Seychelles part of US $49m project to address climate change in the Indian Ocean |21 August 2020

Mr Agricole speaking at an international forum

Seychelles is to benefit from a US $49.2 million (R885 million) project which the world’s largest climate fund approved on Wednesday to address climate change in the western Indian Ocean islands.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) will provide a US $38 million-dollar grant to help non-governmental organisations in the Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles carry out ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA), also known as natural or nature-based solutions, to climate change.

The remaining $11.2 million will be a grant from the US-based Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund (CEPF) which empowers civil society in developing countries to protect the world’s biodiversity hotspots.

Ecosystem-based adaptation is the use of the natural environment, more specifically biodiversity and ecosystem services such as wetlands, mangroves and seagrass beds, to help people increase their resilience, reduce their vulnerability and adapt to the effects of climate change.

The 10-year project will “increase the resilience of the people and ecosystems in four Indian Ocean (islands) to support conservation of critical ecosystems within biodiversity hotspots,” says a GCF project document.

Welcoming the GCF’s approval of the project, Wills Agricole, Seychelles’ national focal point for the South Korea-based fund, said: “This is a milestone to be celebrated by all. Our community groups and the local private sector are going to benefit from these climate funds.

“We will measure the success of the project by how efficiently we can reach vulnerable people and give them the tools and funds to better cope with climate change. Seychelles will continue to drive such paradigm-shifting approaches to cope with climate change because we must prepare adequately for this reality.”

Mr Agricole, who is also the principal secretary for Energy and Climate Change, added: “The project unlocks opportunities to strengthen the response to climate change in Seychelles and the western Indian Ocean. It will adopt integrated approaches which enhance the climate resilience of ecosystems and infrastructure.

“Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the Green Climate Fund has proven its commitment to helping developing countries address climate change by operating in a more agile, adaptable and virtual way. We are, therefore, pleased to have the GCF as a partner in this fight.”

Seychelles is part of another regional project with the Comoros, Madagascar and Mauritius which is being processed by the GCF, this time for $74 million. It will strengthen meteorological, hydrological and climate services in the four island countries.

Seychelles also has four projects of its own in the pipeline.

While the EbA project will provide grants to civil society, it will also, among other activities, promote the involvement of and partnerships with the private sector to encourage them to join the fight against climate change.

The objective here is “to foster the economic and social sustainability of ecosystem-based adaptation” in the four islands says the project document.

The GCF describes the western Indian Ocean as a biodiversity hotspot which “is among the most biologically diverse yet threatened eco-regions in the world”.

It adds that ecosystem-based adaptation approaches have proven to be “highly successful and in high demand to cost-effectively reduce the vulnerability of people and ecosystems to climate change by leveraging the value of ecosystem services”. It also provides substantial environmental and social benefits, such as the protection of biodiversity.

Press release from the department of Energy & Climate Change