Follow us on:

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube

Domestic

Capacity building in construction of gabion retaining wall for SIT students at Val d’Andorre |25 September 2020

Capacity building in construction of gabion retaining wall for SIT students at Val d’Andorre

Dame Le Roi gabion done by contractor and trainees in 2018

Twenty students following a course in construction/masonry at the Seychelles Institute of Technology are undergoing six weeks of gabion retaining wall construction training.

The training started on Monday August 31 and will run through to Friday October 9, 2020.

This is the second batch of students from the Seychelles Institute of Technology (SIT) to receive such training after the successful training held in 2018.

These gabion retaining walls are constructed using a soft engineering technique that does not require concrete or bricks, but rather uses rocks and aggregates and gabion cages to seal them in place.

The Ecosystem-Based Adaptation (EbA) project uses this method to create small scale water reservoirs to enhance water storage using a more environmentally friendly approach. These structures are being constructed by the EBA project as part of its wetland rehabilitation process to enhance the fresh water retention capacity of upland wetlands in the Baie Lazare watershed.

So far two such barrages have been successfully completed, with one at Bougainville (35,000m3 water retention capacity) and the other at Dame Le Roi (6,000m3 water retention capacity).

The training is financed and supported by the GOS-UNDP-Adaptation Fund project – Ecosystem-Based Adaptation to Climate Change in Seychelles(EbA project).

The training is being offered by Pascal Octave and his team who have successfully constructed the two gabion retaining walls in the Baie Lazare watershed in collaboration with the EbA project and also conducted two training sessions with SIT students and another for members of the community in 2018.

The EbA project is currently completing the phase 2 enhancement of the Bougainville wetland, to enable conditions for water storage and rehabilitation of native species in freshwater habitat. This will provide an estimated 40,000m3 of water storage to guarantee species survival, and allow for better water flow during droughts and flash flood events.

The community-based watershed committees will join the EbA project in revegetating the wetland banks in quarter four 2020 to complete the rehabilitation of this Bougainville wetland that is increasingly being recognised as a new environment hub for taking pictures in a natural environment setting. When these wetland rehabilitation projects have been completed, the EbA project will secure benches to allow members of the public and resident communities to enjoy the natural environment in these watersheds.

The EbA project's aim is to reduce Seychelles’ vulnerability to climate change, focusing on two key issues – water scarcity and flooding. It includes the following components:

• Watershed rehabilitation;

• Coastal rehabilitation, and

• Policy and strategies to support the above.

 

Press release from EbA

More news