Beijing, July 1 2017: EbA South Project Management Unit (PMU), Technical Advisor (TA), and Task Manager conducted field missions in Nepal, Mauritania and Seychelles from end of March to June 2017. The purpose was to review the project progress and support the national teams in planning and implementing activities for the remaining duration of the project. For each country, a detailed work-plan and budget revision were jointly compiled with an aim to achieve all project targets within a project cycle.
Highlights of each mission are listed below:
Nepal: It was observed that the Long-term Research Programme (LTRP) has made sound progress. An automatic meteorological station for the use of ecological data collection has been established at the long-term research monitoring site in Chiti, Lamjung District and is operational. Also, three master theses on livelihood, climate change and vulnerability in water resources, and non-timber forest products (NTFPs) respectively were well presented during the mission.
Mauritania: The TA’s mission supported the team in updating two site-specific protocols and developing a new protocol for a new identified site, indicating selected interventions to be concluded and the associated timeline, for combating desertification. Project site Benichab, made a good example of dryland ecosystem restoration by 70 hectare planted and at-least 28,320 seedlings produced with high involvement of local communities.
Seychelles: The PMU mission encouraged the team to showcase their good practices such as successful school projects through project web platform. The adaptive management was well applied in the on-the-ground implementation, particularly in addressing issues related to crab attacks. A National Policy Workshop were organised in May, where the policy review and recommendations to relevant national policies, plans and strategies were presented, followed by seeking feedback.
Lastly, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on May 23 between the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change (MEECC) and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) for low-carbon demonstrations in the island of Curieuse (Seychelles) for 100% renewable and solar schools.
