A mission to Seychelles was undertaken by the EbA South Project Manager Silvia Cazzetta, jointly with the UNEP Task Manager Atifa Kassam, on 24-31 August 2016.
Formal and informal meetings were held with the Principal Secretary Wills Agricole, National Focal Point (NFP), the National Project Coordinator (NPC) Pughazendi Murugayan and other members of the national team. Field site visits were conducted with the project technical staff to some of the implementation sites on the islands of Praslin and Mahe. The aim of the visits was to review the status of project implementation, results already achieved and interventions being planned, looking at three main activities:
- plant propagation;
- restoring biodiversity and ecosystem functioning;
- restoring hydrological flow (flood prevention).
The mission also served the purpose to officially launch Seychelles’ long term research programme on Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA), by formalizing agreements between by the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change (MEECC) and the University of Seychelles (UniSey) – after the two parties had signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 5 August 2016. Through the development of this new research programme, MEECC and UniSey join forces to make the country’s coastal communities and low lying ecosystems more resilient and responsive to climate change.
