooded by the Atlantic many times. "You see all these destroyed houses? Many people fled but we decided to stay."

Poor planning and the haphazard construction of homes on reclaimed land subject to erosion has compounded the problem.

In Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, millions may have to move. The city is home to 15 million people spread over creeks and lagoons. The Lagos state government has been battling to reinforce the long sand spits that protect the mouth of the main lagoon from the Atlantic.

Gilbert Pandy, a resident of the Congolese capital Brazzaville, said advancing seas had washed away a village cemetery. "We are exposed to a disaster ... Sadly, no one cares," he said.

Africa's island paradises such as the Seychelles could be among the first to suffer.

Rolph Payet, an adviser to the government who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore for his work on climate change, told Reuters half of the Seychelles' islands were barely two metres above sea level.

"All of our infrastructure, telecommunications, fuel, ports, airports, are located on the coast," he said, adding that tourist resorts in outlying islands risked being submerged.

"The most frustrating thing is that we can do something. If an asteroid hits the planet, fine, we will all be doomed, but we are in a situation where we can actually solve the problem." (Additional reporting by Richard Lough in Antananarivo and Christian Tsoumou in Brazzaville; editing by Andrew Dobbie)

President drives climate message home

From: Virtual Seychelles

President James Michel was on Wednesday scheduled to address the Copenhagen summit and hammer home his call for the urgent need to counter climate change.

He has, over many years, been beating the warning drum, and the global audience was expected to be more attentive and action-oriented as efforts to reach a new agreement replacing the Kyoto Protocol reached a climax.Mr Michel led Seychelles’ high-level team including Minister for Environment, Natural Resources and Transport Joel Morgan, who arrived there on Tuesday.In the team were secretary of state Jean-Paul Adam, the President’s special adviser Dr Rolph Payet, our ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations Ronny Jumeau and principal secretary for environment Didier Dogley.Also present will be Wills Agricole from the Department of the Environment, who is our focal point for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and Lyndy Bastienne representing non-governmental organisations.Parties to the UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol are expected to agree on a “package” of outcomes defining the international response to climate change for the coming decade. Seychelles, as a member of the Alliance of Small Island States, is proposing a reduction of greenhouse gas concentrations to below 350 parts per million and a global average temperature no more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.A press release from the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Transport said: “Parties will have to agree on a coherent financial architecture for climate change, guided by agreed principles and with equitable governance and simplified access procedures.

“This should aim at ensuring the provision of direct access to funds, and that funding provided specifically for climate change adaptation efforts is not simply subtracted from existing development assistance.

“Seychelles will push to ensure there is enough funding commitment for both adaptation and mitigation measures for vulnerable and most-affected countries.”