On World Environment Day at State House |06 June 2017

President Faure, students plant seven coco-de-mer seedlings

Students from both state and private secondary schools around the country joined President Danny Faure at State House yesterday morning to plant coco-de-mer seedlings in the State House garden to commemorate World Environment Day.

The first coco-de-mer seedling was planted by President Danny Faure accompanied by the secondary students.

The remaining six seedlings were allocated to students representing all the secondary schools from the northern, southern, eastern, western, central Mahé and the inner islands.

Before the tree-planting took place, a short ceremony was held where a pioneer of Seychelles’ forestry, Willy André, and eco-school programme member Tanisha Elizabeth made a few remarks.

Present during the ceremony were ministers, key government officials, environmentalists, environment educators and students.

Mr André shared his experience and contributions of the 43 years he has worked to preserve the environment.

“For 43 years, I enjoyed my career. Perhaps I could have done better but what I have done is quite significant and all that has been achieved because of the cooperation and support I received,” he said.

He expressed the hope that educating the children on the need to protect the environment will have a greater effect.

“Many islands will be very delighted to be in the position of Seychelles as Seychelles is a champion of nature,” he said.

Tanisha, a youth involved in various environmental activities, said our environment contributes largely to the pillars of our economy.

“It is for this reason that many groups and individuals have strived to ensure its very protection against exploitation and greed. Yes, we need to develop but we need to ensure that our environment is preserved and protected to the maximum,” she said.

She believes in the protection of our environment and education remains the key to ensure that we all acquire the necessary knowledge and the skills needed to sustainably manage our God given island states.

Anse Royale secondary three student Audrey Isaac presented a token of appreciation to President Faure and felt honoured of the opportunity bestowed on her to help the president plant the first seedling.

Commenting on the importance of World Environment Day she said people should pay more respect to the environment.

“We should not destroy our environment, but rather conserve it as it’s the very plants which provide us with oxygen and without them we will annihilate the world and ourselves,” she said.

As for Joshua Sofola, a student at the School of Advanced Level Studies (Sals) and also the master of ceremony at the event, he said "living in a small island developing state, where a large percentage of our land ecosystems is protected, I can certainly say that nature is right at our doorstep. Being connected to nature and appreciating its beauty has an impact on our wellbeing. As youths we should be concerned about harmful influences of human activities on our environment”.

Following the tree-planting exercise the students were able to interact with the environmental pioneers and learn from their experiences.

The theme for this year's World Environment Day is 'Connecting People to Nature'. Since it was initiated in 1972, global citizens, including those in Seychelles, have organised many events to educate the population on the importance of environment protection. These activities include neighbourhood clean-ups, family fun days, re-afforestation, field trips to parks and other protected areas, and action against wildlife crime.