Symposium highlights role of endemic plants |06 June 2023

A symposium on the endemic plants of Seychelles was held yesterday at the National Museum of History to commemorate World Environment Day, on June 5.

The symposium formed part of ongoing efforts to educate the public on the vital role of endemic plants and the need to protect them, as well as the achievements and challenges.

There were nine speakers from various groups engaged in the propagation and protection of the endemic plants and each speaker had ten minutes for their presentation.

According to Charles Morel, the herbarium curator and Plant Conservation Action member, there are presently 1532 species of plants in Seychelles and 720 of those plants are natives, while 137 are endemic, meaning they are found in only one location in Seychelles. The remaining 583 are indigenous, which are plants occurring naturally in an area. The other 812 species are invasive species which were introduced to Seychelles.

“The endemic species are an indicator of the healthy biodiversity of our plants,” Mr Morel stated. “It is important to protect them not only because they are unique to Seychelles but because they are important to maintaining our biodiversity.”

For his part, Damien Doudee from the Biodiversity centre explained that propagation is vitally important in the conservation of endemic plants and there are different techniques when propagating plants.

“Propagation is important so that instead of the public collecting from the natural world they can come to our nursery, where we propagate several medicinal endemic plants, which they can buy from us,” he stated.

The vice-chairperson of Terrestrial Restoration Action Society of Seychelles (TRASS), Marc Jean-Baptiste, highlighted the impact of constant forest fires on Praslin, threatening the island’s biodiversity as well as the ongoing rehabilitation plan. According to him, more than 40 percent of Praslin have been destroyed by forest fires as a result of human negligence. The problem is aggravated by climate change. Mr Jean-Baptiste said this has increased soil erosion, soil compaction, reduced soil fertility thus leading to land degradation, and reduced water infiltration, which in turn has reduced river flows.

“These threaten the livelihoods of communities downhill,” he stated.

Mr Jean-Baptise said that TRASS has the largest native plant nursery in Seychelles. They plant over 15,000 seedlings per year and they are also the leader in native plant propagation.

For her part, Nicole Barreau from the National Museum of History explained that the symposium was important to bring more visibility to the work being done for the protection of endemic plant species, such as tree-planting.

She also highlighted the importance of engaging communities in this nationwide effort.

Sophie Morel from the Conservation department focused her presentation on the policies and legislations for the protection and conservation of the endemic plants and their habitats.  The few that are enforced include the Nature Reserves and Conservancy Act. This act covers mostly the protected areas and how they are designated. “We will be introducing new types of protected areas which will include sustainable use areas as well as seasonal protected areas which is very new in the conservation field,” she explained, adding they hope this will help the protection of species.

She also touched on the Trade of Wild Fauna and Flora 2021, which protects species from illegal trading and the Wild Animals and Birds Protection Act. The Biodiversity Conservation and Management Division is currently reviewing this act as it is old and outdated.

As for the Breadfruit and Other Trees (Protection) Act, which protects many endemic and native species as well along with some introduced species, Ms Morel said “when the act was created, these plants had a lot of importance to the Seychelles culture”. She added that there are many endemic trees in the act which prevents them from being cut down and a person would still need a permission from the forestry section even if the trees are on private property.

It should be noted that Seychelles’ terrestrial protected areas are about 47 percent cover of the country’s terrestrial space.

The accompanying photos show some of the presenters and a partial view of the audience.

Sunny Esparon